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Monday, November 14, 2005

CO-04: Bush Doing Musgrave Fundraiser

Posted by DavidNYC

While it's easy to despise just about any Republican these days, Marilyn Musgrave holds a special place in the hearts of most liberals, thanks to her frothing, borderline-insane hatred of gays (it's the only issue she ever talks about). In 2004, Stan Matsunaka gave Musgrave a good run for her money, but came up short. However, the margin is a bit misleading. Stan lost 51-45, but 4% of the vote went to a Green Party candidate, which hints, of course, that the left-wing vote in Colorado's fourth district may be a lot closer to 50 percent than to 45.

CO's 4th district is pretty rural and conservative - it went for Bush over Gore by 56-37 (I don't have the Kerry numbers). So it's a real testament to Matsunaka that he was able to do as well as he did (and to pin down Musgrave and prevent her from raising money for her colleagues). On the other hand, is CO-04 so conservative that Marilyn's constituents will welcome a visit from George Bush? Especially when so many Republicans are running away from G-Dub as fast as they can?

The Stakeholder is aptly calling this their "Radioactivity Watch" - what kind of fallout, if any, will there be from Bush campaigning across the country? Musgrave has been a dominant fundraiser, while her challenger, Angie Paccione, trails by quite a bit. And Bush is still great at pulling in the bucks - Musgrave will no doubt be in an even stronger financial position after Bush sweeps through town. But what price do those dollars come at? Will Paccione be able to use the event to tie the Bush albatross around Musgrave's neck? I sure hope so.

P.S. Geiger counters going berserk: New Gallup poll says "Fewer than one in 10 adults say they would prefer a congressional candidate who is a Republican and who agrees with Bush on most major issues."

Posted at 05:19 PM in 2006 Elections - House, Colorado | Technorati

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Comments

IndianaProgressive: I accidentally double-posted this entry, then made the misake of deleting the one which had your comment. My apologies, and please feel free to repost your thoughts.

Posted by: DavidNYC at November 14, 2005 06:27 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

No problem, David. I was saying that while I think we all throw around terms like evil and nutjob about our political opponents probably too often (and I'm as guilty as anyone), Marylin Musgrave truly deserves these labels. Especially to myself and my brother and sister gay Americans, she is vile. While we all brush off and laugh at her anti-gay rantings, we also know that she's in a position of power (particulary with the GOP controlling everything). She's made it clear that she only represents the people who think like her, and the rest of her district (i.e. the 49% that did not vote for her last time) be damned. I have a friend who lives in her district who is gay and questioned her about the "Federal Marriage Amendment" (i.e. the "Shrink government down to the size of your bedroom" amendment) at a public event, and Musgrave essentially told her that she didn't represent people like her. I know there are a lot of races we want to pay attention to, and candidates we want to support, but winning this one would be extra nice.

Posted by: IndianaProgressive at November 14, 2005 09:20 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

I live in the 4th Congressional District and it is embarrasing to be representated by that hate monger. Angie is the perfect person for this run...she is dynamic, engaging and has the energy to bring Musgrave and her extreme agenda to an end. Angie does have an unbelievable story; http://www.angie2006.com/about_angie.asp We came so close last year with Stan Matsunaka, but that Green candidate made it so difficult. It is an exciting time for 4th CD progressives because Angie is starting much earlier than Stan ever did and Bush is bringing his dismal approval ratings to his favorate rubber stamp. If the elections in Virginia and New Jersey are any indicator...well lets just put it this way, I already sent my first check to Angie...

Posted by: CO CD 4 Dem at November 14, 2005 10:52 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

I grew up in this district.

CO-04 consists of the North "front range" of Colorado and the sparsely populated Eastern Plains of Colo. Think Kansas: White, Farms & Ranches. But there is also an increasing hispanic presence.

The two major population centers are Ft Collins & Greeley.

Ft Collins is a quiet "front-porch & garden" sort of town focussed on CSU, the big ag-school. Very white, but environmentally conscious, with some high-tech industry. Lots of growth in the past 20 years, in particular the demographic of "suburban MacMansions. ("Dear, next time, let's move somewher NICE".)

Greeley is suddenly one of the fastest growing areas in the country. Some high-tech; but also quite a bit of hispanic-Mexican (long-term & immigrant).

This growth will certainly lead to reapportionment in 2010, but until then may contribute to mitigating the extreme religious-right-wingism of Musgrave.

A strong establishment environmentalist with fiscal responsibility may win against a weakened religious fanatic like Musgrave.

But, maybe the demographics aren't with us until 2008.

Posted by: tstermitz at November 15, 2005 01:07 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

David,

To answer your questions about 2004 performance in CO-4: Kerry-Bush 42/58

But this is where things get interesting:

Matsunaka pulled 2,115 more votes than Kerry.
K. Salazar pulled 11,826 more votes than Kerry.

The only county Kerry won was the tiny sliver of Boulder in CO-4 and that only by 569 votes. Salazar won 3 counties and Matsunaka won two counties. Both by fairly wide margins.

This race is eminently winnable by Angie considering that Musgrave's re-elects are an abysmal 36%.

Posted by: em dash at November 16, 2005 12:55 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Angie Paccione opposes the Federal Marriage Amendment (Musgrave's key piece of legislation) doesn't she? In Minnesota's 6th District, Elwyn Tinklenberg, the only Democrat running for that seat - which is a swing seat, said he SUPPORTS the federal marriage amendment as one of the first things he said when he announced. Apparently Tinklenberg also has said that he supports civil unions - but Musgrave's amendment bans civil unions also.

Posted by: lloydletta at November 19, 2005 09:08 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment