The Denver Post doesn't much like the idea of electing someone like Bob Schaffer who was a close congressional crony of Jack Abramoff's.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee isn't letting Schaffer off the hook for his Abramoff ties, either.

If you want a fuller rundown of the Schaffer-Abramoff nexus, check out thispost from Daily Kos. In short, however, the takeaway is that Schaffer, the former GOP Congressman who is the presumptive US Senate nominee for his party in Colorado had some close connections with Abramoff during his time on Capitol Hill.

Will revelations about Schaffer, and the heavy coverage such revelations are receiving in the Colordao media, doom him in his bid against Democratic Congressman Mark Udall, his own party's presumptive Senate nominee? Some in the rightosphere in the state are trotting out GOP polling taken basically before the Schaffer-Abramoff story broke showing a 45 percent to 45 percent tie between Schaffer and Udall. Looking at the available nonpartisan polling on the race, these Republican numbers probably aren't too far off. However, as alluded to before, these numbers do not reflect the several days of hits Schaffer has taken in the media for his relationship with Abramoff. And of course, they also do not reflect the money race between Schaffer and Udall, either.

Both U.S. Senate candidates surpassed $1 million in donations during the first three months with Udall collecting $1.46 million and Schaffer taking in $1.02 million, the filings said.

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Schaffer had $2.2 million in the bank for the campaign at the end of March, while Udall had $4.2 million. The two candidates are vying for the open U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Republican Wayne Allard.

At this point, Schaffer has just a bit over half of what Udall has in the bank. And although raising $1 million to Udall's $1.46 million isn't bad, particularly considering that Udall is still in Congress while Schaffer is not, these numbers actually represent a bit of a failure for the Republican. To the point, Schaffer brought in President Bush back in January for a major fundraiser -- something that he cannot do again, something that should have brought him to fundraising parity with Udall. But it didn't. And what's more, even as the event failed to help him eat away at his fundraising deficit against Udall, it showed him to be a lackey for George W. Bush, a place few want to be in this cycle.

So all in all, these aren't particularly good days for Bob Schaffer.