December 14, 2009 10:48 PM UTC

"Where's Andrew?" Storyline Continues

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• by: Colorado Pols

Sorry to break it to you, anti-Romanoff conspiracy theorists, but we’re not the only ones wondering what the hell is going on with Andrew Romanoff’s Senate campaign. As Susan Greene writes in The Denver Post:

Andrew Romanoff promised a barn burner.

I’ve seen barn burning. This isn’t it.

The former state House speaker lacks ignition in his primary bid for the U.S. Senate. Three months into his candidacy, he’s is still without a voice, a campaign manager and a reason why Democrats should oust Michael Bennet from office.

“Where’s Andrew?” I’m asked at least once a week.

“Where’s Andrew?” I ask two of his advisers.

“In the bunker,” they say in campaign- speak that’s irksome not only to war veterans.

Romanoff’s bunker is an office suite on South Monaco Parkway where he’s hunkered down making fundraising calls and thinking about strategy.

“A lot of things we’ve been doing, it’s true, are sort of under the radar,” the candidate says.

Thing is, laying low doesn’t energize voters, especially in an insurgent campaign against a sitting senator.

And he has other problems.

Like money – that Romanoff has far less of it than Bennet.

And staffing woes. He has yet to hire a campaign manager after Sue Casey, a former Denver councilwoman, ended her stint in the job earlier this fall.

And a sorry lack of attendance at campaign rallies, often billed as “Coffees with Andrew Romanoff.” The candidate doesn’t even drink coffee, a beverage he says is “just an expression for me.” Ever the self-promoter, he says his low turnout encourages intimacy. “We packed the house in Trinidad last week,” he notes weakly.

“I think it’s safe to say most people haven’t tuned in yet,” adds the candidate who has given little reason to tune in.

For the sake of argument, let’s say that Romanoff really has some brilliant strategy for winning this race that involves being virtually invisible. Maybe this really is all part of the plan.

But even if that were true, and we don’t think it is, Romanoff is really handicapping his own campaign because of the storyline that has been created. As we’ve said time and time again, perception is everything in politics, and Romanoff has created the perception — true or not — that his campaign is a complete mess. That kind of perception snowballs over time, because the more potential donors and supporters hear that his campaign is rudderless, the harder it becomes for Romanoff to reach them.

What’s the message? That there is no message.

And that’s not a good message.