Rossputin.com Rational Thinking About Our World

A few thoughts on the various Q3 political fundraising reports, as reported in this story by the Rocky Mountain News:

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/elections/article/0,2808,DRMN_24736_5723835,00.html

First, regarding the Schaffer vs. Udall race to replace Senator Wayne Allard who is retiring, despite the spin of Udall’s campaign manager Bob Schaffer should be happy with his Q3 fundraising results as he raises money in an environment that is exceptionally unfriendly for Republicans at the moment. For Schaffer to raise nearly 80% of what Udall raised in a political climate like this is a real achievement.

In any case, the real money chase in this senate race will be between 527 groups. Left wing groups and especially environmental groups will pour a lot of money into Udall’s campaign. I hope that the Club for Growth and other pro-free market and conservative groups can match the organization and motivation of the left and bring substantial resources to Schaffer’s campaign. I also hope that Udall’s obvious (to me) inferiority as a candidate and an intellect will cause independent voters to contribute to Schaffer or at least not contribute to Udall. Time will tell…

Second, regarding Joan Fitz-Gerald’s small fundraising lead over Jared Polis in the race to replace Mark Udall in Colorado’s 2nd Congressional District, given Polis’ personal resources it’s hard to imagine that Fitz-Gerald is feeling particularly confident in that lead or that Polis reacted to the news with more than a yawn.

For the record, the winner of this Democratic primary will be my representative in Congress since a Republican hasn’t held this seat in over 30 years. Given that, I expect to support Jared Polis even though he is a Democrat. Joan Fitz-Gerald is sort of like Hillary Clinton with less personal warmth, a greater interest in big government, and roughly an equal sense of ethics. People I know who have worked with Fitz-Gerald think that my estimation of her is too generous.

Third, in the 5th Congressional District, for incumbent Doug Lamborn to only have raised $10,000 more than Jeff Crank points to Lamborn being exceptionally vulnerable. As my regular readers know, I certainly hope that he is. Additionally the absolute amount raised by Lamborn, at about $85,000, compared to an average of $290,000 for Fitz-Gerald, Polis, and Marilyn Musgrave show how little enthusiasm there is for Congressman Lamborn. I continue to hope that the Club for Growth will not come to Doug Lamborn’s rescue as they did in 2006 because that could do serious damage to the Club’s ability to help Bob Schaffer, at least among Colorado contributors.