I’m a political junkie but even I can barely stand to open my e-mail or text messages these days.

• BREAKING FROM CNN: McGrath is KEY to flipping the Senate in 2020!!

• It’s Meaghan w/ the Colorado Democrats. With only 43 days left until Election Day, we need to show Joe Biden and John Hickenlooper we have their back. Can you support us?

• Cory Gardner here. Chuck Schumer’s handpicked candidate is spending millions to defeat me. Can I count on you now? 

I did this to myself, in part, because I started donating to candidates. 

I can’t begin to compete with George Soros or the Koch Brothers, but considering my income the donations feel substantial. 

Apparently in the campaign finance world, someone scours the names of donors and says, “Hey, let’s try to get money out of her, too.”  So I get requests for donations from all kinds of  candidates I’ve never heard of living in parts of the country with which I have no connection.

It reminds me of  years ago when I donated to Boys Town and ended up on mailing lists for every charity and nonprofit in the United States.  I didn’t realize a donor’s name and address gets passed around quicker than the phone number of some townie living near a military base.

I started donating to political candidates when I left journalism in 2015 to work for Secretary of State Wayne Williams. Although he’s a Republican, it didn’t bother Williams that I donated to Democratic House Speaker Crisanta Duran’s annual birthday bash, or that I bought tickets to various Democratic dinners.   

Since then, I’ve given to a variety of Democrats, including three former presidential candidates: former Colorado Gov. Hickenlooper, U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado and former Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg.

I contributed to state Reps. Brittany Pettersen and Jeff Bridges when they were running for the state Senate, and Andrew Romanoff when  he was running for the U.S. Senate. 

We’re talking about donations of mostly $10, $25 and $50, although I have given $100 at times, including to the highly capable Matt Maillaro, the Democrat I wanted to see succeed George Brauchler as district attorney in the 17th Judicial District. 

I even gave to New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver when she was thinking of running for the U.S. Senate, and I donated to her deputy when he decided to run for the U.S. House. 

I’ve given to Republicans, too, including Jefferson County Sheriff Jeff Shrader in 2018, which was a big deal for me personally. I didn’t think too fondly of the sheriff’s operation after the Columbine High School massacre. The department lied and covered up, but Schrader proved to be a man of his word. 

The two Republicans I have given the most money to are Cory Gardner, for his  re-election bid for the U.S. Senate, and Suzanne Staiert, the former deputy Secretary of State, who is running for the Colorado State Senate. 

I like to think my money to Gardner is going for his clever ads aimed at Hickenlooper, a once-laid off geologist who opened a brewpub in Denver.

In one spot, a grinning Gardner sits at a bar and says, “Let’s get down to some real differences between me and John Hickenlooper. First, Hickenlooper owns a brewery. And me? I just like beer.”

Gardner goes on to show interviews from presidential candidate Hickenlooper, who said he wasn’t interested in running for the Senate and would make a lousy senator.  When his national campaign tanked, Hickenlooper jumped in the Senate race.

“One thing is clear: Coloradans can count on Hickenlooper for beer, but can count on me to get things done,” Gardner concludes as he lifts a glass of beer and adds, “Cheers!”

Another ad shows Gardner washing a Maserati and attacking Hickenlooper over ethics violations during his time as governor. The state ethics commission ruled Hickenlooper accepted illegal gifts — a flight on a private jet and a Maserati limousine ride in Italy. 

At the end of the shot, a gleeful Gardner squirts the hose at the camera.

Hickenlooper’s campaign responded by saying:  “Instead of doing his job and holding President Trump accountable for his never-ending corruption, lies, and failure to combat COVID-19, Sen. Gardner is smearing John Hickenlooper’s record of taking Colorado from 40th in job creation to the No. 1 economy in the nation.”

But I have to ask: What has happened to Hickenlooper, whose genius parking meter ad helped propel the political neophyte into the Denver Mayor’s Office in 2003?  

(Full disclosure: Spokesman extraordinaire Andrew Hudson did indeed catch me throwing a twenty into a bucket at a fundraiser for Hickenlooper that I was covering as a reporter. But I only did so because my sister and brother-in-law were there, eating and drinking like mad and maintaining they had “forgotten” to bring their checkbook.)

When Hick ran for governor in 2010, he showered fully clothed in various outfits, saying attack ads made him feel dirty.  The spot drew national kudos.

These days, Hickenlooper’s campaign is being run out of Washington, D.C., and the national attention has come not from clever ads but from blowing off a subpoena from the ethics commission. Attack ads don’t seem to bother him anymore. 

I guess when the polls show you’re ahead, the advice from DC pundits is to stay below the radar and say and do as little as possible, but this is not the quirky, genuine John Hickenlooper who tickled us in his previous campaigns. 

Meanwhile, the texts and e-mails keep on coming:

• Mike Bloomberg just announced he will spend up to $100 million to help DEFEAT Trump. We know Trump is TREMBLING! But we need to need accurate records on voter sentiment in the run up to the election. Lynn Bartels: You’ve been selected as our representative from Colorado. So please take the survey and share your thoughts … 

• If Trump and McConnell have enough votes, they could push another Brett Kavanaugh clone into the Supreme Court before Joe Biden is elected. It’s wrong, it’s hypocritical and we have to put a stop to it.

And my personal favorite:

• We’re gearing up to train strong progressives in Colorado to run for office — from city councils and school boards to state legislatures. And Lynn, we’re asking you to join us.

Watch out, Candi CDeBaca! 

I long for the days when my mailbox filled up with offers of Viagra and announcements of millions I had won and could collect by sending a money order to Nigeria. Luckily, I only have to wait a few more weeks.