April 11, 2012 02:52 AM UTC

It's Good To Be a Beer, But Perlmutter No Slouch

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• by: Colorado Pols

AP’s Ivan Moreno:

[Joe] Coors’ campaign said Tuesday he raised about $449,300 for the period that ends April 15. The great-grandson of brewery founder Adolph Coors announced Jan. 31 that he would run for Denver’s suburban 7th District. He’s challenging an incumbent whose working-class, roll-up-your-sleeves persona has resonated with voters who have re-elected him twice.

Perlmutter’s campaign said he’s expected to report later next week that he raised about $371,600.

“We’ll never have as much money as the other side, but the hardworking people in the 7th CD know and trust Ed Perlmutter to represent them and uphold their values, and that will be seen in this election,” Leslie Oliver, Perlmutter’s spokeswoman, said in a statement.

We haven’t seen whether this big initial haul for Joe “Not a Beer” Coors is made up more of his own funds, or that of his many wealthy friends–after all, we’re talking about a family that has bankrolled some of the biggest household names in conservative politics. Whether writing his own check or calling in chits from years of largesse, it was always a given that Coors would be well-funded if he decided to get in this race, for as long as he wished to be.

Our guess is incumbent Rep. Ed Perlmutter will use this number to, in marketing speak, “build urgency” for this quarter’s efforts. Perlmutter’s $371,000 Q1 falls a little short of Coors’ nominal take, but it’s nothing to be ashamed of–certainly not if Coors is self-funding.