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Democrat Mark Udall continued to out-raise Republican opponent Bob Schaffer during the first quarter of the year, netting $1.45 million to Schaffer’s $1.02 million.

Buoyed by a January fundraiser featuring President Bush, Schaffer had his best personal fundraising period. He has $2.2 million on hand in the race for a U.S. Senate seat.

The first four months of the year also marked Udall’s best quarter to date, and he has nearly twice as much cash on hand as Schaffer.

Nearly 20 percent of Udall’s haul came from political committees and the rest from individuals. Udall spent $824,828 in three months. Much of the money was strategic — fundraising consultants, researchers and telemarketing costs. He also spent about $150,000 on brochures and direct mail.

“We feel very good about the strength and the breadth of the support that Mark’s getting,” said campaign spokeswoman Taylor West. “We’re going to keep working to bring in the resources we need to run the best campaign we can.”

Schaffer’s full report was not available Tuesday. However, $110,587 came from political committee contributions, and another $379,019 stemmed from committee transfers.

“We are well on our way to bringing in the resources necessary to beat Boulder liberal Mark Udall and his out-of-state liberal elitist donors this fall,” said campaign manager Dick Wadhams.

In the 2nd Congressional District Democratic race, multimillionaire Jared Polis gave his campaign another $400,000 Tuesday, pushing him past the $1 million mark in self-funding.

That money does not count in his filings for the first three months of the year, where he raised $158,910 and gave his campaign $397,340.

Former state Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald raised $257,343 in the first quarter and has $574,592 on hand.

Conservationist Will Shafroth collected $279,810 during the same time period and has $682,090 on hand.

Donations add up

U.S. Senate