Mark it down. Thursday, Feb. 25, 2010: The date that the Andrew Romanoff for Senate campaign officially “jumped the shark.”
Romanoff’s campaign just sent out an email today from none other than former U.S. Senate hopeful Mike Miles. The full text of the email is after the jump, but here’s a smidgen:
So let’s help Andrew. I don’t want to sound like other fundraising emails that exaggerate the significance of the race they are asking you to contribute in, but the stakes here are actually significant. All candidates have a strong interest in getting elected. If someone gets elected because people supported him rather than wealthy corporations others will notice. Others will copy. It takes a lot of little money to get big money out of politics.
For those of you unfamiliar with the phrase “jump the shark,” here’s a quick definition from The Urban Dictionary:
The precise moment when you know a program, band, actor, politician, or other public figure has taken a turn for the worse, gone downhill, become irreversibly bad, is unredeemable, etc.; the moment you realize decay has set in…
…Origin of this phrase comes from a Happy Days episode where the Fonz jumped a shark on waterskis. Thus was labeled the lowest point of the show.
Look, we have nothing against Mike Miles. But Good God, man!, Romanoff’s campaign can’t possibly want anyone to associate what he is doing with — let’s face it — the completely hopeless bid that Miles made for the U.S. Senate in 2004.
Miles raised $363,000 in his 2004 race — that’s a total amount — and ended up losing the primary to Salazar 73-27 (173,167 to 63,973, if you’re counting votes at home). Miles was a nice guy with nice credentials who was in wayyyy over his head. Hell, his campaign manager even went on vacation the very summer of the primary.
Romanoff supporters have been trying to downplay the Miles comparison (with Sen. Michael Bennet in the role of then-Attorney General Ken Salazar), and for very good reason. Romanoff is certainly not Mike Miles, but any mention of the two in the same sentence is terrible for Romanoff’s campaign.
Most people knew that Miles’ campaign was completely hopeless, even after he won the most delegates at the 2004 state assembly. Using Miles to publicly drum up money for a Romanoff campaign that is looking more and more hopeless by the week only helps to increase that perception.
By sending out this email, Romanoff’s campaign is either a) incredibly, amazingly ignorant to the damage it could cause by making a direct comparison, or b) so completely desperate for money that they don’t care (and considering that Miles couldn’t raise money for his own campaign, what makes them think his name will raise money for Romanoff anyway?)
Either way, this email signals the final bell for Romanoff. There is a long way to go in this race, and Romanoff may very well hang on all the way until that fateful Tuesday in August. But we’re calling it here. Mark it down.
The shark has been jumped.
From the desk of Mike Miles
Dear XXXX,
I am supporting Andrew Romanoff for the United States Senate and I hope that you will as well.
Washington is owned by the special interests, and the recent Supreme Court decision will only make this worse. I ran for office in 2004 because I cared about the needs of real people. There are very few members of Congress who are willing to stand up for people against the power of wealth. There are very few members of Congress who care about universal health care, who opposed the war in Iraq, who stand up for civil liberties. The members of Congress seem to care more about their jobs than our welfare. Many of them say the right things but they don’t have the courage to do the right things.
Andrew is the only candidate in the race for the United States Senate in either party who has made a commitment to refuse special interest PAC contributions. He has taken a strong position against the money driven, “you come to my fundraiser and I’ll vote for your bill,” culture in Washington. Other candidates say they are for reform but they take the money and somehow never get around to actually changing anything.
Another reason to support Andrew is his record of leadership and accomplishment. After two years in office his peers elected him to be the Minority Leader. From that position he led the effort to get the first majority in the Colorado House in three decades. As Speaker, he passed needed legislation — Referendum C which saved us from a fiscal crisis, Build Excellent Schools Today (BEST) which put a billion dollars into our crumbling school infrastructure and HB 1407 which created double penalties for insurance companies who failed to pay valid claims — are examples. I contrast this with the gridlock in Congress.
So let’s help Andrew. I don’t want to sound like other fundraising emails that exaggerate the significance of the race they are asking you to contribute in, but the stakes here are actually significant. All candidates have a strong interest in getting elected. If someone gets elected because people supported him rather than wealthy corporations others will notice. Others will copy. It takes a lot of little money to get big money out of politics.
Thanks for your consideration.
Mike Miles
