We have a lot of great opportunities to expand the democratic majority in the house this fall, and a lot of great candidates.

One such candidate is a remarkable woman, Betsy Markey, running for Colorado's CD-4, a seat currently held by Marilyn Musgrave. Representative  Musgrave thought D.O.M.A (Defense of Marriage Act) did not go far enough, and introduced an amendment that would outlaw   benefits to anyone not married, thus effectively ending an individual state's right to grant civil unions.

But besides Musgrave's morality legislation concerns, Betsy Markey is a terrific candidate for this seat, because as someone who has worked both in the private sector and with the State department, she can attack (and does so effectively) Musgrave from a business and fiscal conservative platform as well as from a standpoint of someone who has superior foreign policy experience.

Read more on her ideas and the youtube video...

While Bush may have come to Greeley, CO to try to save the seat of Marilyn Musgrave on Saturday, the candidates here in Colorado who can speak before a crowd without the need of a script rallied today, Sunday, in this battleground city of the 4th CD.

Senator Ken Salazar, Gubernatorial candidate Bill Ritter and Democratic congressional challenger Angie Paccione took the stage before about 500 enthusiatic citizens to explain why this is such an important election.  When Angie took the microphone to cheers of "Angie!  Angie!  Angie!"  She presented the simple, obvious reasons why the Democrats must take back Congress and why Musgrave must go.

More after the jump.

I left Washington, DC Friday and flew to Colorado to help out on the Angie Paccione congressional campaign, arriving at campaign HQ in Fort Collins around 9PM. The staff here is psyched and energetic and the field operation has gone full throttle with several hundred volunteers this weekend knocking on doors of both Democrats and Independents making sure that they get to the polls. Just today, Saturday, about 30,000 doors were knocked on by canvassers, with many people telling us they had already voted for Angie through absentee or early voting -- they have a very good early voting system in Colorado. What is great about being in the field is that you can really get a feel for the energy and momentum of a campaign -- and Angie's team has it.

Three members of Congress were here to help rev up the troops -- Diana DeGette (CO), Diane Watson (CA), and Barbara Lee (CA). At the meeting point for canvassers in Longmont, Diane Watson gave a stirring talk about why this election was so critically important just before everyone went to walk their assigned precincts.

A few points I've learned after the jump.

A new internal poll conducted by the Paccione campaign was released today with Musgrave at 45% and Angie at 42% with Reform Party candidate Eric Eidsness getting 6%.  The polling firm is Strategic Services based in Virginia.

The sample of 600 likely voters actually oversampled Republicans compared to the number of registered GOP identifiers in the CD.  This is very different from the 10 point deficit in the Denver Post/Survey USA poll done earlier this month, and it was taken before Tuesday's debate in which the District could see Angie'senergy and personality.  

There is definitely movement in this race -- and with a 3rd Party candidate who is a former GOPer -- and with him also performing well in the debate, CO-04 is in play.

Polling Memo: http://www.angie2006.com/newsroom_detail s.asp?id=935

Give Angie some love (and $$) at: www.angie2006.com

A Survey USA-KUSA/9News poll released on Wednesday indicates the U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave leads Democratic challenger Angie Paccione by a scant four percentage points which is well within the margin of error.

The first independently conducted poll in the district also bears some close watching of both campaigns' base supporters -- some of which appear to be abandoning their candidate of choice by both conventional wisdom standards and early outreach strategies.

It appears that the Christian Right has taken over the GOP in Northern & Eastern Colorado. The moderate Republicans have tried to fight back. But, they don't have the ground game. Colorado ain't Kansas, and recently the anti-growth, anti-government, anti-tax movement has been rolled back by the voters, with the of support from small business Republicans. The right-wing may take over the GOP, but that is a formula for electoral failure.

Pacified at Soapblox Colorado called my attention to an in-depth article about the struggle for control of the Republican Party in Northern & Eastern Colorado. It was a bit hard to get a straight narrative out of Kate Martin's story in the Loveland Reporter-Herald, but you get the sense of two themes:

(1) The GOP right-wing (libertarian/anti-tax and christian/morality) have pretty much succeeded in taking over the Republican Party in CO-04. They apparently now control the delegate slates.

(2) The traditional small business, "Chamber of Commerce" Republicans don't have the Party committees or grassroots activists or in place to counter the extreme right. So they are forming extra-Party organizations and even bolting the Party (see my post on Marilyn Musgrave in CO-04).

Marilyn Musgrave (hisss) appears to be in a three-way fight for CO-04 with moderate Republican Eric Eidsness jumping the GOP to run under the banner of the Reform Party. Eidsness isn't a random maverick, his credentials go back to Reagan's Cabinet and a six year stint with the EPA. The Dem in the race is Angie Paccione, an energetic, smart campaigner who already has the capability of challenging the evil lady in pink.

According to an article in the Denver Post, Eidsness faced intense pressure not to run against Musgrave in a primary. Also, the moderate wing within the Republican Party, has been unable to stand up to the extremist wing, led by hard-line Christians and the anti-tax/anti-government ideologues.

Will the third candidate give Republicans a way to vote against Musgrave without going Democrat, or will a moderate Republican pull votes away from Paccione? More, plus quotes from the Denver Post after the fold.

Here is some good news: