Romanoff’s Money: The First 21 Days

Former Colorado House speaker Andrew Romanoff has raised more than $200,000 in the first 21 days of his campaign—the same number of days the Democrat challenging incumbent Michael Bennet for U.S. Senate was eligible to collect third-quarter donations. That’s the kind of start Romanoff needs if he is going to pose a serious threat to Bennet, who in the first three months of 2009 set a record for Senate fundraising in a non-election-year cycle, according to The Denver Post. Bennet has $2.5 million, but many of Romanoff’s contributions are from individuals—possible evidence of the grassroots support he’s spun his campaign messaging on so far. ColoradoPols is cautious in its praise of Romanoff, opining that he simply nabbed “low-hanging fruit.” A separate Post article, meanwhile, points out that more than $400,000 of Bennet’s funding has come from donors linked to a combination of hedge funds, securities firms, insurance companies, and real estate interests. That money “doesn’t buy anything from me,” counters Bennet. But he’ll have to convince Democratic voters that he really has the interests of the average Coloradan heart. Right now, Dems appear split—at least in places like Grand Junction, reports the Sentinel.