Marilyn Musgrave

U.S. Rep. John Shadegg (R-Phoenix) announced Monday he will be joining three other House Republicans on an energy-related fact finding trip to Alaska, specifically to visit Prudhoe Bay and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), two sites on which Republicans have advocated drilling for oil.

"Energy is a critical issue on which Congress must make better-informed policy decisions," said Shadegg in a statement announcing the trip. "That’s why I am taking this opportunity to gain firsthand knowledge of the situation on the ground in ANWR and to learn about the effects of development.  We can, and should, access our domestic resources in an ecologically responsible manner."

Waterfowl for Musgrave: Musgrave campaign intern Kyle Anderson went to 4th Congressional District radio stations Friday in a duck suit after Markey declined to appear on a radio debate scheduled for Saturday morning.Three 4th Congressional District debates are being tentatively scheduled for the second, third, and fourth week of October.

But U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave's campaign is crying "fowl" after Democratic nominee Betsy Markey did not accept an invitation to a radio debate on KCOL-AM Saturday morning.

The Musgrave campaign publicized Markey's "ducking" of the debate by sending out intern Kyle Anderson to local radio stations in a duck suit. Friday's press release was issued under the title "Quack, Quack, Quack."

Asked what Markey's position was on ducks, Marter answered, tongue firmly in cheek, that "Betsy Markey draws a line in the sand about ducks."

"She feels there are good ducks like Daffy Duck and bad ducks like Scrooge McDuck," Marter said.

With Vice President Dick Cheney in Littleton Wednesday for a private fundraiser on behalf of U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, Democratic opponent Betsy Markey is trying to make some money off of the visit, too.

Markey's campaign sent out a fundraising e-mail Wednesday attempting to tie Musgrave to the unpopular Bush Administration.

Cheney's visit was anticipated to spark an outcry from liberals seeking to make such a connection. 

"Unfortunately, this is just another loud and clear signal from Marilyn Musgrave that she continues to wholeheartedly endorse the disastrous policies of the Bush - Cheney administration, as she has for the past six years," the e-mail stated. "A single event with Dick Cheney will bring thousands of dollars into Marilyn Musgrave's campaign. Dollars that will most certainly be used to distort and attack both my record and positions on the issues in ways that may very well make Karl Rove blush."

The full fundraising e-mail, after the jump.

Vice President Dick Cheney will be in Littleton on Wednesday to attend a private fundraiser for U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-Fort Morgan), the Grand Junction Sentinel's Political Notebook is reporting.

As Political Notebook pointed out, the visit will likely spark an outcry from liberals seeking to connect Musgrave with the unpopular Bush Administration.

A spokesperson for Democratic opponent Betsy Markey said Musgrave "is forgetting about her constituents" as "her first major event back in Colorado is down in Denver with Dick Cheney."

Colorado will likely remain the center of the political universe long after the Democratic National Convention leaves town, a new Politicker.com analysis shows.

As one of the top presidential swing states, and home to an increasingly competitive U.S. Senate race, and a top U.S. House race, Colorado will help decide not just presidency, but also congressional control.

The Pindell Report, named for Politicker.com Managing Editor James Pindell, aims to provide the country's most dynamic and richly reported ranking and analysis of U.S. Senate, U.S. House and  gubernatorial races, plus presidential swing states.

Another DC pundit upgrades U.S. Rep. Betsy Markey's (D-Fort Collins) chances against U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-Fort Morgan) in the 4th Congressional District, while Curt Cerveny's rogue use of his non-profit's name to attack 6th Congressional District candidate Mike Coffman (R) earns him one of the spots on the week's losers list. | CLICK HERE

The CO-4 forecast became a little less red Wednesday, as the Rothenburg Political Report adjusted its rating of the Fourth Congressional District race from "toss-up/tilt Republican" to "pure toss-up."

Rothenburg is the latest political handicapper to recalculate the race from favoring incumbent U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave(R-Fort Morgan) to being evenly matched.

The Cook Political Report and Politicker's Pindell Report rate the race a "toss-up"; CQ Politics says the race still "leans Republican."

Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund, an independent environmental organization, is continuing to ratchet up its offensive against Republican Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-Ft. Morgan), unveiling a television advertisement today hitting Musgrave for her votes against raising vehicle fuel efficiency standards.

“Marilyn Musgrave’s votes on vehicle fuel efficiency standards cost her constituents money,” said Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund President Rodger Schlickeisen. “Gas is over $4 a gallon, and yet she also recently voted against measures to prosecute gasoline price gougers.”

The organization has purchased an extended series of ad buys in the Fort Collins-area district which total in the six-figures. The spot is set to air over a span of three weeks.

The long back and forth between U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-Fort Morgan) and the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund gained yet another entry on Saturday, as David Kirk, the group's communications coordinator sent an e-mail to PolitickerCO.com, to rebut Musgrave's recent characterization of the group as "radical" and its ads as "reprehensible". These comments were made in an open letter criticizing her challenger Betsy Markey (D-Fort Collins) for having not finalized their debating schedule.

Terming Musgrave's comments "name calling and pouting," Kirk wrote that he believed Markey's accusation of the group being "radical" was unfounded.

"If she thinks it is a 'radical' proposition to increase automobile fuel efficiency standards so that we can pay less at the pump and to think that Big Oil companies making record billions of dollars in profit do not need billions of dollars in tax breaks that she voted for, then I think we can safely say that she really must be out-of-touch with her constituents," Kirk wrote in the e-mail.

The campaign of U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-Fort Morgan) released an open letter to fellow congressional candidate Betsy Markey (D-Fort Collins) on Thursday, challenging her to accept three debates which Musgrave had already accepted.

Musgrave accused her 4th Congressional District opponent of dodging her public responsibility to maintain a civil discourse by allowing Markey's "radical" supporters at the Defense of Wildlife Action Fund of making "reprehensible" anti-Musgrave ads.

"I believe it is our responsibility as candidates for Congress to present our positions directly to the voters through civilized public debates, without the filter of false campaign commercials coming from deceptive special interest groups like the reprehensible and misleading television ads paid for by the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund, the same radical environmental organization that endorses you," Musgrave wrote.