Colorado Race for U.S. Senate Seat:
Big Money Doesn’t (Always) Buy Votes
September 6, 2010
In Colorado, the biggest statewide fundraising politician this election season has been junior Democratic U.S. Senator, Michael Bennet, who reportedly has raised more than $7 million. Ironically, however, Bennet received only 184,714 votes during the recent Democratic primary, fewer than the significantly less-generously funded Republicans eager to take over for him in Washington. While the winner of the Republican primary for this race, Ken Buck, garnered 211,099 votes, he managed to raise only $1.26 million prior to the primary. His primary challenger, former Lieutenant Governor Jane Norton, who raised more than twice as much as Buck but considerably less than Bennet—$2.8 million—received fewer votes than Buck but more than Bennet: 198,231.
In the Colorado gubernatorial race, primary contenders raised the following funds and received the following numbers of votes (Uncontested Democratic gubernatorial primary candidate, Denver mayor John Hickenlooper, raised more than $2.3 million.):
Dan Maes: $190,000 197,629 votes
Scott McInnis: $2.1 million 192,479 votes
As we’ve said before, big money does not necessarily equate to better politics. Or more votes. Yet, according to Opensecrets.com, Bennet doesn’t even make the top-ten list of fundraising politicians from across the country running for open U.S. Senate seats:
McMahon, Linda (R)
(Connecticut Senate) $22,110,751
McCain, John (R)
(Arizona Senate) $18,230,509
Brown, Scott P (R)
(Massachusetts Senate) $17,005,388
Schumer, Charles E (D)
(New York Senate) $16,096,120
Greene, Jeff (D)
(Florida Senate) $14,422,024
Reid, Harry (D)
(Nevada Senate) $13,762,064
Boxer, Barbara (D)
(California Senate) $12,954,734
Rubio, Marco (R)
(Florida Senate) $12,818,566
Crist, Charlie (I)
(Florida Senate) $12,490,035
Gillibrand, Kirsten (D)
(New York Senate) $11,283,256
Apparently the big-money-doesn’t-necessarily-equate-to-more-votes theory does ring true outside Colorado, however. In Florida, Jeff Greene, who raised more than $14 million during his campaign, lost to Democratic primary challenger Representative Kendrick Meek, who raised only a mere $7 million. While on par with Bennet-level fundraising but not quite up there with the big dogs, Meek will face top-tier fundraisers Republican Marco Rubio and Independent Charles Crist in November. Stay tuned.
—Sherry Seiber
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