Just days ago the anti-tax, pro-voucher Club for Growth had Republican Doug Lamborn buried as a past candidate who “already won” Colorado’s 5th Congressional District.
But, with Democrat Jay Fawcett’s surge in support, including from the National Democratic Congressional Committee, the Club for Growth has now elevated Lamborn to the top of its online picks for candidates for whom it is aggressively seeking campaign contributions from like-minded anti-tax conservatives around the country.The Washington-based 527 and political action committee, which also supports privatizing Social Security, raised $200,000 in donations and spent another $100,000 helping Lamborn win a squeaker of a six-way August primary. On Oct. 13, Colorado Confidential reported that Club for Growth had another Colorado Republican, Rick O’Donnell, listed as the top of its list for congressional candidates needing cash.
O’Donnell, who is running against Democrat Ed Perlmutter in one of the most heated and expensive races in the country – and who recently identified liberal icon Pat Schroeder as a “role model” – is now listed on the conservative group’s website in the number 3 spot for donations.
The 5th CD, which includes Colorado Springs, has long been considered a slam-dunk for Republicans. But over the past several weeks, Fawcett, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, has generated surplus attention, in Colorado and nationally. An independent poll conducted by the Denver Post determined the race as dead even, with Lamborn and Fawcett both with 37 percent support and the rest undecided.
The Post has since endorsed Fawcett, citing his military qualifications, while criticizing Lamborn’s record as a state senator, specifically that he “focused way too much of his time on such harebrained issues as cross-dressing teachers and swapping the names of Park County’s Mount Democrat and Republican Mountain because Mount Democrat is taller.”
A debate between Fawcett and Lamborn, in which Lamborn angrily told an audience member at one point to “keep your mouth shut,” was posted on YouTube.com and has been viewed more than 78,000 times.
Both candidates now have TV ads airing, and, as reported in the Colorado Springs Gazette, Fawcett, who did not have a primary opponent, has more money headed into the final three-week stretch of the campaign. Overall, Lamborn has raised more in contributions, but his campaign reported the self-described fiscal conservative carried over a debt of $100,000 from the primary.
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