Angie Paccione

Image courtesy Progress Now

Ousted Rep. Marilyn Musgrave had a target on her back in 2008, but it was nothing she wasn't used to.

Having built her base of support around a focus on conservative social wedge issues, once even declaring "the marriage issue" the most important facing America, Musgrave provoked the wrath of liberal funders like Tim Gill and Fort Collins philanthropist Pat Stryker in a very personal way. Musgrave faced a hard challenge in 2006, barely staying ahead of challenger Angie Paccione by a combination of shrilly negative ads and a third-party candidate who drained away what may well have otherwise been Paccione's victory.

In another sign Democrat Betsy Markey is threatening U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave's re-election hopes, the Rothenberg Political Report relabeled its rating of the 4th Congressional District race on Tuesday to "toss-up/tilt Democratic."

Rothenberg had previously rated the race as a "pure toss-up."

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

MINNEAPOLIS--U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-Fort Morgan) told the Colorado delegation to the Republican National Convention on Thursday that like GOP vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin, she has a degree of immunity from attacks by male opponents.

"I think when (Barack) Obama picked (running mate) Joe Biden he thought he had his scrapper -- somebody who would get him there," Musgrave said. "But you know, one thing that I've found: no matter what kind of opponent I have and no matter what kind of outside groups are going to come in and attack me, when I've had a man for an opponent, they have to treat you like a lady."

MarkeyThis year's  4th Congressional District race between incumbent U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-Fort Morgan) and Democratic challenger Betsy Markey may well turn out to be the only competitive two-party race in Colorado.

Though they've come somewhat close to toppling Musgrave the past two elections, the Democrats this time are relying on Markey, a Fort Collins businesswoman and State Department official with no prior political experience, to deliver the knockout blow.

In this week's Monday Morning Politicking, Markey talks about why she thinks 2008 is a good year for CD-4 to go blue, her strategy for upsetting Musgrave, and her top-secret work for the State Department in the 1980s.