April 15, 2010 11:16 PM UTC

Buck Doesn't Bring Home The...Um...Bucks

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• by: Colorado Pols

Republican Ken Buck’s campaign for U.S. Senate has apparently released fundraising figures, and while they aren’t as bad as his pathetic $40,000 in the last quarter of 2009, they ain’t good, either.

Buck announced total receipts of $218,791, which includes a $100,000 loan to the campaign. In other words, Buck raised about $119,000 in Q1. To put that in comparison, former Senate candidate and current GOP challenger in CD-7, Ryan Frazier, raised $230,000 in Q1.

Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet raised almost 14 times more money in Q1 than Buck. GOP Challenger Jane Norton’s $816,000 in Q1 is a good eight times more than what Buck raised.

Not only are these terrible numbers for a U.S. Senate candidate, but Buck’s low fundraising totals are really going to start shining a spotlight on the outside interest groups running ads for Buck and how much coordination might be going on with his campaign. As Norton’s spokesperson said earlier this week:

Americans for Job Security is a 501 c(6), which doesn’t have to provide individual donor lists – something decried among some Democrats and Republicans as a non-transparent way to heavily influence a campaign…

…”Ken Buck has shown absolutely no ability to earn financial support, instead relying on more than $1.1 million in attack ads bought by out-of-state interest groups,” he said in an email. “This is campaign finance abuse at its worse, and Ken Buck’s sanction has moved from implied to explicit with his gleeful embrace of 527 cash from Washington special interests.”