The Washington Post has a story on Colorado’s pivotal CD-6 race that’s generating lots of conversation today:
Americans for Prosperity, a conservative group backed by the Koch brothers, is launching a campaign Wednesday to aid the reelection bid of Colorado Republican Rep. Mike Coffman — the first time the group is devoting concerted grass-roots efforts to influence the outcome of a House race in the 2016 general election.
The campaign does not include paid media, but the group will send out hundreds of staffers to knock on doors in Colorado’s 6th congressional district, which includes Aurora and other segments of suburban Denver, to urge constituents to vote for Coffman against his Democratic challenger Colorado State Senator Morgan Carroll in what could be a tight race.
While the chances of Republicans maintaining control of the House in this year’s election remain high, Democrats are more optimistic they have a shot at regaining the majority under the belief that the controversial campaign of GOP presumptive president nominee Donald Trump could harm down-ballot Republican candidates.
Conservative and GOP-aligned groups are also taking note of what could be an unusual election year and are expressing concerns about a Democratic takeover. [Pols emphasis]
In the last couple of weeks, there have been a number of stories expressing alarm over the lack of field campaign preparation by Republicans, from Donald Trump all the way down to the state and county parties. The problem is reportedly not unique to Colorado, but could be particularly damaging in our swing state if the GOP’s get-out-the-vote efforts fail to thrive.
It’s true that Koch-funded Americans For Prosperity has lots of money, staff, and volunteers to attempt to fill this gap. The question is, will the Koch’s help for Coffman at the retail door-knocking level do more harm than good? This is perhaps a dicier question for Coffman than others AFP might get behind, since Coffman is arguably running one of the most shamelessly anti-Republican “Republican” campaigns in America today. AFP might not have the GOP’s logo on their T-shirts, but their connections to the right-wing Koch political machine–and of course the Koch’s reputations themselves–are well-known.
Obviously Republicans need all the help they can get on the ground–but for Coffman and his perilous “not like other Republicans” message, the question is a lot more complicated.
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Coffman is either going to lose his ass or prove to the world that nothing matters in American politics. Come to think of it, same with Trump.
Since when are paid staff considered "grass roots"?
Is astroturf…no?
Scary finding from a box of "sort through these later" papers. A couple of dailies from the Colorado legislature when Coffman was pushing bills. One of them included a photo-op of all the veterans in the Capitol who could be found with him. I was in the back row completely clueless until Coffman spoke. Sigh.
I do support Carroll and with more than words. Morgan is a great woman who does not bounce around based on polls. We cannot let RNC-Koch-Coffman win.
Call it the "Drumpf dividend" . . .
. . . even if your name is Koch, you can't take it with you when you die.
Could make for some interesting television spots – Coffman facing one way, saying he's NOT like those other Republicans, followed by Coffman facing the other way to greet the Koch Brothers/ AFP door knockers as they tell people Coffman is the "safer" choice because he'll act like a Republican.
Can't be "both ways Bob" … so "mixed up Mike"?
"Mixed up Mike". I like it. I still think Morgan Carroll needs to hit him hard on his 180 reversals on immigration, and his lack of oversight over the VA hospital. For someone who supposedly advocates for veterans, how did Coffman miss the fact that the shiny new hospital was designed without a psychiatric wing?
Maybe these AFP feet on the street will be as effective as their effort to retain the three idiots on the JeffCo school board. Then again, even Coffman is a better product to sell than Julie and Co.