The slate of television spots supporting Jared Polis that wraps today pushes the businessman’s advertising receipts above the $1 million mark — and all before his opponents in the Democratic primary for the 2nd Congressional District have spent a dime on commercials.
In what has become the sixth-most-expensive House race in the country, Polis began buying TV spots and name recognition in November and has spent more than $900,000 since late May on prime advertising slots.
An Internet millionaire and longtime financier of Democratic causes, Polis hit the airwaves earlier than usual, pressuring his opponents to either spend now to counteract the ads or reserve their more limited resources for spots closer to the August primary, analysts say.
The big bucks have left opponents sharpening their criticism that the largely self-funded Polis is trying to buy the election, but the candidate’s new campaign manager says those gripes are bunk.
“It’s astounding to me the amount of whining . . . because Jared Polis is actually communicating with voters. We’re very aggressively trying to win this campaign,” said Polis campaign manager, Robert Becker. “It’s no secret he’s been very successful in the business world.”
That success has allowed Polis to contribute $3.7 million to his own campaign and has helped rank the 2nd Congressional District race among the country’s most costly, according to The Center for Responsive Politics.
One of Polis’ opponents, Joan Fitz-Gerald, former state Senate president, and her campaign continue to criticize Polis’ spending.
“It’s more money than Bush offered Myanmar after the cyclone ,” said Matt Mosely, a Fitz-Gerald spokesman. “I don’t see people really identifying with . . . the amount of money he’s spending.”
The campaigns of both Fitz-Gerald and Will Shafroth say they plan to debut their commercials closer to the primary and pointed to a broad network of individual campaign contributors they say gives them an advantage over Polis.
“We’ve been really focused on talking to voters,” said Shafroth campaign spokeswoman Lynea Hanson. “His (Polis’) ads are reaching more people, but . . . we’re reaching people on their doorsteps.”
Polis is using his trump card, but it doesn’t mean he has cinched the race, said Eric Sondermann, a political analyst and media specialist.
“Polis has one huge advantage in this race, and that is his financial advantage,” Sondermann said. “His TV buy clearly puts him in the game, but it does not necessarily close the sale.”
With Polis coming into living rooms several times a day, Fitz-Gerald and environmentalist Shafroth run the risk of voters thinking he is the only candidate running, said Scott Adler, a political science professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
But saturating the TV market with political ads — a common complaint among voters in big election years — could also turn off viewers, though the inundation will only intensify, Adler said.
“You thought it was bad now,” he said. “You’re going to start to see more Fitz-Gerald and Shafroth, too.”
Jessica Fender: 303-954-1244 or jfender@denverpost.com
