This is the third and final part of Battle 10’s interview with Ken Buck. Find Part I here and Part II here.

Getting out a message of limited government will require Ken Buck to raise and spend a great deal of resources. Buck acknowledged his fundraising will need to be buffed up for the general, especially given Bennet’s fundraising prowess.

“Michael Bennet outspent Andrew Romanoff three-to-one or more, he won’t outspend me three-to-one, and he won’t have more votes on November 2. He has burned through money at an incredible rate and so I’m sure he is a prolific fundraiser, but he better be because he spends it awfully quickly,” said Buck. “We’ll do very well fundraising. We just brought on Janel Domenico, Thune’s fundraiser and George Allen and Bob Schaffer’s fundraiser. She is a star. She will help get us where we need to go. This is going to be a national race, and both sides are going to be spending money on this race. We’ll be very competitive in fundraising with Michael Bennet,” Buck said.

Buck dismissed publicly funded campaigns out-of-hand, a topic that Bennet supported at the Democratic “unity” rally as a gesture of support to ideas endorsed by his erstwhile opponent, Andrew Romanoff.

“I’m not for publicly funded campaigns,” said Buck firmly. “They were talking about publicly funding used car sales too. I’m not big on that either.”

The NRSC joined the Senate Conservatives Fund (led by Sen. Jim DeMint, who had endorsed Buck in the primary) in supporting the newly minted candidate.

But even as Republicans began to “circle the wagons” behind their nominee, it was readily becoming apparent that the Democratic nominee was reading the writing on the political wall, and beginning to move away from President Barack Obama and his policies.

“I don’t think President Obama’s policies are popular in Colorado,” said Buck. “[Bennet] has voted for President Obama’s policies and it is the defining issue in this race. It’s the Washington, D.C. liberal versus the Colorado values conservative.”

This line of attack would be Bennet’s ultimate vulnerability, Buck argued.

“The biggest vulnerability he has issue-wise is when President Obama says, ‘Jump!’ he says ‘How high?’ It doesn’t matter whether it’s cap and trade, or the stimulus bill or health care, there is no specific issue area particularly, it is being that rubber stamp that will be his biggest vulnerability.”

“Rubber stamp” is one of Buck’s favorite labels for Bennet. The Republican vowed to remain consistent in his own messaging and in putting forth a case against his Democratic opponent:

I started in the middle. Coloradans believe in economic freedom. That is what I’ve been talking about from day one. They don’t believe in government control. We won with that message in the caucuses, we won the assembly, we won in the primary and we’re going to win in the general. It’s not about right or left, it’s about correct and incorrect and Michael Bennet has been on the wrong side of that.
It’s about spending and having an independent voice. Michael Bennet has been wrong on spending and he’s been a rubber stamp. He’s not an independent voice for Colorado.

Buck closed by acknowledging the national import of the Colorado U.S. Senate race, with analysts expecting the Colorado seat possibly to play a key role in control of Congress.

“I’m going back to Washington and taking a conservative economic message and values to D.C. I’m obviously electable and ahead of Michael Bennet right now in the polls. I haven’t lost an election big or small so far. I will outwork Michael Bennet. The contrast between Ken Buck and Michael Bennet is a stark contrast, both in personality and politically.”