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My personal musings about anything that gets on my radar screen--heavily dominated by politics.

2006-11-18

Why Did The GOP in Colorado Lose Last Week?

And not to absolve them of fairly uninspiring campaigning, but . . .

from today's Rocky:

Independent political groups in Colorado raised more than $17 million to dominate this year's battle for control of state government.

Kinda makes you think it was a bi-lateral battle, doesn't it? Like both sides worked it pretty hard through the shadowy corridors of media 527's. Only a hint of reality shows up in paragraph 4:

And just like they did at the polls, Colorado Democrats swamped their Republicans counterparts in spending on races for governor and the state legislature.

Oh, well . . .as long as they limit it to just the state stuff, right? Not so fast . . .

Then you get this hint about how the balance played out . . .

Through last month, Democratic 527 groups had raised $10.8 million, compared with $6.4 million for Republican campaigns . . .

Oh, so it's not quite a fair fight, is it? Or is it?

. . .In the first three weeks of October alone, the independent groups from both sides of the political spectrum raised about $4.5 million. That's more than Democrat Bill Ritter raised during his successful campaign for governor.

Oh. Maybe it was balanced.

Democratic and Republican independent groups poured $1.23 million into four key state Senate races in just 25 days last month.

Sounds balanced still.

Republican and Democratic 527 committees spent about $1.5 million in the first 25 days in October on 11 key state House races

Uh-huh. Still balanced . . .

It isn't until paragraph 34--THIRTY-freakin'-FOUR-- that we find out exactly how the balance played out in the targeted state legislature races.

In all 15 targeted state House and Senate seats, the Democrats were able to outspend the Republicans - in some cases, by 4-to-1 ratios.

Further, in the companion piece and graphic today, we find this useful information [as of this moment, I haven't found the link--this is straight out of the paper]:

In October, the "Coloradans for Life" Committee (there's a bit of a deceptive name, don't you think?) spent $1.09 million on Democrats; that's only a little bit less than the $1.24 million spent by the Trailhead Group on Republicans. Which is all well and good. Until you notice that ALL of the other Republican groups mustered a grand total of $154K in October; the Democratic groups spent over $2 million.

In October the Democratic 527s spent about $1 million on state Senate races, the Republicans a mere $236K; the Dems spent $1.2 mil on state House races, the Republicans a mere $304K.

On one race alone, that for State House District 55 the Democrat 527s spent $161K; the Republican 527s only managed $28K--a more than 5-1 discrepancy.

Where do the Democrats get all that money?

Well, other than Tim Gill and Pat Stryker, there's this beautiful piece of information which all the soccer moms who reflexively listen to the teachers' unions ought to know:

CEA and 3 local affiliates (JCEA, DCTA, BVEA) have given $256,000 to Main Street Colorado...CEA has given $200,000 to Citizens for Progress...CEA and affiliates have given $157,334, and AFT-Colorado $10,000, to Citizens for Colorado...CEA has given $74,300 to Clear Peak Colorado

Now, I'm no math major, but that amounts to . . . .let's see, carry the one . . .

ALMOST $690,000 GIVING TO DEMOCRATIC 527 GROUPS BY TEACHERS' UNIONS

That's more than any Republican 527 Group spent in total with the exception of the Trailhead Group and the slight exception of the Colorado Leadership Fund (which spent $743 K).

So, what are the lessons we must take from this news?

Well, for one, the Democrats have managed, through their surrogates, to buy this election. No, really. They bought this election. Thank you, Mr. McCain, for taking the money out of politics.

And, secondly,

"The Republicans historically were identified as the party of the wealthy individuals," political analyst Eric Sondermann said. "That has changed in the last decade."

And the Republicans have yet to figure out the way this new game is played.
Posted by: Michael / 11/18/2006 10:34:00 PM

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