February 09, 2013 11:01 AM UTC

Now Is NOT The Time For "Pollyandrew"

•  
• by: Colorado Pols

As support grows for former Colorado House Speaker Andrew Romanoff's bid to unseat incumbent GOP Rep. Mike Coffman in 2014, there's been an…unsettling detail nagging at many Democratic political insiders. Kurtis Lee of the Denver Post reported as Romanoff announced his CD-6 bid, and commenters here have noted Romanoff's pledges to shun donations from political action committees (PACs), and other "special interest" sources of money. During Romanoff's 2010 loss in the Democratic primary to Sen. Michael Bennet, Romanoff indicated that, if nominated, he might not even accept help from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC).

Although some base Democrats considered this noble in a primary against the well-funded Bennet, Romanoff's pledge was widely panned by political insiders as evidence of an amateurish campaign, unprepared for what lay ahead in the general election. In hindsight, after the 2010 U.S. Senate race between Bennet and GOP nominee Ken Buck broke records for massive fundraising and spending, this contemptuous view of Romanoff's "Pollyannish" pledge was seemingly borne out by the facts.

So it shouldn't be a surprise if there's consternation today among insiders that:

In this new race, Romanoff is already saying he won’t accept PAC or “special interest” money in his bid for the House.  This decision may put him in an untenable political position late in the general election, should he become the Democratic nominee…

Folks, there is certainly a case to be made in favor of a strong ethical stand against the unchecked role of money in politics. We and most of you would be hypocrites if we didn't say so. The problem is that one cannot unilaterally disarm against a candidate not bound by such a pledge and still hope to win an election. In the case of Rep. Coffman, you have someone who has proven powerfully adept at raising vast amounts of money, and then leveraging that money into a campaign that is simply capable of outclassing his opponents. No matter how distasteful Romanoff might find PAC money, the idea that he can defeat Mike Coffman without every available dollar…there's no nice way to say it: this is what convinced a lot of people in 2010 that Romanoff was not ready for prime time.

Primary or no primary, it's something that needs to be understood. Romanoff will be forced to abandon this pledge if he has any real desire to defeat Coffman, and that probably means it's a pledge he should have left behind with his 2010 primary loss. For our part, other than noting the folly of having remade this silly pledge to begin with, we'll call it a positive development for Romanoff the moment he ditches it.