The Color of Money is Not Necessarily Green

The billionaires, like Mr. Thomas Steyer, who want to promote a cleaner environment, are more than willing to forgo their causes and spend millions promoting other unrelated issues if they think it will get their candidate elected.

Steyer is pending millions for Mark Udall, producing and placing ads on reproductive rights.

Dan Boyce and Katie Kuntz have done an extensive investigation of campaign finances. They reported:

Dan Boyce and Katie Kuntz, KUNC 91.5, 9-29-14

“We are seeing a just a tremendous amount of advertising just around one topic – reproductive rights,” said Denver political analyst Floyd Ciruli, “because of their belief, the campaigns’ belief that it is persuasive.”

Hot-button issues bring people to the polls. These topics get undecided voters fired-up in a way that energy issues don’t, according to Ciruli’s research.

“The money would turn off here in a minute if it looked like either the Democrats or Republicans were consistently ahead, you would see the money disappear,” Ciruli said. 

Katie Kuntz, Post Independent, 9-21-14

“If you run around the country there are maybe 10 states that have really competitive races and Republicans need to win six Senate seats to win the Senate — Colorado is very competitive,” said political analyst Floyd Ciruli. “It’s not quite a Super Bowl, that’d be the presidential race — but we’re in a very major, close playoff.”

“It is a straight-out brawling competition,” Ciruli said. “The people who play it may be personally idealistic, but in the way they play the game they are totally realists, and research shows them that climate change is not nearly as effective at moving voters as things like reproductive rights.”

“TV ads are number one, the overwhelming most important tool in winning one of these campaigns,” Ciruli said. “If Channel 9 has another minute, you can bet it will get bought.”