Holtzman Ties Hope To Software And The Courts, Ritter Fundraising Outpaces GOP

As the summer heats up and the candidates begin their tuneups for the fall, Holtzman hopes that software designed to screen names will help get his on the primary:

Bob Gould, Holtzman's campaign manager, said Holtzman has hired a data analysis firm to go over each of the 4,239 signatures that Dennis rejected because the name was illegible or the address wasn't clear.

"It's probably never been done before in politics," Gould said. "We have some very high-end technology."

Meanwhile, Ritter's campaign fundraising outpaces both GOP candidates combined in both April and May:

Democrat Bill Ritter raised more money than his two Republican rivals combined for the second month in a row in the race to be Colorado's governor.

But the GOP candidates - Congressman Bob Beauprez and Marc Holtzman - retain the overall fundraising lead with about $1.9 million each, while Ritter has totaled about $1.5 million.

In May, Ritter collected $201,066. Beauprez raised $99,528, and Holtzman took in $81,559.

What is disconcerting is not that Ritter is doing so well, but that these figures demonstrate the GOP split, and represent the siphoning off of so much campaign funding from either candidate, since only one will make it from the primary, assuming that Holtzman manages to make it on in the end. If the GOP appears vulnerable--which it certainly does now--then more out-of-state money will pour in, and given 2004's record with shadowy groups buying so much time, this could be a long and expensive gubernatorial race.