Betsey Markey won the election for this seat this year over incumbent Marilyn Musgrave. Musgrave was one of the most disliked Republican representatives in a solid Republican District. Many of the people I talked to wanted her out and didn’t care how it happened. She took over the seat in 2003 after Bob Schaffer (who lost to Mark Udall for the open U.S. Senate seat) held it for eight years. Schaffer was very popular here, and easily won when he ran. Many (including me) hope he runs again in 2010. For now, he’s on the Colorado State Education Board and is content with his work there.
Markey worked for “$10/gal. Gasoline” Ken Salazar before deciding to run for Congress. She ran as a moderate much in the same way as Salazar did. After two years of working with Republicans he became a Pelosi puppy dog the next two. This was not good enough for the lefties, who are already looking to primary him in 2010 for not being liberal enough.
Musgrave threw her weight behind the Federal Marriage Amendment which ignited the liberal base here to find a way to get rid of her. The past two years she did some good things, such as remaining in Washington with other Republican representatives during the summer recess to bring attention to oil prices. She also was against the financial bailout (so was Markey). She also did some bad things, such as strong support for the Farm Bill and she was outspoken against uranium mining in Weld County. The Farm Bill support was understandable, but many of these same farmers want to mine the resources on their land and she opposed it.
U.S. House District 4 covers most of Eastern Colorado, and includes the cities of Fort Collins, Loveland, Greeley, Longmont (portions) and Fort Morgan.
Results from the 2008 election for CO-4 and links to the County Republican Party websites (for those that exist) can be found here:
- Baca County
- Bent County
- Boulder County Republican Party
- Cheyenne County
- Kiowa County
- Kit Carson County
- Larimer County Republican Party
- Lincoln County
- Logan County Republican Party
- Morgan County Republican Party
- Phillips County
- Prowers County
- Sedgwick County
- Washington County
- Weld County Republican Party
- Yuma County Republican Party
Here is the Colorado Republican Party website.
Conservative Colorado news, blogs & think tanks:
- The Independence Institute
- Americans For Prosperity
- Face The State
- The Complete Colorado
- Rocky Mountain Alliance of Blogs v2.0
- People’s Press Collective
- Red County (Larimer)
- The Cauldron
- PolitickerCO
- Joe Schmo
Contact information for donations, volunteering, campaigning, and Party leaders can be found at the State and County websites listed above. This is a good time for the Republican Party in CO-4. We have a chance to rebuild the conservative brand here over the next two years.
FWIW, here’s the results of the Presidential Election in Colorado.
Great one, NT
bs Monday, November 17th at 3:54PM EST (link)A really quality example of how to create a district analysis.
Decorum is fo’ suckas
Thanks, bs. -nt-
NightTwister Monday, November 17th at 4:35PM EST (link)-nt-
Get Connected in Colorado.
This is a solid R district.
St_Louis_Conservative Monday, November 17th at 9:49PM EST (link)A halfway decent Republican should be able to retake this district in 2010 if they run a competent campaign.
Who’s on the short list here?
“…..women and minorities hardest hit”
Wow the heck did a district with that many votes for McCain
Nelsen Monday, November 17th at 10:10PM EST (link)vote in a Dem as a Rep. This is why we need to regroup and present canidates with true conservative values. We can’t let conservative seats like these slip through our grasp. We should be easily able to retake this seat in ‘10. Any ideas for how should run?
Obama Made 512 Promises and Every Single One is Tracked At:
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/
Create Your Own Obama Speech:
http://www.atom.com/spotlights/inauguration_speech_generator/
Some others Too
dld1717 Monday, November 17th at 10:18PM EST (link)We lost Idaho Seat and MD 01 which are heavily GOP seats
I just pray we can avoid contentious primaries we need to win these seats back
For whatever reason Musgrave, Sali in Idaho, Schmidt in OH (she still underperforms in that seat), and even the lovely Bachmann are really loved or hated in their districts.
We still have not ousted the Salazar Cngrss brother and thats reliable House seat too
Shortlist for CO-4 in 2010
NightTwister Monday, November 17th at 10:34PM EST (link)From PolitickerCO:
Any one of them would be great. If Schaffer runs, he’ll probably run away with it because of his popularity. He’s a big reason why we have the best Charter Schools in the state, and why we have school choice in Colorado.
Get Connected in Colorado.
Musgrave got a bad rap.
NightTwister Monday, November 17th at 10:38PM EST (link)The liberals really went after her, which was made easier by a complicit media. The Coloradoan, which is the local Fort Collins newspaper is very liberal.
Much of it was undeserved, but she ticked off enough people on both sides that she just didn’t have enough support to hold the seat.
It’s a shame, I think. She was one of the few in Congress that had a child serving in the military. I think she was for the most part a reliable conservative, but I guess change was a universal concept.
Get Connected in Colorado.
Musgrave and Shaffer are good folks
Freedoms Truth Monday, November 17th at 10:53PM EST (link)What a pity they lost. I believe 2010 will be kinder to us. ID-01, MD-01, CO-04, all should be 2010 pickups.
If Shaffer won the CO-04 district this year, he should definitely try to run there.
ONE THING TO AVOID IS UGLY AND EXPENSIVE PRIMARIES! Let’s get the candidates together to not ruin our chances with divisive primaries. Recruit the best candidate and get behind him/her.
The most conservative district held by a Dem (except mayber for ID-01 now) is TX-17 held by Chet Edwards. he’s a lib, a pandering patronage earmark pro-barreller and a fraud, but he gets re-elected because he has millions in special interest money to beat up whoever runs against him. He outspent his GOP opponent 20-to-1 and got a mere 7% more but a win is a win.
Every single one of these districts are pickups but the DCCC will pour millions to defend them. You need clean, likeable candidates who arent gone through the wringer of divisive primaries. or they will lose (Again, look at 2004 TX-17Wolgemuthagainst Chet Edwards).
I think Andy Harris should rerun in MD-01. He almost made it and 2010 will be more favorable.
Freedoms Truth,
Travis Monitor - http://travismonitor.blogspot.com
Austin, TX
The money's left town.
NightTwister Monday, November 17th at 11:39PM EST (link)The Center for Independent Media is pulling money out of Colorado. Now is the time to start organizing and getting our message out before the money comes back (if it does).
Get Connected in Colorado.
85% of CO-04
dantes Tuesday, November 18th at 2:37PM EST (link)votes are in Larimer County (Ft. Collins, Loveland) and Weld County (Greeley). No matter how red the rest of the district looks, there are not a lot of people there.
CO-04 - we got to recruit Shaffer
Freedoms Truth Tuesday, November 18th at 2:50PM EST (link)We need to put these kinds of races ‘in the bag’ for our side, and the way to do that would be to get Shaffer to run.
Can we try to recruit and draft these guys EARLY enough so any bloody primary is avoided?
Freedoms Truth,
Travis Monitor - http://travismonitor.blogspot.com
Austin, TX
Schaffer is mum on future plans right now.
NightTwister Tuesday, November 18th at 3:02PM EST (link)It’s a good move. It’s too early in the game for that. We’ve need to find people that can run against Bacon & Fischer first.
Get Connected in Colorado.