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Campaign finance records kept by CQ MoneyLine show the 34-year-old Polis is already among the best at using joint fundraising organizations to collect big checks from a handful of donors that can be divided among colleagues.

All together, Polis has raised $238,664 from 19 donors, including $717 he footed himself for the cost of hosting events, according to CQ MoneyLine. That's an average of slightly more than $12,500 per donor.

Compare that with House Republican Whip Eric Cantor, a Virginian who raised more money through a joint fundraising committee, $1.2 million, than any other House member in the last election cycle. So far this year, Cantor has collected $901,359 from 185 individuals and political action committees, for an average contribution of $4,872.

In the 2008 election cycle, House Ways and Means Chairman Charles B. Rangel, the House Democrat who raised the most through a joint fundraising committee, collected $908,037 from 386 contributors, or $2,352 per donor.

The practice is most utilized by presidential campaigns, which often combine with their respective national party committees to raise money. As such, the total money raised through joint fundraising committees skyrockets during presidential election years and then settles back to Earth during mid-term election cycles.

In the 2008 cycle, $511 million was raised through joint fundraising committees,with the overwhelming majority of the money collected for entities related to the campaigns of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama and Republican presidential nominee John McCain. The figure was $111 million in the comparable 2004 presidential election cycle, according to MoneyLine's Alex Knott.

In each of the past two mid-term election cycles, the total raised by joint fundraising committees has fallen between $56 million and $58 million, and this cycle appears to be on pace to meet exceed those figures, with $14 million already donated to such organizations.