A few strange items from today’s Denver Post regarding fundraising numbers from the Senate races. In the period from Sept. 10-30, Sen. Michael Bennet outraised challenger Andrew Romanoff $364,000 to $181,000. But Romanoff’s spokesperson had an explanation. Sort of.
During those three weeks, Bennet raised twice as much as Romanoff, $364,000 to $181,000, among itemized individual donors giving $200 or more…
…Joelle Martinez, spokeswoman for Romanoff, said her candidate’s fundraising did not begin in earnest until the last 10 days of the month.
“I think we felt really good about what we were able to bring in during that 10-day period,” Martinez said.
We don’t believe for a second that Romanoff didn’t bother to really start raising money until the last 10 days of the month, because he certainly understands the importance of showing solid fundraising numbers. But as we’ve mentioned before in this space, we’re baffled that Romanoff has gotten off to such a plodding start in his campaign, particularly given this revelation:
His filing also showed he paid $27,500 out of his own pocket for a poll in March, six months before he announced his candidacy.
“It’s a big decision whether or not to run,” Martinez said. “That was one of the things he turned to as far as making a decision.”
So Romanoff had solid numbers on a potential matchup with Bennet in March, yet waited until September to bother lining up donors? Combine this lack of planning with the total absence of any message from Romanoff, and it’s getting harder to see where this campaign is really going.
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…but one explanation that would seem to fit Romanoff’s behavior: mount a low-key challenge as a means of wrangling an attractive appointment from the Obama administration, which has already said it would like to avoid the distraction of a primary in Colorado next year.
I still argue that it’s still early days, and will be until at least next March, for a primary that doesn’t occur until August. On the other hand, of course, there is a simultaneous campaign for the November election, and August is much too late to start in earnest for that contest.
I would be interested to see any recent polls on the subject of name recognition, Romanoff vs Bennet, among voters in general. Clearly the past eight months, i.e. since March, is a long time in that regard, as well as in regard to public perception of the Obama administration overall and the value of Obama’s endorsement in particular.
But it didn’t work before. Romanoff looks weaker all the time now, which in turn weakens his hand for any sort of job from Obama.
did turn down appointments, including an offer of an ambassadorship, it seems he never needed to threaten a primary in order to get some nice offers. Is there something specific he wants that he as not been offered? Does he have reason to believe (or does he harbor a pipe dream) that Bennet will get an offer at some post, leaving the seat open and himself the logical choice to become the candidate if he shows enough strength and support?
I’ve also heard from a friend who has been pretty spot on concerning Romanoff developments in the past that Romanoff plans to withdraw prior to a primary.
In short, it just gets curiouser and curiouser. What on earth is the guy really up to? Does even Romanoff himself know anymore?
No point if he’s going to withdraw.
He wants to keep his actual positions very low profile. The less he says, the more his diehard grassroots progressive supporters can continue to believe in their imaginary Romanoff. You know…the one who is so much more progressive than Bennet.
You never know.
They are hard to track down. That’s for sure.
at Boulder’s Truman dinner. Didn’t get to talk to him, but the person at the campaign table told me Romanoff will be putting up a redesigned website sometime soon. Presumably with an actual positions page, which is what I asked about specifically.
It’s up to us to track down his site and comb through it? I get e-mails from Bennet and see and hear stuff in the media about his views with much less effort. The e-mails from Romanoff just ask me for money without giving me much of a clue as to why I should contribute.
This race is just this side of political suicide as it is. He’s had offers of appontments, and Senate is what he wants. I don’t think there’s some other job waiting, particulalry since he looks like less of a threat than ever.
If he took donors money and dropped out, he would be toast in Colorado
I imagine the idea of a primary challenge of a Senator that is being supported by the President back in March was a daunting decision.
Perhaps the period of time to decide to enter the race was predicated on Obama’s support of other candidates, that were not popular with democratic voters,
(supporting Arlen Specter over Joe Sestak for instance) which showed that Obama’s endorsement, while important, was not the end all be all that it could have been. This, i believe, gave Romanoff enough of an opening to enter the race.
In the end, it will come down to name recognition, and Andrew will have an advantage in that department.
Are you kidding? Maybe in March, when Bennet was new and largely unknown, but that ship has sailed. Assuming Romanoff stays in the race (or doesn’t get a plum appointment! Thanks, donors and volunteers, for helping Andy get that job he wanted!), neither will have an advantage in name recognition.
But thanks for pointing that out, Wade, and contrasting the speculation with the rock-hard scientific fact you offered:
…and if you hop up and down while chanting
i suppose i should aim that comment more towards BC
and while there are no polls to give us ‘scientific’ evidence:
i don’t think its a stretch to say that the Speaker of the House for the past 4 years will have better name rec. state wide than someone who was with DPS.
He’s now been a United States Senator for nearly 10 months and has been making a name for himself.
If he and Romanoff were both running for this seat and it was being held by Salazar, you might have a point. With Bennet being our Senator, your point is pretty much negated and once again, opinion does not make fact, Wade.
as something I’ve heard from someone who has often been right in the past. Never presented it as established fact. You are the one who seems to have a problem with distinguishing between speculation and established facts.
information, but as you can see, on this website, I was called out often for not being ‘factual’ by quoting unnamed sources.
It makes one wonder, why my ‘sources’ were attacked as ‘made up’ on this site, while you got a pass…
The tinme for the Speaker to announce was at the JJ. he would have announced prior to the Senator’s fundraising figures. He would not have lost support of important people in the Jewish community.
His late entry makes for financial trouble even if he were to win the primary. He would then be faced with raising in excess of 5 million while campagining in 90 days time while being bombarded by 527 money.
does it bother you at all to find out this?
For all of that name recognition you tout and that massive support from around the state, a majority of the low hanging fruit came from his own backyard, Denver. Which is precisely what many of us were sending up the red flag about when the numbers first came out.
Where’s that massive support? And the low hanging fruit should have given him an initial huge fundraising bump so where the hell is the bump? Where was the big money?
did you take exception to this?
You are wrong about name recognition advantage and it’s perfectly normal for incumbent Senators to get plenty of out of state contributions. PACs etc.
Romanoff doesn’t have name rec or funding advantage. Most people couldn’t tell you who their own HD Rep is, much less who is Speaker now, much less who used to be Speaker in the state legislature. To paraphrase, he’s a legend in your own mind.
Every competitive candidate for U.S. Senate in Colorado will end up getting the majority of their donations from out of state. There just isn’t enough money in a state the size of Colorado to raise what you need to win a race. Romanoff may have raised most of his current funds from Colorado, but that won’t be the case six months from now — unless he is only raising $100k per quarter at that point.
You dodged every question. I guess I have my answers. Your ongoing claim of his massive name recognition is about as full of shit as you are.
No, I have no issue with the fact that he has a wider fundraiser and support base. Thank God. Udall spent $15 million last year. You wanna take a little peek at where some of his money came from? I don’t remember you whining when he had out of state support. Funny how that only applies when your golden boy that you pushed for months and months to run is proving to be less than stellar at raising money or running a campaign.
If you genuinely have an issue with out of state support and aren’t just being a hypocrite because you have a serious case of sour grapes right now, then you are obviously not cut out for federal politics. Wrong line of work, laddie.
When do you think you will start being honest, Wade? I’d like to mark my calendar for the great event. Seriously. It boggles the mind that you actually think you are helping his campaign with this kind of weak, sad ass spin.
I could see it as weak spin or sad ass spin. But “weal sad ass spin”? That’s just hyperbole.
And with allt he facts flying around, you should be more cautious about that parabolisminsm.
Is Weak Sad Ass Spin.
Go for something stronger. I have no dog in this fight, but you gotta do better than that.
I’ll accept weak ass spin.
Still- weak, sad ass is just overstated. Though it is really weak.
that’s a lot to pay for a poll.
It is a lot when you’re living on a legislator’s salary and some part-time teaching gigs between sessions, and paying for law school.
That caught my eye too, as I don’t see Andrew having that kind of money lying around.
Leftover campaign funds?
We ALL know what that means!
though not like Rep.Polis obviously.