May 31, 2012 06:42 PM UTC

Attwood, Pettersen Evenly Matched in Fundraising

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• by: Colorado Pols

Democrat Brittany Pettersen only narrowly outraised Republican opponent Amy Attwood in the HD-28 race, according to finance reports filed earlier this month.

In Pettersen’s first fundraising period as a candidate – she kicked off her campaign in mid February – the New Era Colorado staffer raised $13,650, spending $3,620 of that. As expected, Pettersen collected checks from a dozen or so politicos with whom she worked as a staffer. Former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb contributed, as did 2011 mayoral candidate James Mejia. Denver School Board Members Arturo Jimenez and Jeanne Kaplan also wrote checks, alongside a handful of members of the House Democratic caucus, including Minority Leader Mark Ferrandino, and Representatives Beth McCann and Lois Court. While the lion’s share of Pettersen’s notable contributions came from Denver’s elected officials, she also cashed checks from local leaders such as Jeffco School Board Member Paula Noonan and former State Representative Sara Gagliardi. Strangely, Pettersen also accepted money from controversial Lakewood City Councilman Pedro Roybal.

Still, no matter the caliber of Pettersen’s donors, she’s still lagging far behind Attwood. The Republican raised $12,750, spending $4,300. Attwood started this period with $13,200 in the bank, so she’s left with $21,603 on hand — more than double the amount, it should be noted, of her opponent.

Pettersen may have narrowly outraised Attwood, but she should’ve done better for her first period as a candidate. The notable names among her contributor list indicate that Pettersen has no qualms in opening her rolodex. They also indicate that Attwood’s picked off all the “low-hanging fruit” there is to harvest — she can’t count on Wellington Webb or James Mejia to finance her campaign going forward. Indeed, Pettersen’s probably collected every penny of easy money she could — and yet Attwood still came within striking distance. Pettersen’s going to have a much harder time raising money now that the novelty of her candidacy has worn off, which is a particular problem considering that Attwood has already brought in twice as much.

Pettersen’s been a candidate two months fewer than Attwood, of course, and the latter’s eventual candidacy for the state house has been expected since she launched her bid for city council three years ago.

Still, while it’s easy to rationalize Attwood’s initial lead at this stage of the game, Pettersen is really going to need to prove her fundraising chops as the campaign continues lest people start to think of her as the longshot candidate in a district with a considerable Democratic tilt.