October 07, 2009 04:06 PM UTC

Romanoff: 21 Days, $200,000

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• by: Colorado Pols

As the Denver Post reports:

The campaign for U.S. Senate candidate-come-lately Andrew Romanoff said Tuesday that it had raised more than $200,000 in the 21 days he was eligible to collect donations in the third quarter.

Romanoff needed a big start to show he’s viable, though he will have to keep up the pace to compete with the fundraising juggernaut of Sen. Michael Bennet, who has taken in $2.5 million and counting since his appointment in January, analysts say.

Romanoff fundraisers collected cash from more than 1,500 individuals, said spokeswoman Joelle Martinez, using that figure to bolster Romanoff’s image as the race’s grassroots candidate…

$200,000 divided by 21 days equals $9,523 per day. Given the reduced amount of time Andrew Romanoff had to raise funds compared to opponent Michael Bennet, the per-day number is the best indicator available for how Romanoff is matching up so far. Extrapolating that per-day figure across 90 days, or one whole quarter of fundraising, $9,523 a day would total just over $857,000.

Of course extrapolated money isn’t real, and Romanoff’s early fundraising was the low-hanging fruit. We expect Bennet will report more than a million dollars for the third consecutive quarter, so will Romanoff’s curved total be enough to stay viable? This brief fundraising quarter was a free pass for Romanoff, so to speak. Now the real work begins; what he raises in Q4 will say a lot about whether he can really win a primary against Bennet. Ultimately, this brief report doesn’t tell us much. It isn’t high enough to get overly excited, but it isn’t low enough to worry about, either.