February 21, 2014 12:06 PM UTC

Randy Baumgardner is Not Good at Raising Money

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• by: Colorado Pols

Republican state Sen. Randy Baumgardner and his mustache have been running for the U.S. Senate since last July, but we've never listed him among the top challengers on our Big Line because he's not really doing anything. The only difference between Baumgardner and the other people in the picture at right is that Randy has a banner and has managed to file some paperwork with the Federal Election Commission. Including Baumgardner's name in any polling on the U.S. Senate race is, in a word, stupid.

Baumgardner didn't get around to filing his FIRST campaign finance report until Jan. 30 of this year. According to his filing, Baumgardner raised a grand total of $3,264 from three donors in Q4. You read that correctly. 3 donors.

Baumgardner's filing indicates that he had $4,460 in the bank at the beginning of Q4, which is just below the $5,000 threshold that would have required him to file a campaign finance report in Q3 2013 (which he did not). We're assuming that $4,460 comes from Baumgardner himself, since there are no reported donors other than the three already listed. All told, Baumgardner has spent $2,129 and ended the last reporting period with $5,644 cash on hand. He also has an outstanding loan of $200. Seriously.

Oddly enough, Baumgardner has more money in his State Senate account than his U.S. Senate coffers. His SD-8 campaign committee reports $6,412 in the bank at the end of December, boosted by $800 in donations in Q3.

The pointless U.S. Senate campaign of the Mustache should come to an end once and for all at the Republican State Convention this spring. In the meantime, we can all probably stop pretending that Baumgardner is really running for the U.S. Senate.