COORS CREEPING UP ON PERLMUTTER: Golden Businessman Makes “Young Gun” Status, Drops Another Ad

Published on June 8, 2012 by

After Ed Perlmutter won his 2010 race by 11 points, the conventional wisdom held that he would be unbeatable in 2012. The candidacy of Joe Coors Jr is quickly changing that calculation.

In a sign that national Republicans see significant strength in Coors’ chances at knocking off organized labor's biggest Colorado stooge, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) announced today that Coors has made "Young Gun" status in their Congressional candidate support program. That qualifies him for financial support from the NRCC, something that will come in handy this fall when the cost of TV ads skyrockets due to competition from the Super PACs and Presidential campaigns.

By comparison, Ryan Frazier didn't make Young Gun status until September of 2010. 

Why is Coors moving up the ranks so quickly? Probably because of ads like this — his second so far this cycle:




This ad buy is part of Coors’s larger $400,000 flight, according to Lynn Bartels. It’s not so much the size of the buy that should frighten Democrats, but the content of the message.

Coors comes across as likeable, accomplished and manages to sneak in an attack on DC and Perlmutter without even mentioning his opponent’s name. In a matter of a few months, Coors has succeeded at taking the 7th Congressional District from a lost cause to one of the most competitive Congressional races in Colorado.

He may not be a beer, but he is quickly becoming Ed Perlmutter’s worst nightmare.  

 

CD7 TV WAR BEGINS: Joe Coors Goes Up With $400,000 Buy On Intro Spot

Published on May 29, 2012 by

Golden businessman Joe Coors Jr is up with his first TV ad of his campaign to unseat incumbent Congressman Ed Perlmutter. In a sign of the financial force Coors will be, the buy is for a shocking $400,000, a little less than the entire amount raised by Coors in the first quarter.

Using the campaign’s humorous slogan “I’m not a beer,” the ad intros Coors as a local businessman who helped build Coors Tek, the largest technical ceramics company in the world. It’s a positive spot that doesn’t even mention Perlmutter, but instead talks more generically about the debt being driven up in DC. You could even call it Hickenlooper-esque in its quirkiness and positive tone.

In typical fashion, the only response the ad has received from Democrats is class warfare trash talking, with Colorado Democrat Party spokesman Matt Inzeo trying to tar Coors as an “out-of-touch millionaire.”



Hopefully a reporter will call the Democrats on their hypocrisy at some point, as Congressman Perlmutter is a millionaire as well, who belonged to the same country club as Coors until he lost the membership in his divorce.



Ultimately all of the class warfare trash talk is just Democrats letting out their frustration that Coors will be able to help fund a devastating assault on Perlmutter’s failed record. With CD7 more Republican after redistricting, Perlmutter is not nearly as safe as Democrats thought less than a year ago.



As this first ad demonstrates, Coors will be a serious contender. Four hundred large is no insubstantial buy five months out. Maybe it’s time Perlmutter put a call into Colorado’s leading home foreclosure law firm and begged for a little more campaign cash.

 
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