April 04, 2018 01:29 PM UTC

The English is Not So Good Here

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• by: Colorado Pols

In every election cycle there is at least one high-profile campaign that, for whatever reason, appears to be snakebitten at every turn. We’re still more than six months away from the General Election, but the gubernatorial campaign for Cynthia Coffman is the clear frontrunner as the biggest dumpster fire of 2018. Here’s more proof for that claim…

The vast majority of digital ads that appear on Colorado Pols are propagated through the Google Display Network. We have nothing to do with the content or placement of these advertisements; our role is to provide the relevant audience and the space — in the form of banner ads at the top of the page and “hi-rise” ads on the right-hand side — in exchange for a portion of the ad revenue.

The reason we bring this up is because you might have seen an advertisement on this site touting Coffman for Governor that is paid for by the independent expenditure committee (IEC) “Stronger Colorado Ahead” (see image at right).

Now, if we had anything to do with the creation or placement of this advertisement, we would have suggested that someone at “Stronger Colorado Ahead” take an extra moment to proofread the text that accompanies the image of the Attorney General. The advertisement definitely uses English letters and words…just not in a particularly helpful order:

Cynthia Coffman is THE only conservative leader to win back the Governor’s seat in November

Huh? From the manner in which this is worded, you would be forgiven for thinking that Coffman won the race for Governor last November. We also wouldn’t have put the word “THE” in all CAPS, but that’s a secondary problem.

There are only two sentences of text in this ad. Here is the second:

Vote Cynthia Coffman for Republican Governor on April 14th

Vote Coffman for “Republican Governor.” Not “Democratic Governor,” or “Independent Governor,” or “Idaho Governor.”

The Denver Post reported in January that the “Stronger Colorado Ahead” IEC is largely financed by oil and gas interests. At the end of 2017, “Stronger Colorado Ahead” had raised significantly more money than Coffman’s actual campaign itself (which helps explain this story).