February 07, 2013 12:36 PM UTC

Udall Growing Sizable War Chest for Re-Election

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• by: Colorado Pols

Democratic Sen. Mark Udall has already been busy raising money for his 2014 re-election bid, even though he doesn't yet have a Republican opponent. Udall ended the last reporting period with $1,358,707 in the bank, and as Fox 31 reported earlier this week:

But any Republican may have a harder time convincing donors, discouraged after putting so much money into losing campaigns over the past several cycles, to ante up again, especially so soon after the record spending and ultimate disappointment of 2012.

Both Palacio and Carpenter noted that Udall’s fundraising is all the more impressive for having come in a year where Democratic donors were focused on a presidential race and other congressional and state legislative battles.

“His fundraising numbers are especially impressive given the fact that a third of U.S. Senate seats were contested and raising funds in 2012,” Palacio said.

We were curious at how Udall's numbers stacked up against previous incumbent Senators in Colorado, but then we remembered that it's been 10 years since we had a (non-appointed, noted) incumbent Senator running for re-election. Republican Sen. Wayne Allard's was the true incumbent Colorado Senator to win re-election (2002):

• 2004: Ken Salazar elected to fill seat of retiring Sen. Ben "Nighthorse" Campbell
• 2008: Mark Udall elected to fill seat of retiring Sen. Wayne Allard
• 2010: Michael Bennet elected to full term after being appointed to replace Salazar in 2009.