RichU.S. Sen. Michael Bennet’s fundraising totals dropped during the last quarter, looks like he raked in about a half-million dollars lower than he usually did this year.

We can only guess at why that is – Iran deal – and find it odd since politicians typically use their August month of vacation to host fundraisers.

It takes weeks for the official reports to be posted online after a fundraising quarter, but as per usual, Bennet leaked the $1.6 million number to the Denver Post and select Beltway media for some easy, unquestioning ink.

In Washington, The Hill had this to say:

 The campaign touted its small-dollar donations, saying that 85 percent of the $1.6 million Bennet raised came from donations of $100 or less.

“Our supporters have put us in a very strong position heading into the end of 2015 and Michael’s proud of the tremendous support he’s received,” Bennet campaign manager Dan McNally said in a statement.

We’ve noted after reviewing the actual numbers weeks after Bennet’s campaign announces the fundraising totals that a significant majority of his money has been coming from donors outside Colorado.

Contributions from political action committees totaled $467,496 in the first quarter, but only a miserly $3,500 came from Colorado PACs. As for individual donors, 782 people were identified has having contributed $1,474,684, and 56 percent of those were from out of state.

An additional $104,263 was raised from individual donors, but those people were not identified in the report so we have no clue from where this money came.

By mid year, at least a quarter of Bennet’s individual donors remain unidentified. All those new contributions below $100 the Bennet folks bragged about to The Hill will also remain anonymous.

When the full reports are actually released, probably around Thanksgiving, we will be on the job to decipher who amongst the identifiable donors are from Colorado.