Polis Raises...?...in Q4

Cool million

Does this mean anything with Jared? Of course he's going to have the money. Pols hit the obvious nail; no names suggests more self financing. If there are names, or a meaningful portion of donations coming from small donors, why wouldn't they mention it?

We've seen what Shafroth raised (and his slightly odd list), any news on JFG? An impressive showing from her should surely mean great news for that team.

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by: IOnCO @ Tue Jan 08, 2008 at 00:23:09 AM UTC

Open government Polis...

"Open government" Polis once again discloses as little information as possible. You would think he would want to lead by example. Apparently it is more of a "do as I say, not as I do" mentality.  

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by: WinstonSmith @ Tue Jan 08, 2008 at 00:40:11 AM UTC

What a wonk...

What other information are you looking for, Winston?  All the blather you could ever want is available from the FEC, but only wonks care about it.  I think it's a smart move to focus press releases on what the public wants to know - POLIS RAISED A MILLION DOLLARS.

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by: Jeff Bridges @ Tue Jan 08, 2008 at 01:08:29 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Yes Jeff

We already know that you are so biased you couldn't see something if you hit you in the face. What we would all like to see is how much money he raised this quarter. So knock off the holier than thou attitude. The point is, did he raise $180k this quarter to make him top $1 million? Or, was it $350k like Pols guesses at. It depends on whether he is including his self funding into the picture.

But, according to you, the public doesn't care how much of his own money he invests. I would think you are clueless about what people really care about, but my guess is you are just blinded by your bias. Everything Polis can and will do is rosy to you.

I can say one positive thing though, you certainly spin things better than his campaign. Maybe you should offer your services to them. You might actually get paid for unwavering support of Polis.

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by: WinstonSmith @ Tue Jan 08, 2008 at 04:00:04 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

No not really, Winston

So you think what people really care about is how much Polis raised this quarter?  Not the fact that he is the first candidate in the country to break the $1M mark in an open seat race?  Hmm.  Thanks for the job advice, but I have to say that if you're thinking about a career in PR I'd strongly advise against it.

Yes, people want to know how much of that $1M is his own money, and I'm happy to eat my words on this one if I'm wrong, but campaigns generally don't brag about breaking a fundraising record if it comes from the candidate.  That just makes you look silly when people find out.

When Coloradopols puts a question mark in the headline for a story about a candidate who broke a national fundraising record, well, that's just bias.

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by: Jeff Bridges @ Tue Jan 08, 2008 at 06:30:06 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Jeff

Seriously. He could have broken that mark whenever he wanted. He already dumped a ton into this race BEFORE this quarter. Even if he didn't drop a dime this quarter, I still think people would like to know if the $1 million mark was with our without his money. I can't believe that you really disagree that this is a point of interest for voters.

If he actually raised $1 million, then it would be MORE interesting to voters. If he raised less than that by a significant margin (but reached $1 million by putting his own money in), then it would be of LESS interest to voters. I'm not trying to do PR here, I'm just spelling it out as simple as I can. Clarifying this for everyone would take two seconds, but instead he chooses to play the spin game--just like you.

You have yet to be reasonable in any post regarding Jared Polis. My point now (and my original point) is that he is not sharing that information. They didn't accidentally. leave it out of the press release (I suppose they could have--they do make a lot of mistakes). That raises the question of why they didn't include this information. Seems to me he is hiding something. I'm willing to bet he only broke $1 million with his own funds. If you can't see that as a reasonable assertion--and one voters would care about--I'm don't where you are coming from.

If you want to keep cheerleading for Polis, please continue. If you want to have a reasonable discussion about what is going on with our reasonable biases towards particular candidates please join me.

As for the snide PR comment, you may be doing adequate PR for Jared Polis--but you are doing horrible PR for yourself.

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by: WinstonSmith @ Tue Jan 08, 2008 at 06:49:00 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I just have to ask

Are you basing this lambasting on Pol's article, or is it based on information from Polis himself? And if it is based on just Pol's writing, have you considered the idea of simply WRITING to Polis himself and asking him? Just like the other politicians, I would bet that he is very approachable and will not bite you.


Or do you just prefer to make things up and sound off with little to no information?

I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.

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by: windbourne @ Tue Jan 08, 2008 at 23:49:02 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Was basing it on the Press Release

It doesn't disclose the standard information that such press releases disclose. It is as simple as that.

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by: WinstonSmith @ Wed Jan 09, 2008 at 01:24:14 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

So...

Write him. See if he answers. My guess is that we will not hear anything near this much from the other 2, but that is strictly a WAG.  And as most have figured out, I am not that political, other than knowing some of the current republicans and a few dems from the 80s.

I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.

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by: windbourne @ Wed Jan 09, 2008 at 02:09:47 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Finally...

The voice of reason.  Thank you, windbourne.

And I think the vast majority of reasonable people understand that Q4 results aren't as interesting as setting a national record by breaking the $1m mark.  Not mentioning the Q4 total in their press release wasn't hiding information, it was good media relations - focus on what's best for your candidate and answer the other questions when people ask.

If you really must have them, Q4 numbers will be available from the FEC soon enough since, you know, campaigns are legally required to disclose them on their finance reports.

By the way, if any other candidate in Colorado, including a Republican, set a national fundrasing record, well, it'd get a much different reaction on this blog than the one Jared's received.

---Winston, sorry if you were offended by my PR remark.  My feelers were hurt by your "hit you in the face" snipe at me! ;-)  Pot, meet kettle.  Nothing personal, Winston, but if you can't take it then you shouldn't dish it out.  If, on the other hand, you'd like to have what you called "a reasonable discussion about what is going on," then try not to act like a jerk.

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by: Jeff Bridges @ Wed Jan 09, 2008 at 22:51:04 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Feelings weren't hurt at all

I don't know where you got that idea from. And from my point of view, it is you who is acting like a jerk with your mindless cheerleading--not me.

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by: WinstonSmith @ Wed Jan 09, 2008 at 22:57:04 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

At Colorado Pols

We always report fundraising numbers, for any campaign, on a quarterly basis. The headline here is always about the quarter for consistency's sake.  

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by: Colorado Pols @ Wed Jan 09, 2008 at 23:07:36 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

First in the Country to Break $1M

Pols, showing their bias once again, didn't pull out the most important piece of information from the release - Jared Polis is the first candidate in the country to raise over a million dollars in an open seat race.

If Joan had broken that record the Pols folks would have screamed about in the headline, instead of putting in that crap about the far less important Q4 total.

I can't wait for your "Drunken Sailor" chart, Pols - you know, the one where you conveniently forget that Jared can spend as much as we wants because he's a bajillionaire?

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by: Jeff Bridges @ Tue Jan 08, 2008 at 01:13:42 AM UTC

Is the word "raise" accurate?

If Polis is self-financing, then "raised" isn't truthful Jeff. That's why we'll just have to wait and see what the records show us, not what the spinners like you want us to believe.  

"Suddenly, it may be cool to be American again" - William J. Kole

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by: Go Blue @ Tue Jan 08, 2008 at 05:44:03 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

You sure, Pols?

The 650k in the link is just money raised. Doesn't include personal contributions. FEC reports he actually had 800k after last quarter.

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by: BoulderDem @ Tue Jan 08, 2008 at 01:27:05 AM UTC

Yeah

I'm wondering if he just raised enough to put his total (including self-funding) at $1 million. That would mean he raised around $180k this quarter. Quite a difference from $350k.

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by: WinstonSmith @ Tue Jan 08, 2008 at 04:01:03 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Joan FitzGerald Donates to Shafroth!

Read about it at State38!

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by: Jeff Bridges @ Tue Jan 08, 2008 at 06:31:17 AM UTC

Whoa... Sorry about that, folks.

I was checking to see how ColoradoPols did links in their comments section and accidentally posted it.  I tried to figure out how to delete the comment, but can't.  Ugh.  Pols folks - please delete this and my previous spam-like comment if you can.  Thanks, and many apologies.

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by: Jeff Bridges @ Tue Jan 08, 2008 at 06:36:59 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

good one.

you got me to look.

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by: Barron X @ Tue Jan 08, 2008 at 06:40:54 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Got a question for Jared

and the other two? If so, please click here to post it for the online debate.

Where all the cool kids will be on Saturday - Code War!

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by: DavidThi808 @ Wed Jan 09, 2008 at 01:24:44 AM UTC