Holtzman Tops $500,000

Republican gubernatorial candidate Marc Holtzman confirmed a long-standing rumor by announcing today that he has raised more than $500,000 for his campaign.

From a press release issued this afternoon:

The Holtzman for Governor Committee today filed its first quarter 2005 report with the Colorado Secretary of State, indicating that as of March 31 it had raised $412,580.  In addition, the campaign has announced that $89,695 has been raised in the first eleven days of April, bringing the total amount contributed to the committee to $502,275 to date.  Blair Richardson, Finance Chairman of the committee, lauded the result as an indication of the broad base of support that the early effort is achieving. “Marc’s message of strengthening our economy, reforming education and protecting our quality of life is popular with Coloradans from all walks of life,” said Richardson.

Richardson also noted that in spite of the challenging limits imposed by Amendment 27, the Holtzman effort has received more contributions to date than any candidate for Governor has ever raised at this point in the election cycle.

This is BIG news on the Republican front and immediately places Holtzman as a serious contender for the GOP nomination in a race with Congressman Bob Beauprez. To have raised this much money with $500 contribution limits (though a candidate can accept $1,000 -- $500 for the primary and $500 for the general) this far out from November 2006 is an impressive statement.

Beauprez may not release any official numbers until this summer's filing date, but expect to see some sort of word leak out about his fundraising beforehand. He needs to keep up with Holtzman in the perception department where fundraising is concerned. These numbers aren't enough for Holtzman to overtake Beauprez on the Governor Line, but it will certainly draw him closer.

UPDATE:
Here's the official numbers from the Colorado Secretary of State. Hat tip to reader Keith for the link.

Holtzman also announced a number of names for his "leadership committee." Read on for those names, as well as an early listing of donors...

To read the press release in full and the Holtzman campaign leadership, click on this link: Download Holtzman_Release_4-11.pdf

Notable contributors to the campaign include: Norman Brownstein, Chairman of Brownstein Hyatt and Farber; Steven Farber, Esq., Partner of Brownstein Hyatt and Farber; John Elway; Peggy Fleming (Olympic Gold Medalist in Figure Skating); Dick Robinson, Chief Executive Officer of Robinson Dairy; the Honorable Joseph Stengel, Minority Leader of the Colorado House of Representatives; William Vollbracht, Chief Executive Officer of Land and Title Guarantee Company; David Bonderman, Managing Partner of Texas Pacific Group; Donald Peterson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Avaya; Glenn Jones, Chief Executive Officer of Jones International; Malik Hasan, Chairman and co-founder of Health Trio; Kevin O’Hara, Chief Operating Officer of Level 3 Communications; John Sie, retired Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Starz Encore; Scott Reiman, President of Hexagon Investments; Michael Van Gilder, Managing Director of Van Gilder Insurance Company; Craig Slater, President of Anschutz Investment Company; Michael Deaver, Vice Chairman of Edelman Worldwide and former White House Chief of Staff to President Ronald Reagan; John Gart, President of the Gart Companies; Neal Groff, Chairman of The Madison Group; Patrick Hamill, President and Owner of Oakwood Homes; Larissa Herda, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Time Warner Telecom; Barry Hirschfeld, President of A.B. Hirschfeld Press; Robert Loup, President of Loup Development Company; Michael Driver, Esq., Partner of Patton Boggs; Bill Miller, Chairman of Colorado Club for Growth and Chairman of Xaware; John Sie, former Chief Executive Officer of Starz; Daniel Ritchie, Chancellor of the University of Denver; Richard Saunders, Chairman of Saunders Construction; Jack Thompson, founder of J.D. Edwards; Ken Tuchman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of TeleTech; Bruce Deifik, President of Integrated Properties; and many others.

Comments

[Ed]

wow ...

[dan]

That is an impressive early total. Unfortunately, money won't make Holtzman taller or any less of a cold fish.

He seems like a pretty nice guy, but what an underwhelming, uncharismatic introvert! He seems to be in pain just trying to make small talk at receptions.

Hard to lead if people don't want to follow you.

[wonderwoman]

Remember, Bruce Benson, Steve Schuck, and Pete Coors, are just some of the recent candidates who are millionaires and who have raised lots of money in their bid to become elected officials and lost.

[anyone]

wonderwoman - you're right, but looking at the other side of the coin, Beauprez is an example of a millionaire candidate who won....

[someone]

Holtzman's not your normal rich dude. None of this money is his. And according to the people who've raised most of it, very little is from his family friends out-of-state. This is a guy who knows how to get things done in the business world, and this fundraising speaks to a broader ability to build the networks he needs to meet his goals. Not quite Benson, who tried to buy it himself, or Coors, who still wants his inherited money back.

But how much of this money came before the Beauprez announcement? How much came prior to the state convo, where McInnis got serious? How much did indeed come from out-of-state family friends? We'll need to see the line-items in the report before we really find out how viable he is.

That said, it seems clear that he'll be in this race longer than some people were hoping.

As a side note, he says at his various appearances that he's planning to go through the convention. Can anybody doubt him with these numbers?

[Ter Ducken]

I don't care who you are - that kind of fundraising would scare the crap out of me.

[Roger D]

With Coffman out of the race, the chances of a mult-candidate primary have diminished somewhat, however, if McInnis stays in, the kind of fundraising that Holtzman is demonstrating, almost ensures a three-way primary.

[elpaso]

It is clear that Holtzman is becoming a very serious contender for Gov. I like his record and I like his values. We need someone who is relatively less well known (compared to McInnis and Beauprez) and I think Republicans have a better shot at winning this race.

Besides Beauprez is French. Yuck.

[ralphcarr]

Holtzman's impressive early fundraising certainly makes the GOP race more interesting. Until we see exactly where the money came from, it is too early to say how much clout Holtzman brings to a primary. McInnis is an interesting choice beacuse he is moderately pro-choice, but I don't see how he can overcome being a politician-turned lawyer-lobbyist in the Republican party (they seem to prefer purists in all repects) and the scandal with Tom Delay paying his family from his campaign fund can't be helpful news for Mcinnis. Beauprez is clearly the most conservative choice, and despite the Denver Post's WEIRD editorial, I think Beauprez's winning personality trumps all (at least in the GOP primary field). Alav is right about this one. It's Beauprez all the way!

[ralphcarr]

Hey, elpaso, you eat french fries, don't you? Besides, Beauprez is not French; his family is Belgain

[ralphcarr]

Ralph --leran to spell --it's "Belgian' --

[Keith]

You can see the money here.
http://www.sos.state.co.us/cgi-forte/fcpacgi/frte_fcpangprodaccess09200A1E2C7325241E05210D1C247623?serviceName=fcpangprodaccess&templateName=/sessrequ/reportDetail_outer_form.forte&hasr=T&hast=T&sr=2&reId=20055602733&coId=20045659816&docNo=20045659816&amdNo=20055602733&rw=25

[yup]

906 contributions. 804 of which were in $500 denominations. Having looked at it, I'm estimating 450 contributors for those 804, since very very few people didn't write two $500 checks (thank you common cause).

So we're looking at 450 contributors who've already maxed out for both the primary and the general. And another 100 smaller donors.

Impressive. I think.

[johnson]

Anybody else thinking Holtzman would make a phenomenal LG?

[peterco]

He got checks up until the last day, so he has some staying power. But I'm too lazy to analyze that at this time of day. Maybe he is trying to force a one on one with Beauprez, thinking that is his best bet.

And how many johnsons are there on this site? I know I'm not related to any of you.

[Jack]

That weirdo Post editorial makes more sense after reading Dan Haley's column today about Mayor Hickenlooper as a contrast. Looks like the Draft Hick "whispering" campaign has a new megaphone...

On the flip side, 61% approval sounds a little more realistic than 92%.

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%257E73%257E2809650,00.html

[TheDUKE]

Holtzman posted impressive numbers I think this make the pressure to get get a money guy on the Dem side i.e. Rutt B. or Jared P. Holtzman is really at $2.5m to $5.5m because he can write his own check. Boy commen cause really kept the big money out of politics between rich candidates and 527's the campaign finance reform is a complete joke!!!

[Stonewalljackson]

Rutt would be a disaster he is arrogant and self serving. He does have money but that should not be our guiding light. How come Colorado Pols mentions Gail Schoettler but not Rollie Heath? My vote is for Mike Miles the media loves him and Salazar owes him big for helping him get elected. If we want to heal the rift in the party we need Miles!

[Alva Adams]

Why don't we mention Rollie Heath and Mike Miles? For the same reason we don't try to put our pants on head-first - it's not going to happen.

[Keith]

snicker.