October 14, 2016 02:03 PM UTC

The Biggest Fish Darryl Glenn Ever Caught

• 5 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

So, uh…this seems unlikely:

Darryl Glenn’s campaign said it outraised Democrat Michael Bennet in Q3 with $2.8M in donations. $1.9M in COH. #copolitics #cosen

— John Frank (@ByJohnFrank) October 14, 2016

FWIW … Bennet says he has $3.6M COH headed into final weeks of #cosen race. #copolitics https://t.co/YONr59U4cB

— John Frank (@ByJohnFrank) October 14, 2016

Republican Senate candidate Darryl Glenn has shown throughout his Senate campaign that he has a penchant for stretching the truth. Earlier this week, Glenn claimed in a fundraising email that he was polling in a “virtual tie” with incumbent Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet. As we noted in this space on Tuesday, Glenn’s claim that the Senate race was a dead heat comes despite a Real Clear Politics polling average that has Bennet leading the race by a solid 11.3%.

Pretending to be in a tight race when every public poll shows otherwise is a pretty bold fib, but nothing like this fundraising claim. According to campaign finance reports between January 1, 2015 and June 30, 2016, Glenn raised A GRAND TOTAL of $347,426. If we are to believe Glenn that he has raised $2.8 million since July, that would mean that he raised EIGHT TIMES more money in the last three months than he had cobbled together in the entire 18 months prior to this reporting period.

Is it possible that Glenn really did outraise Bennet in the last three months, despite polls showing him to be running nearly 20 points behind the incumbent? It is…possible…just like it is possible that your next-door neighbor will be quarterbacking the Denver Broncos when the team next takes the field on Oct. 24.

If Glenn really did have such a spectacular quarter of fundraising, why would he wait until Friday afternoon to say anything? Glenn was asked about his prior fundraising claims in a Senate debate on Tuesday, and repeatedly ducked and dodged the queries from 9News anchor Kyle Clark. As we detailed in our “Debate Diary”:

Clark asks about Glenn’s poor fundraising, specifically about a discussion he had with Glenn last spring when Glenn said there would be lots of money and that it would prove Clark’s question false. Clark says, “Now, you finished dead last in fundraising. Why lie to a journalist reporting a story to the public?”

Glenn tries to shift the subject to be about how fundraising doesn’t make the candidate. Clark stops him to say that the question is about honesty, not fundraising, and about Glenn claiming that he would have strong financial backing before the GOP Primary.

Naturally…Glenn responds again about how fundraising doesn’t make the candidate and that Clark is disrespecting people who make small donations to his campaign.

You know what would be a pretty good answer to those questions from Clark? I just outraised Bennet this quarter to the tune of $2.8 million.

Look, it’s theoretically possible that Darryl Glenn raised a ridiculous amount of money in the last three months despite being almost completely ignored by Republicans in Colorado and across the country. It’s more likely that Glenn is telling a complete lie to reporters because he knows that nobody will be able to confirm these numbers until the Senate finance reports are made publicly available in 7-10 days. Glenn will be called out for lying about his fundraising numbers at that point, but by then ballots will have already arrived in the mail for most voters, and his bullshit will have no practical effect on the 2016 election.

But until then, Glenn can — and apparently will — say whatever the hell he wants.