Buried near the end of this story in the Denver Post is a wonderful tidbit:
Fitz-Gerald is not the only state senator looking at a potential congressional run.
Standing with her last week at a podium for Gov. Bill Ritter's signing of a law seeking to prevent the Army from taking more southeastern Colorado ranchland was Sen. Brandon Shaffer.
Although Piñon Canyon is far from the Democrat's district in the Longmont-Boulder County area, he stood with Ritter and Fitz-Gerald to rail against the military expansion plans.
Shaffer, considered one of the Democrats' rising stars, admits he is considering a run for the 4th Congressional District seat held by Republican Marilyn Musgrave.
In fact, he is headed to Washington, D.C., this week for meetings on the prospect.
"I am taking a very serious look at it," he said.
The Dems need to look hard to find a great candidate to take on the odious Marilyn Musgrave. This is a district that has been solidly red but is trending blue, thanks more to the antics of the Pink Suit Lady than to anything the party has been doing.
In '06, Angie Paccione came within a hair of beating Musgrave, but despite being a great candidate and unbelievable grassroots support, Angie had one of the worst-run campaigns ever.
From Sen. Shaffer's web site:
Brandon studied political science at Stanford University. He paid his way through college with a Navy ROTC scholarship and attended naval science classes at the University of California, Berkeley. He also participated in Stanford-in-Government, working as an intern for Governor Roy Romer (Colorado) and the Commission on National and Community Service (Washington D.C.). Brandon graduated with honors in 1993.
Upon graduating, Brandon was commissioned onto active duty in the United States Navy. He spent his first year of service in San Diego attending various Navy training courses, but was eventually shipped out to the USS HEWITT (DD 966) stationed in Yokosuka, Japan. During his 3-year tenure aboard HEWITT, he served as Anti-Submarine Warfare Officer, Deck Division Officer and Navigator. He made two deployments to the Persian Gulf and visited several countries including Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Philippines, Australia, Thailand, Bahrain, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia.