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Second Congressional District Democratic candidate Will Shafroth's second television ad, which began airing on cable Tuesday, highlights his recent endorsement by the Rocky Mountain News.

The ad is part of what Shafroth manager Lynea Hansen called a "significant" cable ad buy; it will also be aired on broadcast TV in the coming days, she said.

Full transcript of the ad, after the jump.

Ben Marter, press secretary for the state Senate Democrats, announced Tuesday that he's signed on as 4th Congressional District Democratic candidate Betsy Markey's communication director.

Marter said he's taking a leave of absence from his Senate press job in order to take on the campaign job. He started in the new position Monday.

Marter will work out of Markey's Fort Collins office.

The recently created 7th Congressional District was drawn to be a very competitive district -- and some considered it the most competitive in the country -- but this year's race appears to be anything but competitive.

In 2000, Vice President Gore narrowly carried the district over George W. Bush by 49.8 percent to 48.9 percent. In 2002, Bob Beauprez (R-Arvada) won the seat by just 121 votes, representing a miniscule 0.07 percent margin. U.S. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) won the district by 51.4 percent to 48.2 percent over President Bush.

Republicans held the district since 2002 but lost control in 2006 when Beauprez vacated the seat to run for governor. That year, Democrat Ed Perlmutter of Aurora defeated Republican Rick O'Donnell by 54 - 37 percent.

Recent trends suggest the district is becoming more Democratic. The percentage of voters registered as Democrats increased from 33.5 percent in 2004 to 34.0 percent in 2007, while Republican registration dropped from 31.8 percent to 30.5 percent during the same period.

Now it appears that Republicans have all but given up on trying to win back the district. Perlmutter's Republican challenger, John Lerew, has raised under $6,000 so far and had under $3,000 in cash on hand as of the end of the 2nd quarter.

Sixth Congressional District Republican candidate Wil Armstrong picked up his most high-profile supporter to date on Tuesday, winning the endorsement of former Massachusetts Gov. and possible VP candidate Mitt Romney.

"Washington is broken and Wil Armstrong is the best man to fix it," Romney said in a statement.

Sixth Congressional District Republican candidate Wil Armstrong released a television ad Monday labeling primary opponent Mike Coffman as a "career politician with a record of controversy."

The Coffman campaign, anticipating a negative ad from the Armstrong camp, quickly responded Monday with a robocall to all CO-6 registered Republicans from Coffman's wife Cynthia.

Both presidential campaigns trotted out Colorado military veterans on Monday: McCain's camp to unveil a new state veterans campaign group, Obama's to answer a recent negative television ad by McCain.

In Denver, CO-5 Democratic candidate and retired Air Force Lt. Col. Hal Bidlack and Colorado Veterans' Alliance President Rick Duncan joined other veterans in blasting presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain.

Less than an hour later, in Colorado Springs, the McCain camp unveiled Colorado Veterans for John McCain, a campaign constituency group headed by, among others, former U.S. Sen. Hank Brown (R-Colo.)

Congressional candidate George Lilly: Campaign photoFirst Congressional District Republican candidate George Lilly on Saturday threatened legal action against a conservative blogger for a post made last month questioning Lilly's support of Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bob Schaffer.

The blogger, Anthony Surace, a 21-year-old Metro State University student who runs RockyMountainRight.com, apologized for the post Sunday and said he would "take George Lilly at his word that he supports Bob Schaffer."

In a new blog post Sunday, Surace said he would "take George Lilly at his word that he supports Bob Schaffer and donated to his campaign and apologize for any confusion over the issue."

The Rocky Mountain News on Friday endorsed Will Shafroth in the 2nd Congressional District Democratic primary, calling him “a professional conservationist who could add a needed perspective to the Washington debate.”

But the editorial spent more time blasting the other two CO-2 Democratic candidates – Joan Fitz-Gerald and Jared Polis – than it did praising Shafroth.

This week's Winners & Losers include Fourth Congressional District candidate Betsy Markey (D-Fort Collins) who had a great week thanks to an assist from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, while U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colorad Springs) was dogged with questions about his support for our four-legged furry friends. | CLICK HERE

U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colorado Springs) found himself playing defense today after primary challenger Jeff Crank called him out for being just one of 39 in the House to vote against the Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act which increased penalties for dog fighting and cockfighting.

Crank told PolitickerCO.com: "I think Doug can defend it any way he wants to - he's entitled to do that - but it was the wrong vote to cast if you love dogs and frankly if you're against crime."

Lamborn responsed in a statement: "For the record, I love dogs and animals." A nice comeback, but it would have been more entertaining in video form. We think former U.S. Rep. Michael Steele (R-Md.) had the right idea: