Pace Raises $100K in 30 Days, Will Stay on as Minority Leader

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by: Colorado Pols

Democrat Sal Pace is off to a fast start in his bid to unseat freshman Republican Rep. Scott Tipton in CD-3. As The Pueblo Chieftain reports:

Colorado House Minority Leader Sal Pace raised $100,000 during the first 30 days of his candidacy to challenge Republican U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton, Pace’s campaign announced Friday.

Pace also said he plans to stay in his minority leadership role in the House next legislative session despite the target that House Republicans likely will place on him as a congressional challenger to a member of their party…

…If Pace were to sustain the fundraising rate he enjoyed during the first month of his campaign – a tall order – he would amass a war chest of $1.8 million by the November 2012 general election. That would constitute about 50 percent more than the $1.2 million Tipton collected by Election Day last November when he unseated incumbent Democrat John Salazar.

For comparison’s sake, Tipton raised $176,064 in the first quarter of this year (the Q2 reporting period ended on June 30, but reports won’t show up online until the middle of July). Tipton’s Q1 report showed his campaign with a total of $166,852 cash on hand, but with $136,459 in debts still owed by his committee.

The Chieftain also notes that Colorado’s CD-3 has not been identified by the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) as a Top 10 seat to protect, though it’s likely that Tipton will still see strong support from the NRCC. But with all of Tipton’s early problems, from his Medicare shackles to errors of his own doing, the NRCC won’t have a lot of patience for him if he doesn’t start raising a lot more money while making a lot fewer mistakes.

Perhaps the most interesting note in Saturday’s story is that Pace says he plans to continue to serve as House Minority Leader in the 2012 legislative session. Whether to resign or stay is always a difficult decision for sitting legislators running for higher office, in large part because the legislative session sucks up an enormous amount of time that candidates need to use for fundraising. In Pace’s case, this was the right decision; his leadership status will make sure that he gets his name in the local newspapers more often than if he were a full-time candidate, and that earned media coverage can be as useful as some of the money he might otherwise be raising for paid ads later.

10 thoughts on “Pace Raises $100K in 30 Days, Will Stay on as Minority Leader”

ArapaGOP says:

July 5, 2011 at 10:03 pm

Every campaign posts a big first number because the candidate is calling in all of his chits. The real question is whether Pace can hold his (hehe) pace, and I say he won’t be able to. He does not have the connections Tipton has.

Why don’t you ever talk about how wealthy Tipton is, btw? Complicates your hapless pottery maker straw man?

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1. Colorado Pols says:
  
  July 5, 2011 at 10:11 pm
  
  We’ve always talked about Tipton’s wealth.
  
  You have your conspiracy theories all twisted around here. Portraying Tipton as an affable pottery maker would be good for Tipton. You’re not doing him any favors by trying to discourage that while also reminding people of how wealthy he is.
  
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  1. caroman says:
    
    July 5, 2011 at 10:52 pm
    
    Because David Brooks says the GOP may no longer be a normal party. And, by extension, ArapaGOP may not be a normal person.
    
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  2. Libertad says:
    
    July 6, 2011 at 12:01 am
    
    Ensconced as the minority leader enables a multitude of campaign contribution angles.
    
    Just for instance, what are there 500-800 bills introduced? How these are handled and who sponsors them are typically used by politicians in these situations (minority leader running for. Congress) to extract new and more beneficial fundraising opportunities for the upcoming years race. In this case it’s 18 or so months away.
    
    The downside of course is the damage done to ones own party, the house democratic caucus and ones fellow members as conflicting goals and objectives take hold of the decision making process.
    
    I do find it interesting that Pols has not used or pitched the wealth angle. I recall that Congressman Tipton is a multimillionaire, of course as a small businessman and investor he risked his own capital, forwent month long paid family vacations, government employee sponsored sabbaticals, paid for his own healthcare, and his “PERA benefit” was of course the invested capital in the businesses he owes.
    
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    1. gertie97 says:
      
      July 6, 2011 at 12:18 am
      
      Inheriting substantial wealth makes it pretty darn easy to be the nice little pottery guy and plain ol’ Western Slope guy.
      
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    2. ArapaGOP says:
      
      July 6, 2011 at 4:39 am
      
      Sometimes you ring true. Nice work!
      
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    3. Diogenesdemar says:
      
      July 6, 2011 at 7:42 am
      
      Congressman Tipton . . . forwent month long paid family vacations, government employee sponsored sabbaticals, paid for his own healthcare . . .
      
      — that Tipton’s not French?
      
      Your straw man blargle blargle is getting weaker by the day, kid.
      
      (And, if you’re insinuating that Pace did get these corporate-officer level perks, then it’s time to show your work, genius.)
      
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    4. Colorado Pols says:
      
      July 6, 2011 at 7:57 pm
      
      In 2006, Tipton put about $157,000 into his unsuccessful bid in CD-3. He only contributed about $2,000 in 2010.
      
      We’ve talked about Tipton’s personal wealth in the past, but only where it’s relevant. Being independently wealthy isn’t exactly a rare thing for a candidate for Congress.
      
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2. BlueCat says:
  
  July 5, 2011 at 10:15 pm
  
  We aren’t advising you to panic just yet.
  
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3. JeffcoBlue says:
  
  July 6, 2011 at 1:07 am
  
  Let’s talk about Scott Tipton of Vectra Bank and the bailout money. Let’s talk about Tipton’s completely fake country boy image. Let’s talk more about that.
  
  Idiot…
  
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