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Money makes the pols go 'round

Senate campaign likely to set new spending record

By Lynn Bartels, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published June 2, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Two days after winning his party's nomination, U.S. Senate candidate Bob Schaffer went back to a necessary chore in politics: raising money.

"A lot of it is one on one," said Schaffer's campaign manager, Dick Wadhams. "We're not going to raise more money than (Democratic congressman) Mark Udall, but we are going to raise what we need to win this race."

The match between Schaffer and Udall is expected to be the costliest political battle in Colorado history.

The last U.S. Senate race in Colorado, between Republican Pete Coors and Democrat Ken Salazar in 2004, cost around $16 million.

Federal finance reports show Schaffer had $2.2 million in the bank for the campaign at the end of March, while Udall had $4.2 million. The two candidates are vying for the open U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Republican Wayne Allard.

Having the most money doesn't always translate into winning, Wadhams said, noting that Allard was outspent by his opponents.

In addition to money raised by the the Udall and Schaffer campaigns, outside groups are expected to pour millions into the race through TV ads promoting their guy and attacking his opponent. Some of those groups - called 527s for the section of the tax code that regulates them - can raise unlimited money. Some groups don't have to make their donors public.

"I think 527s are an unfortunate reality of politics," Schaffer said in a news conference after he received the nomination Saturday at the state Republican convention in Broomfield.

He blamed "people back in Washington" for trying to create campaign finance rules that he believes help incumbents and the well-heeled. The result, Schaffer said, is that "freedom-seeking Americans will find their way to exercise their rights to free speech."

GOP presidential nominee John McCain, an Arizona senator, sponsored campaign-finance reform legislation that critics say limits free speech.

Schaffer, of Fort Collins, is a former congressman who stepped down in 2002 to honor his term-limits pledge. He ran for the U.S. Senate in 2004 and got more delegate votes than Coors at the state convention, but lost the primary.

At least one person at the 2008 state convention in Broomfield on Saturday was spotted wearing Schaffer's T-shirt from the '04 campaign.

Udall, a five-term congressman from Eldorado Springs, had a tiny role in the 2004 race. He was a candidate for about about 24 hours, but pulled out and threw his support behind Salazar, who went on to become a U.S. senator.

bartels@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5327

Comments

  • June 2, 2008

    1:05 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    redge.barnhill writes:

    Udall has loads of money, and much of it has come from labor unions. He accepted over 75k from labor interests in the first quarter of this year alone. No wonder, with his support for the Employee Free Choice Act, the bill pushed by Big Labor that will take away secret elections from the unionization process. He voted for it in the house, and is sure to do it again if elected to senate...