Update, 1/19: (H/T Business Word) According to Denver Post political editor Curtis Hubbard, Maes’ 4th quarter campaign take is actually lower than the previous quarter. And his campaign treasurer “seems to be missing in action” to turn in the report. It almost goes without saying that this adds up to seriously bad news for the upstart candidate.
Perhaps the biggest knock against the upstart Republican gubernatorial campaign of Evergreen businessman Dan Maes has been his weak fundraising. He only pulled in $12,194 during the third quarter, from a total of 37 contributors.
No one realistically expects Maes to achieve fundraising parity with frontrunner Scott McInnis (who brought in $544,779 and $479,575 in the two recent reporting periods, respectively). But it would help Maes’ cause greatly to be in the same league.
While Dan Maes’ fourth quarter fundraising report has yet to be posted on the Colorado Secretary of State’s campaign finance website, he did offer me a sneak preview with an email note sent late last night:
We tripled the number of donors in Q4 over Q3 and in just that last week we raised more than in all of Q4.
That last week would be here in January after Bill Ritter announced he won’t run for re-election and the series of events that has led to Denver mayor John Hickenlooper stepping in to take his place.
If the early days of 2010 are any indication, it would mark a hugely positive trend line for the Dan Maes campaign. The question is whether it’s too little, too late. Only 58 days ’til Caucus Night and we begin to see if the late fundraising momentum translates into something even better for the underdog — perhaps hoping, as the Grand Junction Sentinel reports, that the Pinon Canyon eminent domain issue will help his cause.
Ben,
Dan won’t say how much he raised. I asked him. If he’s under $200,000 to $300,000, I think he’s toast.
Don
Well, it’s all but certain he’s under that amount at the end of 4Q, based on his remarks. But if his fundraising has picked up as much as he says during January and keeps it up, he’ll sure make it interesting.
He just told me “about the same as 4th quarter.” About $12k.