Adam Frisch is lending new meaning to "perpetual campaign." Instead of continuing to campaign for an office even after he has won — a common enough complaint about politicians — Frisch is continuing to campaign after he lost. Mere months ago.

Victory eluded him by the slimmest of margins — 546 votes — in his face-off last November with Colorado's 3rd Congressional District incumbent, Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert. Having "missed it by that much," the Aspen Democrat is eager to try again. And so he is bombarding voters and prospective donors with a torrent of mass mail begging for bucks — almost two years before the 2024 election.

The campaign includes allies who weigh in on his behalf. Adam Kinzinger — the national political commentator and former maverick GOP congressman from Illinois — hit up Frisch's mailing list for contributions this week. "Adam could have won. He should have won," Kinzinger wrote. Frisch's wife recently authored one of his e-asks, as well. One of her missives the other day reminded recipients how, "last campaign, we got out-spent by Lauren Boebert and her Super PACs — by millions and millions of dollars."

Well, they're not about to be outspent again. As Colorado Politics reported this week, Frisch outraised Boebert by nearly $1 million in first-quarter 2023 political fundraising, according to reports released last weekend. In fact, Frisch's $1.75 million haul in the past three months was more than that of all the candidates in Colorado's seven other congressional districts combined.

The development no doubt had staffers trading high-fives at Frisch's perpetual campaign office.

At the risk of putting a damper on the occasion, though, it might pay to ponder the collateral damage. Notably, the resulting arms race.

Boebert — a Republican firebrand who after just one term in Congress already has something of a national fan base — is no slouch at fundraising in her own right. As Colorado Politics also reported, her re-election effort took in $763,000 this quarter.

"The radical left thinks that I'm vulnerable," she writes in one of her myriad fundraising emails. "They smell blood in the water. And they are showing it with this massive fundraising haul."

There are ripple effects, too. The campaign cash dash serves to stoke the more conventional, perpetual campaigns of current officeholders in Colorado's congressional delegation.

Three-term, 2nd Congressional District U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse, a Lafayette Democrat, raised $285,000 in the first quarter of 2023 — despite an overwhelmingly Democratic district that's probably his for life if he wishes. Freshman U.S. Rep. Brittany Pettersen, a Lakewood Democrat who handily won the open 7th Congressional District seat last November, raised $218,000. U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, the Centennial Democrat now in his third term representing Colorado's increasingly Democratic 6th Congressional District, raised $115,000.

Crow, by the way, had nearly $1.4 million in the bank left over from prior fundraising; Neguse reported $1.8 million in his campaign piggy bank.

All are virtually assured re-election given the political alignment of their districts. Yet, they haven't paused their campaigns.

Frisch, on the other hand, probably needs all he can get if he intends to unseat Boebert. But as a result, the 2024 election for Boebert's seat is already a combined, $2 million-plus race — just three months into her new term.

Think about what it all does to voters already jaded about politics. If the incessant pestering for contributions doesn't turn them off, the advertising blitz it funds, will. For the health of democracy and the sake of their own sanity, Coloradans could use a break from the endless campaign cycle.

REPRINTED FROM THE COLORADO SPRINGS GAZETTE

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