With GOP secretary of state candidate Scott Gessler rapidly dwindling as a serious threat to incumbent Bernie Buescher, and Democrats hoping at this point for whatever placeholder in the attorney general’s race manages to emerge, it’s looking increasingly like the biggest battle this year statewide (other than the marquee U.S. Senate and gubernatorial races, of course) could be fought over the state treasurer’s office.
On paper, this doesn’t look like a very hard call: incumbent Cary Kennedy has proven adept in her first term, with no major politically negative incidents–it usually takes something pretty big to oust someone from this office before term limits do. Kennedy has been doing pretty well with fundraising also, besting both Republican challengers who had filed before the end of last year.
Despite this we do see some potential trouble for Kennedy on the horizon, principally in the form of the better of the first two Republican candidates for her office, Walker Stapleton. Although Kennedy did raise more money than Stapleton in Q4, Stapleton demonstrated arguably the biggest fundraising network of any statewide candidate, raising donations from a total of 46 states–virtually unheard of in a race on this level, but reflective of Stapleton’s Bush family connections. The Denver Post briefly noted as much on Monday:
In the state treasurer’s race, incumbent Cary Kennedy raised $70,814 compared with Republican challenger Walker Stapleton’s $65,603, much of his contributions coming from out of state.
“I have established a national network of friends and business acquaintances who have contributed,” Stapleton said. “Business is not done regionally just in the state of Colorado.”
Kennedy’s campaign spokesman Tyler Chafee said her more local contributions show that “people are responding in her leadership and experience. . . . She is building a very broad grassroots donor base.”
While it’s true that raising the majority of one’s contributions out of state could work against a candidate, the other way of looking at this is he raised this money without maxing out local Republican donors–donors who will certainly pony up if he wins the GOP primary. That, combined with the connections to raise disproportionate amounts of money around the country for this state race, and we think Democratic strategists ought to be making doubly sure Kennedy is reinforced, both in donations and independent messaging–and that’s before we start talking about her newest GOP opponent, Vail playboy Ali Hasan, and his truly bottomless pockets.
Bottom line: as solid as Kennedy seems today, maybe the least controversial statewide officeholder seeking re-election and widely respected, the challenge she faces is not to be taken lightly.
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In the wake of Ritter’s withdrawal Kennedy has received a lot of good press about her credentials and ability to win a statewide race. Still, she backed gubernatorial candidate John Hickenlooper and stuck to her re-election for State Treasurer. I think it’s about time people across the state recognize Kennedy’s importance/success to the state budget, her party and the state of Colorado. Additionally, I think it is very telling that her fundraising has come from in state supporters of her work rather then “national network of friends and business acquaintances.” Lets not put our state budget in the hands of out of state friends and acquaintances. Pay attention to this race and keep the right person in office!
and if this is all you can say then hey, thats all you can say
Frankly that screams worse leadership then the Governor executed. Some will say that her management has let the Un-employment Insurance trust fund crater and she’s guided the Taxpayer to further PERA debts…that’s not that great. It has and will cost people their jobs as you force employers into new fees and taxes to cover the out of control spending mandates.
However, it is good to see she is adept at collecting corporate PAC checks, Denver law firm partner cash and max-out checks from Denver’s well heeled downtown civics club that parades around as business leaders.
What you fail to mention is she is a nice lady. If I was her I’d shove a boot up your ass for the weakly attempted spin you tried to cover her with. Try a little harder next time.
When most states have seen their investments crater, Cary has brought us through with no mistakes and a strong return. She’s done better than most of the major players on Wall St. If she was running a private firm she would be over-subscribed.
pretend gloss is so friggin’ obvious and everybody gets called out for it. You’d think people would learn
We simply cannot take any race for granted at this point. If there is one thing to take away from MA, it’s to take your race seriously and campaign like hell. I think Cary’s a very smart woman and I don’t see her doing that and hope the state party seriously reinforces her efforts.
Cary is the best treasurer we’ve had since at least Gail Schoettler and possibly since Palmer Burch. We ignore this race at our peril. The Rs will try to dent her to derail a future gubernatorial contender. I’ve told her I will do what I can for her campaign and urge others to do likewise.
The best State Treasurer we ever had is Mike Coffman – a man who wasn’t afraid to stand up to the school districts of Elizabeth and St Vrain, after their financial mismanagements
Should I have the honor of serving as State Treasurer, I plan to use Mike Coffman as a compass for how a State Treasurer should manage the Treasury
From the letters that will run in tomorrow’s Daily Sentinel:
http://www.gjsentinel.com/hp/c…
We’ve gotten many positive responses out of Grand Junction – I’ll be responding to that letter soon, as well
lol