Dems surprised to be on Mia Love's mailing list

Leading Democratic activists in Utah are poking fun at the Mia Love campaign for sending them a free bumper sticker along with a letter asking for a campaign donation.

Among the recipients are Democratic state lawmakers and Utah Democratic Party employees. Patrice Arent, a Democratic member of the Utah House and the state's Democratic Committeewoman received two of the letters.

"Mia Love must have money to burn," Arent wrote on Facebook. "Talk about wasteful spending."

Arent posted a picture of the mailers where she crossed out Mia Love's name on the bumper sticker and wrote in the name of the Democratic candidate Doug Owens.

The Owens campaign is trying to capitalize on the curious mailers to raise some money of their own. His camp is encouraging a "sticker exchange" as long as people send in some cash.

Love's letter, sent this week, is just the latest fundraising request Love has sent to Utahns and to people throughout the nation. Direct mail is a primary way she has raised $1.3 million in small dollar contributions for her 4th District contest. She's raised a little more than $2 million overall.

But this appears to be the first one that hit the mailboxes of a bunch of Democrats.

"The simple fact is we want to give everyone in the state and particularly in the district the opportunity to support Mia," he said. "We don't discriminate against anybody, even if they are Democrats."

Who received the fundraising solicitation is interesting but so is the letter's content. It says that Love's plan is to raise and spend $2.7 million in the next six months, which would mean she would spend a total of about $5 million on his second attempt at winning a House seat.

And it also levels some withering criticism at Owens, whom Love has largely ignored up until this point.

It says Utah Democrats are "united behind the entitled liberal son of a former congressman." Owens is the son of the late Rep. Wayne Owens. Love also accused Owens of "criticizing my adherence to my Christian faith," when he accepted the Democratic nomination in April.

Here is what Owens actually said while talking to the LDS Democratic Caucus: "I am a Democrat because I am LDS. I think the values line up very, very closely…. I don't think Mia Love represents LDS values, frankly."

— Matt Canham