With five weeks now until the August 10 primary, Democratic Senate candidate Andrew Romanoff finally has an ad running on television. Not surprisingly, he's harping on his main talking point -- that he's not taking special interest money.
The ad starts with a picture of the U.S. Capitol dotted with neon casino signs and Romanoff's voice saying, "It's like a rigged casino, Congress takes special interest money." Then it shifts to a spinning roulette wheel and a superimposed Wall Street street sign with Romanoff saying, "Wall Street gambles with our economy. Then Washington bails Wall Street out."
You can watch the full ad here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wq9jX8sv4tI
While the graphics don't come close to matching the production value of the series of ads already aired by Romanoff's opponent, Sen. Michael Bennet, they draw a metaphor that's easy to digest.
But, as much as voters and TV viewers can appreciate simple metaphors, we think Romanoff might have drawn an even sharper contrast with Bennet by doing an even simpler ad with lower production quality and saying something like, "Sorry this ad isn't fancier. But, unlike my opponent, I'm not taking a dime of special interest money...."
It will be interesting to see if the television ads can move the polls in Romanoff's direction in the final five weeks. Based on recent polls, he seems to have some ground to make up.
Maes's curious response to apparent campaign finance violations
Reports that gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes is set to pay the steepest campaign finance fine in Colorado history, about $27,000, could be premature, according to, well, Maes himself.
We called Maes on Tuesday to ask about the violations and got his voicemail.
Later that day, Maes emailed supporters Wednesday morning to say he's paying the fines.
"This suit is timed to be publicized in conjunction with the primary vote," Maes wrote in the e-mail. "It is our judgment to agree to the claims, which amount to parking tickets in the grand scheme of things. An example is as minor as not correctly listing the occupation of a donor correctly."
But then Wednesday morning, Maes left me a rather cryptic voicemail saying that he's holding off before paying.
"The hearing is not until July 12," Maes said in the voicemail. "A lot of this got prematurely released, and we don't want to comment any further on it because it's very fluid, things are evolving and -- I want to emphasize -- no fine has been paid. We suspect some things are changing to our advantage, and we want to allow that process to play itself out."
Stay tuned.
Hickenlooper posts strong fundraising quarter
Financial reports posted Tuesday show Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper's gubernatorial campaign raised $503,190 in contributions from April through June. That's roughly three times the haul posted in the quarter by Republican Scott McInnis, Hickenlooper's likely general election opponent who's still facing a primary challenge from Dan Maes.
McInnis's total for the period: $165,917.
"We came into this race a year and $1 million behind," said Hickenlooper's campaign manager Mike Melanson in a statement. "But an outpouring of support for John's success in bringing business sense to government allowed us to have a successful fundraising period. We'll need every dollar available in order to run a positive campaign focused on creating jobs and growing opportunity in Colorado."
Most of Hickenlooper's money, $1.2 million, has already been spent on television advertising time for the fall.
Ahead of DeMint visit, Buck racking up endorsements
Thursday's scheduled rally with South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint is great news for Republican Colorado Senate candidate Ken Buck, who looks to solidify his standing with the conservative base, much of which is very fond of DeMint. It's also good news for Colorado Democrats, already starting to characterize Buck and his primary opponent Jane Norton, as extreme with a new website, www.extremecandidates.com. Should Buck win that primary, look for Democrats to hold Buck accountable for aligning himself with DeMint.
But, with this race becoming the closest and most contentious primary still playing out in Colorado and possibly the entire country, Buck has his hands full just getting through the final five weeks of the primary. Looking to appeal to still-undecided Republicans who will be receiving their ballots in roughly two weeks, Buck is boasting about a couple of recent endorsements, both of which hold appeal to staunch conservatives.
Gun Owners of America endorsed Buck on Wednesday, with the group's vice chairman calling Buck "a strong defender of the Second Amendment with a proven willingness to stand up for the rights of gun owners."
That follows Tuesday's endorsement of Buck by Dick Armey, whose non-profit FreedomWorks organizations helps organize and train Tea Party-type volunteers and activists to the benefit of conservative candidates.
"Ken Buck is the clear choice for true conservatives in this election," Armey said in a statement.
The ad starts with a picture of the U.S. Capitol dotted with neon casino signs and Romanoff's voice saying, "It's like a rigged casino, Congress takes special interest money." Then it shifts to a spinning roulette wheel and a superimposed Wall Street street sign with Romanoff saying, "Wall Street gambles with our economy. Then Washington bails Wall Street out."
You can watch the full ad here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wq9jX8sv4tI
While the graphics don't come close to matching the production value of the series of ads already aired by Romanoff's opponent, Sen. Michael Bennet, they draw a metaphor that's easy to digest.
But, as much as voters and TV viewers can appreciate simple metaphors, we think Romanoff might have drawn an even sharper contrast with Bennet by doing an even simpler ad with lower production quality and saying something like, "Sorry this ad isn't fancier. But, unlike my opponent, I'm not taking a dime of special interest money...."
It will be interesting to see if the television ads can move the polls in Romanoff's direction in the final five weeks. Based on recent polls, he seems to have some ground to make up.
Maes's curious response to apparent campaign finance violations
Reports that gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes is set to pay the steepest campaign finance fine in Colorado history, about $27,000, could be premature, according to, well, Maes himself.
We called Maes on Tuesday to ask about the violations and got his voicemail.
Later that day, Maes emailed supporters Wednesday morning to say he's paying the fines.
"This suit is timed to be publicized in conjunction with the primary vote," Maes wrote in the e-mail. "It is our judgment to agree to the claims, which amount to parking tickets in the grand scheme of things. An example is as minor as not correctly listing the occupation of a donor correctly."
But then Wednesday morning, Maes left me a rather cryptic voicemail saying that he's holding off before paying.
"The hearing is not until July 12," Maes said in the voicemail. "A lot of this got prematurely released, and we don't want to comment any further on it because it's very fluid, things are evolving and -- I want to emphasize -- no fine has been paid. We suspect some things are changing to our advantage, and we want to allow that process to play itself out."
Stay tuned.
Hickenlooper posts strong fundraising quarter
Financial reports posted Tuesday show Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper's gubernatorial campaign raised $503,190 in contributions from April through June. That's roughly three times the haul posted in the quarter by Republican Scott McInnis, Hickenlooper's likely general election opponent who's still facing a primary challenge from Dan Maes.
McInnis's total for the period: $165,917.
"We came into this race a year and $1 million behind," said Hickenlooper's campaign manager Mike Melanson in a statement. "But an outpouring of support for John's success in bringing business sense to government allowed us to have a successful fundraising period. We'll need every dollar available in order to run a positive campaign focused on creating jobs and growing opportunity in Colorado."
Most of Hickenlooper's money, $1.2 million, has already been spent on television advertising time for the fall.
Ahead of DeMint visit, Buck racking up endorsements
Thursday's scheduled rally with South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint is great news for Republican Colorado Senate candidate Ken Buck, who looks to solidify his standing with the conservative base, much of which is very fond of DeMint. It's also good news for Colorado Democrats, already starting to characterize Buck and his primary opponent Jane Norton, as extreme with a new website, www.extremecandidates.com. Should Buck win that primary, look for Democrats to hold Buck accountable for aligning himself with DeMint.
But, with this race becoming the closest and most contentious primary still playing out in Colorado and possibly the entire country, Buck has his hands full just getting through the final five weeks of the primary. Looking to appeal to still-undecided Republicans who will be receiving their ballots in roughly two weeks, Buck is boasting about a couple of recent endorsements, both of which hold appeal to staunch conservatives.
Gun Owners of America endorsed Buck on Wednesday, with the group's vice chairman calling Buck "a strong defender of the Second Amendment with a proven willingness to stand up for the rights of gun owners."
That follows Tuesday's endorsement of Buck by Dick Armey, whose non-profit FreedomWorks organizations helps organize and train Tea Party-type volunteers and activists to the benefit of conservative candidates.
"Ken Buck is the clear choice for true conservatives in this election," Armey said in a statement.
