If ever there were a case study for why the Democratic model for choosing which races get support DOESN'T WORK, my race is it! I'm sure I don't have to update anyone here on what I mean about our Party's strategy for taking back the House, so let me just tell you why I'm winning against Tom Tancredo, and you decide if the absolute absence of support for my race makes any sense.
Four weeks ago, Tom Tancredo had a full slate of appearances outside Colorado. He was going on a book signing tour. He was going to the early Presidential primary states to push his agenda. He was even going around the Country campaigning against incumbent Republican Congressmen.
All that stopped abruptly three weeks ago. Why, you ask?
Well here's the facts. You decide.
About four weeks ago there was a poll in our race. We know that because our supporters called in to say they had been polled. We know we didn't do the poll, so we waited to hear the results. They were never released.
That suggests it wasn't an independent poll, because an independent poll would be released no matter how it turned out.
So it wasn't us and it wasn't independent, so it must have been....Tancredo! Right?
But why would an incumbent, or any candidate, not release the results of their own poll?
The only reason I can think of is because that poll didn't give them the results they hoped for!
Flash forward a couple of weeks and I am in Washington, D.C. where I am told by three different completely independent sources that they saw recent polling that had me even with Tom Tancredo!
Now this isn't too hard to believe, given that Jay Fawcett is even in his race in Colorado in a recent poll, and Ed Perlmutter is up by double figures, and our governor Candidate, Bill Ritter, is up by double figures, and up by 10 points in my district alone.
But there's more evidence!
In his three previous re-election races, Tom Tancredo has never even acknowledged his Democratic opponent because he never felt threatened. He hasn't put up signs. He hasn't run radio. He hasn't done television. He hasn't debated or done campaign appearances. And he has never gone negative in any way.
That all changed three weeks ago. Tancredo cancelled his out of state appearances and began appearing in Colorado. He got surrogates to begin attacking me and going negative on me. He started running radio ads and television ads. He even agreed to a debate. And he began sending out direct mail, including one piece showing me as a puppet of Nancy Pelosi and Ted Kennedy. The frustrating part of that mailer from my perspective is that I've never even met Ted Kennedy and I haven't received any support from Nancy Pelosi, and yet Tancredo wants to tie me to them to make me look out of touch--ironic, don't ya think!)
But wait, it gets better. In our most recent reporting period with the FEC, I raised almost exactly the same amount that Tancredo did. I raised almost as much as John Salazar. That's two incumbents, and I darn near beat them! I raised significantly more than John's opponent, Scott Tipton, and far more than Jay Fawcett in CO-05!
My friends, my campaign is gaining momentum at just the right time, when it counts most! Tancredo is running scared and running out of money. We've been on his email list for a long time, and he hasn't sent anything for two months. Until Monday, that is, when he sent a desperate plea for money to his email list!
For the first time ever a Democrat has Tom Tancredo on the ropes, and we need to put him on the canvass. All I need now is the support to stay up on radio and direct mail--and hopefully television--until election day! All I need is your support--and my Party's support--and I will win--WE will win!
I hear about the vast sums being spent in races around the Country and I sigh, because I know that we could beat Tancredo with just another $100K! And if we got another $250K, we could beat him by 10 points or more!
Friends, we need a new way to look at races that acknowledges the things happening on the ground in those races! If you want a deep blue Congress; if you want to take back a seat no one thought we could win; if you want to deliver Colorado RIGHT NOW for our 2008 Presidential nominee, then dig in deep right now and pitch in heavy to my race!
Bloggers are independent thinkers. We need to stop listening to all the self proclaimed experts and the know nothing hacks telling us who to support! We are dug in on the ground here in CO-06 and winning the old fashioned way--with passion and hard work!
As best we can figure, Tancredo's polls have us in a dead heat! If we win, it's a historic victory. If we just get very close, I'll run again and we'll raise 3 million dollars of our own and take this seat one way or the other!
I'm a proud progressive blogger running for Congress! You can join the Washington elite in leaving us behind here in CO-06, or you can get on board right now with a real progressive grass roots movement that is taking back CO-06, taking back Colorado, and taking back America!
The choice is yours!
Thank you very much!
Bill Winter
http://www.winterforcongress.com/...