Marilyn Musgrave

Congressional candidate Betsy Markey: Campaign PhotoThe Democratic Congressional Campaign Commitee has reserved $667,000 worth of TV ad time in the 4th Congressional District, Real Clear Politics is reporting.

The ad buy of about 2,000 points is part of a $34.5 million media blitz by the cash-flush DCCC in 31 House races around the country, according to RCP's Reid Wilson.

U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-Fort Morgan) shot back Tuesday at an environmental group's TV ad campaign directed against her, asking why CO-4 Democratic opponent Betsy Markey didn't condemn questionable claims made in the ads.

Though a Markey spokesperson declined to comment on the ads themselves, Markey said in a statement that Musgrave attacking her over negative advertising was "the height of irony and hypocrisy."

The Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund, a 501(c)4 environmental advocacy group based in Washington, D.C. , made a $200,000 TV ad buy three weeks ago. In the group’s ad, Musgrave is labeled as “one of the most corrupt members of Congress” and portrays her as being in the pocket of big energy companies.

Subsequent media analyses of the ad by CBS4 and 9News – as the Musgrave campaign pointed out – deemed many of the allegations made in the ad to be false or misleading.

A Defenders of Wildlife spokesperson, in an e-mail, called Musgrave's reaction to the ad "silly but expected" and said the media analyses were "culprits of at best misleading, and false, reporting." 

U.S. Rep. Marilyn MusgraveThe Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund, an environmental advocacy organization, is expanding its effort to unseat U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-Fort Collins).

Defenders President Rodger Schlickeisen said the organization was building an aggressive ground operation in the Fort Collins area that would be in place by the end of July. Leading the effort is Ed Yoon, who in managed the Defender’s successful campaign to oust U.S. Rep. Richard Pombo of California. This cycle Yoon has been active in the organization’s efforts in House and Senate races in New Mexico.

The move comes several weeks after the organization launched several hard-hitting advertisements portraying Musgrave as out-of-touch on the environment and too close to President Bush on the issue. The organization placed a significant sum of money behind the ads, purchasing about $200,000 worth of air time and spending about $12,000 to produce the ads.

The Fourth of July is about fireworks, barbecuing, parades and -- of course -- politicking.

After the jump, check out where Colorado candidates for U.S. Senate and Congress will be on America's birthday.

Surprise! The Supreme Court picks some winners this week. We just hope they clean under the bench regularly. Wally anoints some whinners of the week too.  So check in with Wally Edge for Weekly Winners & Losers: it's your patriotic duty this whole week long.

With energy and the environment emerging as hot button topics this election year, two environment-focused advocacy groups are spending heavily in competitive House and Senate races in Colorado.

The League of Conservation Voters is coming out strongly for Democrat Mark Udall in his run for the seat of retiring U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard (R-Loveland). The organization has sunk more than $565,000 into two television advertisements slamming Udall’s Republican opponent, former U.S. Rep. Bob Schaffer.

Earlier this week, Defenders of Wildlife PAC began airing two television advertisements targeting U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, who is engaged in a competitive race with Democrat Betsy Markey. The organization has purchased about $200,000 in television airtime and spent about $12,000 to produce the ads.