Talking with a good friend the other day who understands Eastern/North Colorado politics as well as anyone else, there’s already a feeling sweeping the plains that U.S. Representative Betsy Markey is already vulnerable, even before she’s been sworn in. Yes, this feeling exists even though Markey won in double-digit fashion. But let’s also look at Markey’s own campaign. Check out this TV ad where Markey appears just a little robotic in her closing remarks.
Consider the theory that Musgrave did herself in with an amazingly negative campaign, and the complimentary theory that all Markey had to do was get out of the way. Check the following results:
In Larimer County, McCain got 68,932 votes, Musgrave got 58,494. So you can’t just blame a “democratic” tide. Markey peeled away A LOT of Republicans. In Larimer County, Markey received roughly 6-thousand more votes that OBAMA!
Weld County: McCain pulls in almost 56-thousand votes, and beats Obama in that county. Musgrave pulls in about 39-thousand. That’s hard-core abandonment not by your party’s elite, but by your everyday party voters.
To wit: in two of the most populous counties in CD-4, Republicans who were Republican enough to vote for McCain abandoned Musgrave like she had the plague and bad breath all at the same time.
SO…CD-4 might still be considered Republican country, and already, CompleteColorado.com is hearing there are four HIGHLY qualified candidates that might like to set their sights on picking off Markey in 2010.
Mark Hillman, former treasurer, and someone who, unlike the newly-minted Senator Udall, does not need to drop $500 at Eddie Bauer to convince people he was country when country wasn’t cool.
Weld County DA Ken Buck, popular for his strong work on illegal immigration.
Cory Gardner, another GOP rising star, at least in statewide circles.
And Greg Brophy, District 1 state Senator.
Those are four, qualified CD-4 heavy hitters for the GOP.
