September 17, 2014 03:35 PM UTC

Coffman Surrogates Flail While Dems Hit Harder

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• by: Colorado Pols

As the Denver Post's Jon Murray reports, the Nancy Pelosi hate is back from GOP-aligned supporters of embattled GOP Rep. Mike Coffman, who are apparently still hoping the San Francisco congresswoman can drive 2010's "wave" voters back to the polls in Colorado:

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce disclosed that it’s spending $300,000 to place the ad widely. The group previously has spent more than $450,000 in support of Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman’s re-election campaign against Romanoff, the former Colorado House speaker, in suburban Denver’s 6th Congressional District.

The ad’s message isn’t too surprising — it’s a gut-level appeal to voters who might be turned off by Pelosi, who’s raised money for Romanoff — but the claims made in it get plenty of pushback from the Romanoff campaign.

Romanoff on Monday used the ad in a fundraising email to supporters… [Pols emphasis]

Folks, we ask this question in all seriousness: is there a single voter in CD-6 who is "turned off by Pelosi" at a "gut-level" in any way undecided on how they're going to vote in this race? We've never really understood the Pelosi demonization stuff from Republicans, except that they must assume their blinding hatred of Pelosi is shared by legions of voters who feel the same way. It makes even less sense when you consider that Democrats have been out of power in the House for almost four years, and it's John Boehner's GOP-controlled House in the basement of all the polls now. Nancy who?

Outside of the FOX News Channel's existing audience, and others planted firmly in the GOP camp as it is–none of whom could ever be expected to break for Romanoff–we just don't see who is going to be motivated by this ad. Maybe some Democrats who like Pelosi will cheer that Romanoff is on her team? For everybody else, it's a message from out-of-touch political strategists who don't understand that the rest of the world doesn't think like they do.

While the U.S. Chamber of Commerce flails away with 2010's anti-Pelosi message, Democrats and their allies are starting to pile on with attacks that actually may leave a mark. A press release from liberal group ProgressNow Colorado announces new billboards and targeted digital ads going up in Coffman's district with a much simpler message:

At a press conference this morning, ProgressNow Colorado, the state's largest online progressive advocacy organization, unveiled a new ad campaign in Colorado's Sixth Congressional District targeting Rep. Mike Coffman. Titled "Violó La Ley (Broke the Law)," the billboard directs Spanish-speaking voters to the Corrupto Coffman website, which presents details about Coffman's political record. The website can be viewed at www.corruptocoffman.com…

"We have come together today as a community uniting against a career politician who has disgracefully used his public office for his own personal gain and who has a pattern of corruption," said ProgressNow Colorado executive director Amy Runyon-Harms at today's press conference. "These aren't Colorado values, and we're here today to make sure voters know about Mike Coffman's shady past."

Bottom line: while Republicans labor to scandalize that Andrew Romanoff is friends with some woman named Nancy Pelosi, Democrats are telling voters in both English and Spanish that Mike Coffman "broke the law."

Which one do you think will do more damage? We going to guess not the nice lady from San Francisco.