In 10 more days, it will be safe to turn on the TV again.
The hissing, screaming and panic-sounding political attack ads will stop.
The contest for who is more of a Colorado native – not to mention a real farmer – will be over.
Until then, however, it’s important to know who to thank for the ads that jar you awake before your morning coffee and ruin a perfectly mindless TV sitcom when you’re trying to unwind at night.
Called 527s, these independent groups are spending millions in Colorado on mailers and radio and television ads because they can raise and spend money without limits.
Do they work? It’s hard to measure, but negative ads have long been proven effective.
In the 18 days from Oct. 1 through Oct. 18, the Republican Trailhead Group, created by Gov. Bill Owens, Pete Coors and oilman Bruce Benson, raised and spent nearly $1 million, according to federal records.
Its Democratic counterpart Coloradans for Life, sponsored heavily by philanthropists Tim Gill and Pat Stryker, did the same.
Staff writer Karen Crummy can be reached at 303-954-1594 or kcrummy@denverpost.com.
The names behind big ad campaigns
Keep an eye out at the end of an ad or the flip side of a mailer for these big groups, which have raised record amounts this election:
- Trailhead Group LLC (Republican): $4.6 million
- Main Street, Colorado (Democrat): $2.3 million
- Moving Colorado Forward (Democrat): *$1.8 million
- Coloradans for Life (Democrat): $1.5 million
- Citizens for Colorado (Democrat): $1.3 million
- New West Fellowship Group (Democrat): $1.2 million
- Colorado Leadership Fund (Republican): $1.2 million
- Too Extreme for Colorado (Democrat): $900,000
- Senate Majority Fund (Republican): $878,749
- Clear Peak Colorado (Democrat): $551,438
*Only through Sept. 30. More recent disclosures were not on file.
