Given what happened yesterday, I feel it's important I repost my earlier diary on who are the GOOD Democratic challengers when it comes to FISA.  I'll try to corral all their statements into this diary, so you can see who the "good guys" are.

First, let's start off with the current House and Senate members who voted against this bill.  (For the Senate, I'm only including those who voted against cloture yesterday for the bill.)  They do deserve credit, as it's their jobs on the line.

Follow me below the fold to see the dozens of Democratic challengers who are standing up for the Constitution, and are against this FISA bill and retroactive immunity.

The netroots / blogosphere has picked its favorites, be they Rick Noriega or Darcy Burner or Scott Kleeb.  (All three of whom are great candidates.)

In this diary, I wanted to spread the love a bit to a few candidates that don't get mentioned much, or at all.  Please help me in this task.

Oftentimes moderate Democrats running in Republican districts, who don't and can't hew to the hard left like we might like, lose out in the online popularity contests.  But at the end of the day, their one vote will count for just as much, and will each be replacing the vote of a bad GOP legislator.

In this diary I detail 5 house candidates and 5 senate candidates that are worthy of your donations - even $5 - via ActBlue at this link.  Even better, sign up for a recurring contribution - it helps ensure the candidates a steady financial situation.

In the last couple days, there have been several posts across the blogosphere citing what various candidates running for Congress have said on FISA and retroactive immunity for the telecoms.  But so far, it's been all over the map.  I'll try to corral all their statements into this diary, so you can see who the "good guys" are.

First, let's start off with the current House and Senate members who voted against this bill.  They do deserve credit, as it's their jobs on the line.

Follow me below the fold to see the dozens of Democratic challengers who are standing up for the Constitution, and are against this FISA bill and retroactive immunity.

The Author of the "Federal Marriage Amendment is in deep, deep trouble. There are a lot of good candidates out there who deserve are support in defeatring odious Repubs, and I have another one to add to our list.

A recent poll shows Democratic candidate Betsy Markey leads incumbent Republican Marilyn Musgrave in the race for Colorado's 4th District Congressional seat.

The poll - commissioned by the Markey campaign - shows her leading Musgrave 43 percent to 36 percent, outside the 4.9% margin of error. The Denver Post has the story.

We have a huge opportunity this year to turn Colorado into a very blue state.  We can elect a wonderful woman, a progressive by both values and political beliefs, and we can defeat Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave.  

Defeat Marilyn?  Yes We Can!  It takes a fabulous candidate, in the name of Betsy Markey, and hard work by hundreds of volunteers.  

And, an opportunity to raise $5000 by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time - by going to http://www.progressivepatriotsfund.c... and scrolling down on the right and clicking on Betsy's name.   If you, the reader, and you the next reader, vote for her she just might make it.  She is oh so close!!!

Please join me by voting for Betsy today.  You need no Indiana ID card or a way to get you to the polling booth.  Just do so by coping the above URL and vote for Betsy.

Thanks good Dems and Independents (and perhaps even some Republicans).

Ann

Sure, she's wasting campaign money.  And Democratic opportunities to attack John McCain.  And attempting to create divisions in the Party.

But of all the many reasons that Hillary Clinton should graciously concede the Democratic nomination to the clear winner of the contest, none has been more overlooked than the impact on downballot races.

No, I'm not talking about Obama's major coattails, though that is certainly important.  I'm talking about the oxygen that this continued farce of a campaign is taking away from the deserving and overlooked women and men running for Senate and Congress.

It may come as a surprise to some, but Colorado’s 4th District was recently ranked by the Washington Post as a top 10 House race to watch, despite Marilyn Musgrave holding onto the seat for the past three elections.  However, to those who know Betsy Markey, this is not really a surprise at all, especially when you consider that Musgrave’s vote total in 2006 (46%) was the lowest winning percentage in the entire country.

And you can hear Betsy LIVE today at 11AM Eastern/8AM Pacific talking to thereisnospoon and me on our BlogTalkRadio show.

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.

We have a lot of great opportunities to expand the democratic majority in the house this fall, and a lot of great candidates.

One such candidate is a remarkable woman, Betsy Markey, running for Colorado's CD-4, a seat currently held by Marilyn Musgrave. Representative  Musgrave thought D.O.M.A (Defense of Marriage Act) did not go far enough, and introduced an amendment that would outlaw   benefits to anyone not married, thus effectively ending an individual state's right to grant civil unions.

But besides Musgrave's morality legislation concerns, Betsy Markey is a terrific candidate for this seat, because as someone who has worked both in the private sector and with the State department, she can attack (and does so effectively) Musgrave from a business and fiscal conservative platform as well as from a standpoint of someone who has superior foreign policy experience.

Read more on her ideas and the youtube video...

CO-04's Marilyn Musgrave is attempting to distance herself from her reputation as a right-wing religious extremest.

More below the fold:

Colorado's 4th congressional district is the only real pickup opportunity for the Democrat's US House delegation in Colorado. As you may know Angie Paccione dropped out of the race, in order to take a fantasitic job. Rep. Diana DeGette (CO-01) immediately endorsed Betsy Markey.

I got a call from Betsy last night as she was driving home from the airport (she'd just been in DC). The DCCC and a certain DC-based organization have pledged significant funds, if Betsy can raise another $14,000 by tomorrow night.

This is a call for any donation you can contribute to help her reach the goal. The receipt of the pledged amount would give her the buzz to help raise the kind of funds needed to take on Marilyn Musgrave.

Every day of September (almost) I'm making a contribution to a new candidate, announcing it here on Daily Kos, and encouraging you to join me.  If one person matches my contribution on my ActBlue page, I'll double my contribution; if ten people match it, I'll triple.  Details here.

Wow!  Dan Seals has a lot of fans here.  Yesterday I followed up on madame defarge's suggestion and added him to my list - and seventeen more people contributed!  Thanks, all - that feels great.  Dan, here's $40 more from me.  Many, many thanks, Madame Defarge, for rallying the troops.

On this penultimate day of the fundraising season, I'm endorsing a second candidate from Colorado's 4th district.  Follow me below the fold to find out why.

A leading contender for the CO-04 seat of Marilyn 'Defense of Homophobia Amendment' Musgrave has left the race.

Angie Paccione who last cycle narrowly lost against Musgrave eliminated herself from the potential rematch today to pursue a job in the private sector:

SquareState

There are no words adequate enough to describe the privilege I've had representing the people of Fort Collins as their State Representative and as the Democratic candidate for the people of the 4th Congressional District.  In 2000, when there was no democratic candidate on the ballot for the 4th CD, I was motivated to enter politics to fill the void in leadership. At that time I offered my service as the voice of the people in representative government. I am forever changed, forever grateful, and forever indebted to the people for the opportunity they gave me to serve them.

If you ever needed proof that the Colorado Republican Congressional delegation is in the nuttiest camp of the lunatic fringe of the right wing, look no farther than this vote Friday.

Only 84 Republicans in the House voted for an amendment which would have forbidden Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi from traveling to other countries. 337 members voted No, including all the Democrats and a vast majority of Republicans.

But among the Yes votes were all three of Colorado's Republican contingent--Lamborn, Tancredo, and even the "new" and supposedly "bipartisan" Marilyn Musgrave.

Update: Jim Kelly with Syscom services just contacted me to notify me that the website is up and running, and it is indeed.

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Democrat Betsy Markey was scheduled to announce her run today to unseat Marilyn Musgrave in Colorado's 4th congressional district.

Markey's not prepared to launch an internet-savvy campaign, though. Her website (which she hasn't advertised, as far as I know) appears to be fresh out of a sitebuilder kit, with no images, no working links and plenty of "lorem ipsum." The all-important "donate" function is missing, and even the address and phone numbers are placeholders.

The Coloradoan reported she was to kick-off with at a lunch in Greeley and an evening party in Fort Collins.