February 09, 2010 11:20 AM UTC

Winners and Losers from Q4 (2009) Fundraising Period

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• by: Colorado Pols

The money is in the bank from the Q4 fundraising period (well, unless you’re Scott Gessler, that is, so it’s time again to present our Winners & Losers from the last quarter of 2009.

 

WINNERS

Sen. Michael Bennet (D)

One year ago, many voters in Colorado were still trying to figure out who Bennet was, let alone why he was suddenly a U.S. Senator. But regardless of your opinion on how he has been in his first year in the Senate, Colorado has rarely seen a candidate with the kind of fundraising ability that Bennet possesses. Bennet has raised more than a million dollars in every quarter he has been in the Senate, and his $3,482,581 cash on hand is nearly $3 million dollars more than the next closest competitor, Republican Jane Norton ($595,563).

Bennet’s fundraising advantage over every one of his opponents, on both sides of the aisle, could become significant after the next fundraising quarter ends in March. If Bennet is still this far ahead of everyone else in April, a lot of national observers are going to start looking elsewhere for better pick-up opportunities in November, and the well for Democrat Andrew Romanoff is going to go bone-dry.

Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CD7)

Ever since Perlmutter was first elected in 2006, he has been one of the top fundraisers in Colorado. Perlmutter was the only member of Colorado’s congressional delegation, in either party, to finish 2009 with more than $1 million in cash on hand. That kind of fundraising prowess is why Republicans have always been reluctant to seriously challenge Perlmutter, and as long as it continues, Republican opponents Ryan Frazier and Lang Sias won’t get a lot of attention from the NRCC in Washington.

Jane Norton (R), U.S. Senate

Norton still trails Bennet by almost $3 million, but she’s a Q4 winner because she was the only Republican Senate candidate to show an ability to raise real money. Norton’s $550,605 in Q4 leaves her with $595,563 cash on hand.

Rep. John Salazar (D-CD3)

Rep. Betsy Markey (D-CD4)

Both Salazar and Markey represent districts that are traditionally Republican areas, and both have to raise a lot of money to fend off opponents in 2010. While neither Salazar ($187,160) nor Markey ($227,442) had particularly impressive quarters, they both ended the year with a lot of coin in the bank ($847,099 for Salazar and $869,217 for Markey).

Cory Gardner (R), CD-4

After a lackluster Q3, Gardner did much better in Q4 in raising $197,553 to give him a total cash on hand amount of $383,338. Now, if only Gardner could stop shooting himself in the foot, perhaps Republicans might feel better about his chances and wouldn’t be encouraging Senate candidate Ken Buck to enter the GOP primary.

State Treasurer Cary Kennedy (D)

Kennedy raised $70,734 in Q4, leaving her with $173,674 cash on hand to begin the year. Considering that her leading Republican opponent, Walker Roberts Stapleton raised $65,435 with a nationwide network of donors, Kennedy’s Q4 is all the more impressive.

Ryan Frazier (R), CD-7

Frazier had a strong Q4, raising $218,824 to leave him with $280,355 cash on hand. Those numbers would mean more if Rep. Ed Perlmutter didn’t already have $1 million in the bank, and if Frazier didn’t have a tough primary ahead, but it still qualifies as a good quarter.

LOSERS

Scott Gessler (R), Secretary of State

For years Gessler has been the go-to guy for the Republican Party on all manner of election-related legal issues. But for a man who knows a lot about election law, Gessler is bafflingly ignorant of what it takes to be a successful candidate himself.

After one year as a candidate, Gessler has shown himself to be completely fiscally incompetent, spending an unheard-of 86% of every dollar he raises. He’s done a decent job of fundraising, coaxing $86,799 out of donors, but he now has only $12,231 cash on hand. Incumbent Democrat Bernie Buescher, meanwhile, has raised $92,921 and has $65,043 cash on hand (spending only 30% of his contributions). The early fundraising periods are always ripe for picking low-hanging fruit, so Gessler will now need to figure out a way to increase his contributions significantly while also explaining to donors why he’s managed to piss away nearly 9 out of every 10 dollars he’s raised.

Andrew Romanoff (D), U.S. Senate

Ken Buck, (R), U.S. Senate

We discussed the fundraising problems for Romanoff and Buck at length last week. To recap: neither candidate had a very strong showing in the last quarter, and unless they can each raise at least a million dollars in the next three months, it’s hard to see how they will be able to afford to both keep a viable campaign running and save enough money to have a good ad buy on television.

Things are worse for Buck than for Romanoff, because the Republican raised a miserable $39,850 in Q4. There aren’t many candidates for Congress who did that poorly.

Tom Lucero (R), CD-4

Lucero ended Q4 with $6,424 cash on hand. Granted, he paid for a small TV ad buy, but numbers this bad should all but end any hope Lucero might have had. Raising just $25,824 is a terrible quarter for any candidate for Congress, let alone someone running in a tough GOP primary.  

NOT A WINNER, BUT NOT A LOSER, EITHER

Tom Wiens (R), U.S. Senate

Wiens “raised” $728,418 in his first quarter as a candidate, but we use the word “raised” very loosely. Roughly 88% of that $728k came from Wiens himself, either in the form of a hefty campaign loan of $540k or direct personal donations of $101,250. All together, Wiens only actually received $87,169 in individual contributions from people not named “Tom Wiens.”

But on the other hand, the money all spends the same, regardless of where it comes from. Entering 2010 with $540,132 cash on hand makes Wiens a real contender to challenge Norton for the Republican nomination…so long as he figures out a way to continue to increase his campaign coffers, one way or the other.

Scott McInnis (R), Governor

McInnis had a good quarter of fundraising, bringing in $479,575 in total contributions. But he also spent a lot of money ($350,510), leaving him with a pretty weak net profit for the quarter. McInnis has a total of $490,464 cash on hand, which is good but not likely to be enough to out-raise Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, who has always been a prolific fundraiser. You would think McInnis could have capitalized more in Q4 after ousting Josh Penry from the GOP field and while he was still able to run against Gov. Bill Ritter, who has since announced he won’t run again in 2010.