Monday Morning Politicking with Will Shafroth

Perhaps he hasn't made as many headlines as Jared Polis or Joan Fitz-Gerald, but Will Shafroth is certainly holding his own in the CD-2 Democratic primary race. The executive director of the Colorado Conservation Trust and the great-grandson of former Colorado governor John Shafroth, Shafroth was the number-one fundraiser in the first quarter of 2008 and reported more money on hand than either Fitz-Gerald or Polis. Shafroth is the only candidate in the race who's petitioning onto the ballot, so he's been spending his time recently gathering petition signatures and touring the district to meet voters.

In this week's Monday Morning Politicking, Shafroth discusses his fundraising prowess, how voters are focusing on the presidential race more than the CD-2 race, and his run-ins with dogs on the campaign trail.

PolitickerCO: The race in the past month has gotten more contentious. There's been FEC complaints filed both by and against your campaign. Is the campaign turning out to be more contentious than you first anticipated?

Shafroth: Oh, I don't know about that. I figured it would probably heat up at some point in time, and it has. But, you know, I don't think, frankly, that in the scheme of things it hasn't had any kind of sustained contention. And I'm just trying to focus on getting out and talking to voters, and raising the money I need to communicate to the voters, and my petition drive right now is the primary focus of my campaign in terms of being out in the field. So I don't think - I know there were a few little blips there, but in the scheme of things, I don't think it portends any more or less contention.

PolitickerCO: And speaking of money, this past week revealed that you were the number-one fundraiser in the race for the first quarter. Why is that?

Shafroth: It's a function of how much I raised versus how much they raised. You know, I think it has a lot to do - I think I have some very broad-based support around the state and around the district and around the state and around the country for what I would bring to this office. So I think it's also a function of a lot of hard work - put the time in to meet with people, to talk to them, and following them, to post -- to put together fundraisers, you know, it's a lot of work and a lot of effort. But it certainly has paid off for me in this last quarter both in terms of the actual dollars raised, and probably more importantly the cash-on-hand. I don't know if you saw that I was $110,000 in front of Joan Fitz-Gerald at the end of the quarter. And I'm not sure exactly where Jared was -- he was quite bit behind in terms of cash-on-hand - but I know that he's since replenished his finances with (an) additional contribution to his own campaign.

PolitickerCO: And was this surprising to you? Were you expecting to be the number-one fundraiser?

Shafroth: Well, I expected to raise what I did. I didn't really have any idea what the others were going to raise. It shows the value of my grassroots campaign and people are responding me being a different kind of a candidate - (not) one that is a sort of a traditional politician or not one that's financing his own race, but someone who's really looking in, trying to reach out to people -- not necessarily activists in the party but people who are established citizens, people who are concerned about the same things I am. And so I'm finding it very heartening to know that there's that kind of substantial response in the form of financial support.

PolitickerCO: Did Jared Polis' triggering of the Millionaire's amendment - was that a major factor with the increased fundraising limits?

Shafroth: It helped, it helped. It refocused our efforts at the end of the quarter. It didn't happen until about the last three weeks of the quarter, so by that time we had laid a lot of the groundwork and done a lot of the things we need to do. So the pump was well-primed at that point. And so things were well on their way - we ended up refocusing a little bit of our efforts at the end of the quarter toward later in that effort. We got a lot of those people were going to contribute anyway, and already were. What the good thing is, Jeremy, is that a lot of those people who we had to stop pursuing at the end of the quarter had been already in support of us.

PolitickerCO: The Fitz-Gerald camp has accused Polis of trying to buy this election by funneling money to his own campaign. What do you make of those claims?

Shafroth: I think Jared certainly has the personal capacity to do that - that neither Joan Fitz-Gerald nor I have. And certainly it's legal to do what he's doing. It remains to be seen - you know, I'm really not focusing on that. I'm trying to focus on my own race, and my own - I know what kind of resources that I need to raise for my own campaign in order to get my message(across), and that's what I'm doing. And I think there will be distinctions in this race, and one is that Joan has a lot of money from political action committees and special interests. That I know. And Jared will be funding his campaign substantially out of his own pocket. That's not something that I've done, either. And so I feel like, how I'm distinctive in this race is that I've raised over 99 percent of the money from individuals in this race, and that will show a distinction. It's not special-interest money; it's not my own pocketbook.

PolitickerCO: What do you think about Joan Fitz-Gerald raising money from corporate PACs like Newmont Mining and Anadarko Petroleum and so forth?

Shafroth: Well again, what I just said, it's a distinction. Those are not the contributions that I will, number one, go after, or number two, accept. So where you get your money and how you fund your campaign says something about who you are and how you'll govern or how you'll legislate. And I think those are important things for voters to look at, because they're deciding who to support in this race.

PolitickerCO: Jared Polis endorsed Obama on Saturday. Are you going to make an endorsement in the presidential race?

Shafroth: I will not. I think, actually I have a great deal of admiration for both candidates and how hard they're working. And the real opponent here is John McCain. And I think both Senator Clinton and Senator Obama would move the country in a more progressive and independent direction, and in a direction (that) is really going to achieve the changes that we need. The thing that does concern me originally, Jeremy, is that Democrats have become divided over the presidential race, and that I think we really to make sure that we are together and come together ultimately whoever is nominated. And so I feel my little part in this is to try to maintain peace in an alley, if you will, and try to make sure that my supporters give them any reason to become divided around the presidential race and try to keep everybody together. That's going to be our task. The most important thing that needs to happen in this election cycle is that we elect a new Democratic president.

PolitickerCO: What's been the biggest surprise in the race for you so far?

Shafroth: Well, I think - hm. That's a good question. I think one of the surprises I have had - I've been walking door-to-door speaking with voters in their living rooms, at their doorsteps, on their front porches, whatever, parking out in front of the grocery store, the people's homes at various events, all those kind of things, how the presidential race has really captured the imagination of people right now. People are really focused on that. I've been surprised by how not yet engaged, I would say, most of the voters are on the U.S Senate race or on the Congressional race. I'm going places where people are engaged, but as I go into sort of more neutral settings, on the front porch of somebody's house in Westminster or Thornton or Broomfield or Basalt, people are less engaged or less aware of this race. You asked, "What's the biggest surprise?" -- that was sort of a surprise for me.

It's also, frankly, it's a good thing in that there's an opportunity for me to make a first impression upon people and so the people who are the majority of the voters in the process - they're not those people who go to their county assemblies. Even though we had a big turnout in the caucus this year, I think people who go into the county assemblies are the ones who are going to be more likely to be knowledgeable about the second CD race. So, I think there's a lot for - the field is pretty open at this point because people are not necessarily aware of the different candidates and what they stand for. SO there's a great opportunity for me in the closing months here to really, particularly who I am and what I'll do and how I'll do it. And I think if I can do that, I'll be successful.

PolitickerCO: And going out knocking doors, have you run into any interesting characters or had any interesting experiences?

Shafroth: Many interesting characters, many interesting experiences - and a lot of dogs, too (laughs). There've been a lot of dogs of all sizes and shapes and temperaments. But yeah, there've been a lot of really fascinating people. You know, talking to the guy who was in military service in the ‘80s, and pretty much debilitated by some nerve damage he's incurred, and the challenges he faces dealing with the Veterans' Administration on some of his health benefits and opportunities to work - that's the kind of person whose problems and challenges I wouldn't have necessarily have otherwise encountered had I not gone to his door. Another person up in Basalt, which is in the far western part of the district, (was) very concerned about immigration and how it affects their local economy up there. There's people in the Lewisville area who are concerned about our country's attitude toward the gay and lesbian and transgender and transsexual communities.

And hearing these people's personal stories about what they think I ought to be thinking about as I run and hopefully when I'm elected, it's really broadened my perspective on the challenges and opportunities that exist out there in the world, and what someone (who's) running for (and) serving in Congress can do to positively impact people's lives.