Here in Colorado, things have been a little blue lately. Politically speaking. The Democrats took the majority in the statehouse in 2004, we elected Democrat Bill Ritter to the Governor's office in 2006, and our congressional delegation became a deeper hue of purple as well in 2006.
I hope this trend continues in Colorado's 4th Congressional District where Marilyn Musgrave has had increasingly difficult re-election bids since first taking office in 2002. According to this article in The Coloradoan, it appears the NRCC's cash problems may spell trouble for her re-election bid this year.
I believe Colorado's 4th is the best chance to pick up another Democratic congressional district in the state. The 5th is the Republican stronghold of Douglas and El Paso counties (home of Focus on the Family) while the 6th is the seat being vacated by Tom Tancredo. 'nuff said there.
The 4th is a largely rural district and has been an easy win for Republicans over the last 30 years or so. In the last general election, I believe Musgrave was pushed over the top (she defeated challenger Angie Paccione by only about 3,000 votes) by having Amendment 43 and Referendum I on the ballot. Amendment 43 passed with 56% of the vote and defined marriage in Colorado as the union of one man and one woman. Referendum I would have authorized domestic partnerships in Colorado and provided same-sex couples the same benefits extended to spouses, but was defeated 47% to 53% against. The voter's who turned out in favor of Amendment 43 and against Referendum I likey bolstered Musgrave's narrow victory margin. Musgrave, of course, has tried twice for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.
I also suspect Musgrave's role in the Terry Schiavo intervention will come back to haunt her again. This caused a real problem for her in 2006 when Michael Schiavo attended a debate between Musgrave and challenger Paccione. Michael Schiavo explained while a guest on The Ed Schultz Show how the Musgrave camp tried unsuccessfully to have him ejected from the debate audience (he was an invited guest of the Paccione campaign.) Afterward, to prevent Musgrave from having to respond to any questions from Schiavo (he planned to ask her if she would have done the same thing had it been a member of her own family) her entourage promptly whisked her off the stage while Angie Paccione was left there alone to respond to the audience.
If we see the same Democratic voter turnout in November that we had a few weeks ago in the caucuses, Musgrave could well be finished.