If you've run up a big campaign debt, make sure you win the election.
You suddenly find yourself with friends you didn't even know you had, and they come bearing contributions.

As Alan Jay Lerner more or less put it, "Oozing charm from every pore, they oil their way across the floor."

Debt-ridden losers look around and there's nobody there to bail them out.

Thanks mainly to Colorado's business community, which is notorious for its political flexibility, Democrat Bill Ritter managed to wipe out a large campaign debt that few in the outside world even knew he had, since it didn't show up in reports.

But we learned last week that he ended the race owing $250,000 or so. A month later, the debt has been retired and donation buckets are free to accept contributions for the 2010 re-election campaign.

Taking much of the credit is Colorado Concern, a group composed of the state's top businesses.

Its executive director, William Mutch, disclosed the financial situation in an e-mail sent out Wednesday. The $250,000 debt, he said, had been reduced to $55,000, "thanks to the efforts of Colorado Concern."

But, he added, "we have only until close-of-business Thursday to erase this final amount from the books."

The group met the deadline. Its enthusiasm was such that it even offered to dispatch couriers to pick up the checks.

Mutch also let it be known that in addition to personal contributions, gifts from limited liability partnerships (formed by state-licensed professionals such as doctors, lawyers and CPAs) and limited-liability companies (other firms) of up to $1,000 were welcome.

Ah, the little-publicized LLP and LLC dodge. They made a small splash in August, when Colorado Citizens for Ethics in Government (CCEG) complained about their use in Republican candidate Bob Beauprez's campaign.

Regular corporate gifts are illegal, but a legal loophole in Colorado's campaign law permits each LLC and LLP to give up to $1,000 during a campaign cycle - even if a single individual owns multiple organizations. For instance, a real estate investor with 16 separate LLCs gave Beauprez $16,000. Another gave $9,000 through nine LLCs.

Ritter wasted little time following the GOP lead. In his own e-mail to potential debt-retiring donors, he stressed the LLC and LLP gambit. Reports due today should indicate how successful it was.

Chantell Taylor of CCEG said a bill sponsored in 2005 by Rep. Anne McGihon, D-Denver, would have apportioned contributions by LLCs and LLPs to their individual members in order to keep everyone under the $1,000 limit. It passed both chambers but was vetoed by Gov. Bill Owens. She hopes McGihon will try again next year. If a bill passes, will Ritter sign it, now that he too has enjoyed the fruits of LLPs and LLCs?

Yes, the Mutch now working for Colorado Concern once ran a campaign for Republican Rep. Tom Tancredo and served as press secretary for former GOP Rep. Bob Schaffer. But business is business.

River of cash: The gubernatorial campaign may be over but the fundraising goes on and on. In addition to wiping out the $250,000 campaign debt, the Ritter folks have to raise $750,000 for the inauguration and "in the low six figures" to cover transition costs.

Meanwhile TV showman Aaron Harber, with a little help from lobbyists, is providing another opportunity for corporations and individuals to get their names associated with Bill Ritter, even though the governor-elect wouldn't profit directly from the money he raises.

Harber is sponsoring a live call-in show (303-296-1253) with Ritter from 7 to 8 p.m. Monday on KBDI Channel 12 . Lobbyists and their clients are being invited to "sponsor" the show by contributing $2,500, $5,000 or $10,000. Big donors get their names on the rolling credits.

Initial receipts would go to pay Harber's production and promotional costs. The next priority, he said, is to make the station "whole" since it is giving up an hour of its current pledge drive to run the show. If any money remains it will go to promote his Web site.

This is a most interesting tactic. Organizations and individuals can help give Ritter some presumably favorable face time with the viewing audience even if they're maxed out in campaign donations or weren't allowed to donate.

What's more, the contributions (unlike lobbying costs and political donations) can be deducted as a business expense.

A lobbying firm promoting the show cautions: "Please be careful not to tap into those who might also be considering sponsoring inaugural events."

Hmmm. That's an odd warning. What's the connection?

Dean protects himself: Former House Speaker Doug Dean, now director of the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, has been allowed to shift from senior executive service to the civil service system on Dec. 1. In effect he's taking a small pay cut in exchange for security in the same job.

Dean, a Republican, was named insurance commissioner after leaving the speakership in 2002. He took the PUC post in March 2005. It pays $109,000; the new rate couldn't be learned Friday but is believed to be about $4,000 less.

The senior executive service was created to allow for a higher pay level than what's available to civil servants. But the tradeoff is those in it can be fired at the whim of the governor.

Even if Gov.-elect Ritter can't replace Dean, he does have an appointment to the PUC itself coming. Commissioner Greg Sopkin's four-year term is up in January.