Remainders: They Work Hard for the Money

Congressional candidates work hard for the money, and it shows in the first-quarter fundraising reports filed on Monday.

This quarter, seven figures marked the high bar for Senate campaign fundraising bragging rights — a large sum for hauls from this early in the cycle.

To be sure, the political fundraising market is different in every state (for example, it’s easier for incumbents to raise money in New Jersey than Alaska). But across the map, senators seeking re-election in 2014 — most of whom of are Democrats — raised big bucks.

Here’s a roundup of Monday’s fundraising announcements and filings: Full story

Colorado: Mark Udall Raises $1.5 Million in First Quarter of Cycle

Udall had a strong first fundraising quarter (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., raised $1.5 million in the first quarter of 2013 and has $2.5 million in the bank to kick off his re-election campaign in 2014.

On paper, the re-election race should worry Senate Democrats: Colorado is a competitive state, and in recent cycles national parties have dumped millions into races there.

But Udall’s supporters list his strong fundraising as one of the reasons the first-term senator does not top this cycle’s list of the most competitive races. More importantly, Udall has yet to field a serious GOP challenger.

Full story

Colorado: Bennet Backs Former Primary Foe for House

Bennet endorsed Romanoff, who is running for the 6th District. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., on Friday endorsed his one-time primary opponent, former state House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, in his campaign for Colorado’s 6th District.

“Andrew Romanoff has a long record of fighting for Coloradans and a commitment to empowering our next generation with greater opportunity,” Bennet, who is now the chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said in a statement.

In 2010, Romanoff displeased many party officials when he challenged Bennet, then an appointed senator.  The primary quickly turned bitter, lasted late into the summer and even pitted former President Bill Clinton against national Democrats. Bennet defeated Romanoff by fewer than 10 points and went on to win a full senate term in November.

What a difference three years makes. Now Democratic Party leaders, including Bennet, are lining up behind Romanoff for what’s expected to be one of the most competitive House races.

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Colorado: Andrew Romanoff Announces Bid Against Mike Coffman

(Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

Former state Speaker Andrew Romanoff announced Saturday that he is running for Congress in Colorado’s 6th District. The Democrat made the announcement on his website. Full story

Colorado: Romanoff Considering House Run

Former Colorado Speaker Andrew Romanoff is thinking about challenging Republican Rep. Mike Coffman for the 6th District in 2014, according to a Politico report.

“I haven’t made much secret of the fact that I’d like to return to public service, and that’s one path I’ve looked at,” he told the paper. “I haven’t made any decision.”

Romanoff is a Bill Clinton loyalist who unsuccessfully challenged Sen. Michael Bennet in the 2010 Democratic primary.

Romanoff shied away from the 6th District contest last cycle.

Coffman defeated Democratic nominee state Rep. Joe Miklosi by about 2 points. Coffman had been in a safe GOP seat, but 2010 redistricting threw him into a pure tossup district. Democrats invested heavily in the race, and it is at the top of their target list in 2014.

DSCC Chairman Bennet Named to Finance Committee

Sen. Michael Bennet will serve on the Finance Committee in the 113th Congress. (CQ Roll Call File Photo)

Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., has landed a coveted seat on the Senate Finance Committee after agreeing to serve as chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the Denver Post is reporting.

Finance is one of the top committees a member can serve on. The panel has jurisdiction over most legislation that runs through the Senate, making it a plum spot from which to fundraise, including from the banking and financial industries. Those connections could serve Bennet well as he raises money for the DSCC in advance of the 2014 elections.

Leadership on both sides of the aisle often use top committee assignments such as Finance as an incentive for reluctant would-be chairmen to agree to run their party’s campaign committee. One recent example is Sen. Patty Murray, D- Wash., who was named to the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee in late 2010, soon after committing to run the DSCC.

GOP Poll: Republican Brand Tarnished Among Hispanics

In the wake of Mitt Romney’s historically poor performance among Hispanic voters, GOP pollster Whit Ayres delivered more sobering news for his party on just how damaged the Republican brand is among that community.

According to a poll Ayres conducted in four battleground states that have high Hispanic populations, Hispanic voters said the GOP does not respect the values and concerns of their community. The GOP’s favorable rating is upside down in each state and the respondents did not equate the GOP with issues that are at the bedrock of the party. Full story

Colorado: State Party Chairmen React to Bennet DSCC Announcement

Sen. Michael Bennet is the new chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. (CQ Roll Call File Photo)

Democrats reacted favorably Tuesday to news that Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado will lead the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in the 2014 cycle. But Republicans were quick to criticize the DSCC’s new chairman.

“Unfortunately, Sen. Bennet’s decision to head the DSCC proves that his priorities now lie outside of Colorado and with the special interests of Washington, D.C.,” Colorado GOP Chairman Ryan Call wrote in a statement. “Sen. Bennet’s new role as head of the DSCC misplaces his priorities and obligations to the people of Colorado,” he added. Call also noted that Bennet’s 2010 campaign was focused on distancing himself from the image of a Washington insider.

Colorado Democratic Party Chairman Rick Palacio issued a crowing statement on Bennet’s new job.

“As Tea Party groups prepare to take over Senate seats in 2014, the American people will discover what Coloradans already know — voices for mainstream values can win out over shrill partisanship,” Palacio wrote. Like Call’s statement, the Palacio comment returns to  2010 campaign themes — in Bennet’s race, the Democrats used terms such as “extreme” in television advertisements to successfully tie his opponent to the tea party.

Presidential Campaigns Make Closing Arguments in Sprint to Election Day

President Barack Obama fires up supporters at a late-night rally in northern Virginia on Saturday. Obama and MItt Romney are barnstorming swing states in the last push to turnout voters on Election Day. (Chris Maddaloni/CQ Roll Call)

President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney made their closing pitches to swelled crowds of swing state supporters in the final weekend before voters deliver their verdict, while top surrogates hit the Sunday show circuit to spin their map to victory on Tuesday.

Much of the debate in the campaign’s final hours has focused on Pennsylvania, where Romney is campaigning today and where President Bill Clinton will stump for Obama on Monday. Republicans insist their last-minute play for the Keystone State is based on polling showing it’s winnable. But Democrats charge that the move is a sign of desperation from a team whose path to 270 electoral votes is narrowing.

Later today, Romney will stop in Morrisville, Pa., a suburb of Philadelphia across the river from New Jersey. The Romney team sought to expand the battleground map with a late multi-million dollar investment on Pennsylvania airwaves, vastly outspending Democrats there in the last two weeks.

“It’s a remarkable juxtaposition here that Mitt Romney will be in the suburbs of Philadelphia today, and, you know, four years ago, Barack Obama was in Indiana,” Romney senior adviser Ed Gillespie said on ABC’s “This Week.” “When you look at where this map has gone, it reflects the — the change and the direction and the momentum toward Governor Romney.  And the fact is that a state like Pennsylvania being in play, a poll out today showing Michigan a dead heat, you know, this — the map has expanded.” Full story

David Axelrod Wagers Mustache on Winning Expanded Battleground States

Top Democratic strategist David Axelrod bet his mustache that President Barack Obama will win Michigan, Minnesota and Pennsylvania next week. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

President Barack Obama’s campaign claimed today that Mitt Romney’s campaign is “flailing” in the final days, with senior strategist David Axelrod betting his mustache that Obama will win the newly minted battlegrounds of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Minnesota.

Axelrod and Obama campaign manager Jim Messina on a conference call with reporters dismissed the Romney campaign’s late charge into those states, despite persistent polling leads for Obama, as a sign that it is losing in the existing battlegrounds and is increasingly desperate to expand the map.

“It’s break glass time in Boston,” Axelrod said. “I’ve put my mustache on the line.”

Messina said Democrats are piling up big leads among early voters in key battleground states including Nevada, Iowa, Ohio, Colorado and Florida.
Axelrod dismissed a question about Obama consistently trailing significantly among independents in polling. Full story

Colorado: Three’s a Crowded TV Market

Democratic Rep. Ed Perlmutter's new district is deemed competitive by Republicans. (Tom Williams CQ/Roll Call File Photo)

As triage news trickles out of the national committees, it is highly doubtful any of it will be about a Colorado House race. The reason? The three competitive House races in the state share the Denver media market.

If one of the committees opts to pull the plug on a candidate, evidence of the move will be subtle. Instead of canceling an ad-buy altogether, the money will most likely stay in Denver, but be directed toward another candidate.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has about $2.9 million in ad reservations in Denver. The National Republican Congressional Committee has about $2.2 million.

The state’s three competitive races are in the 3rd, 6th and 7th districts. There is no indication coming out of the committees or their independent expenditure units of how much they plan to earmark for each race. Rumors abound that one campaign or another is about to get “triaged,” but no credible evidence has surfaced about any committee’s intentions to cut off a candidate.

Full story

Colorado: Everything Stops After Shootings

The voters who live in the Denver-area community where dozens of people were shot in a movie theater are at the center of the presidential contest and struggle for control of the House.

But today, there is no appetite for campaigning — even among the most committed political operatives, and sources say that there has been a mad scramble to pull down any form of political advertising.

“Everything is on hold here,” state Democratic Party spokesman Matt Inzeo said. “It’s a bad day.”

“There’s a time for politics and this is not it,” added Owen Loftus, a campaign spokesman for Rep. Mike Coffman (R). Loftus said that the Congressman has suspended all campaign activities.

Full story

Colorado: Doug Lamborn Survives Primary

After a late scare, Rep. Doug Lamborn won the Republican primary in the 5th district and should win re-election in the fall.

Around 9:30 p.m. the Associated Press called the race for Lamborn, who had 69 percent to self-funding challenger Robert Blaha’s 39 percent with 87 percent of precincts reporting.

Blaha’s early spending was enough to make some of Lamborn’s backers nervous and the Blaha team confident. There was little in the way of public polling, and Blaha’s spending raised eyebrows. Still, in the end, it was not enough. (Except for a brief period when a snafu with AP results accidentally flipped the percentages, causing some confusion among close watchers of the race.)

Blaha heavily outspent Lamborn in the first quarter of the year. But by the time of the pre-primary Federal Election Commission reporting period, Lamborn matched Blaha’s rate of spending.

Lamborn should win re-election in the fall as Roll Cal rates this seat as Safe Republican.

Colorado: Doug Lamborn Vulnerable in GOP Primary

Rep. Doug Lamborn faces a primary against a self-funding opponent. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) is facing the toughest primary of his House career today.

His challenger, wealthy businessman Robert Blaha, has outspent Lamborn in the race for the 5th district over the course of this year. Running as an “outsider,” Blaha charges that while Lamborn has been a reliable conservative, Blaha would be a more effective Member.

Full story

Colorado: Mike Coffman Retracts Obama is ‘Not An American’ Comment

(Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.) recently questioned President Barack Obama’s birthplace and patriotism, then quickly apologized for the comments. The Denver NBC affiliate 9NEWS first broke the story and posted the audio online late Wednesday night.

“I don’t know whether Barack Obama was born in the United States of America. I don’t know that,” Coffman said on Saturday at a fundraiser at the Elbert County Fairgrounds.”But I do know this, that in his heart, he’s not an American. He’s just not an American.”

The comments come as Coffman is in the fight of his career against state Rep. Joe Miklosi (D) in the redrawn 6th district. Full story