Whether panned or praised, Musgrave's makeover evident

Dems say it's all show; she says I'm still 'Marilyn'

By Lynn Bartels, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Saturday, December 29, 2007

File Photo

Democrat Betsy Markey, center, who is facing Musgrave in the 4th Congressional District race in 2008, appears with her husband, Jim, and daughter Katie.

Pablo Martinez / Associated Press/2006

During a rally in Greeley days before the Nov. 7, 2006, election, President Bush joins Rep. Marilyn Musgrave and then-Gov. Bill Owens, right, onstage.

File Photo

Democrat Betsy Markey, center, who is facing Musgrave in the 4th Congressional District race in 2008, appears with her husband, Jim, and daughter Katie.

Pablo Martinez / Associated Press/2006

During a rally in Greeley days before the Nov. 7, 2006, election, President Bush joins Rep. Marilyn Musgrave and then-Gov. Bill Owens, right, onstage.

Her news releases read as if they're straight out of a Democratic congressional office:

A challenge to President Bush: "Where's your report on Iraq troop redeployment?"

An announcement about a tour of renewable energy companies. Information about helping Colorado's low-income families. A compliment to the Democratic leadership.

Meet the new - and some say improved - U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, who narrowly survived defeat in 2006.

The Republican who once reveled in her reputation as an uber-conservative now touts her efforts at bipartisanship. The politician accused of being out of touch with constituents pumps their gas to learn their issues.

The transformation has prompted the blog Coloradopols.com to call her "Musgrave 2.0."

"I'm flattered that a liberal blog noticed," Musgrave said.

Told that her news releases sound like they're from Denver Democrat Diana DeGette's congressional office, Musgrave laughed.

"No, no, no!" she said.

John Straayer, a political science professor at Colorado State University, has witnessed the Musgrave makeover.

"Is it real? Probably not," he said. "Does it help her? Probably so."

Musgrave talks less about the social issues with which she long has been identified, Straayer said. Instead, she has managed to "generate publicity for herself in other ways."

Democrats claim it's all show.

"I find this just absolutely fascinating," said Pat Waak, chairwoman of the Colorado Democratic Party. "What you won't do to get re-elected. Marilyn must be reading the polls like everybody else."

Musgrave, of Fort Morgan, faces Democrat Betsy Markey, a Fort Collins businesswoman, in the 4th Congressional District race in 2008.

Markey said Musgrave has become more visible, but it's something she should have been doing all along.

Democrats note the irony in Musgrave's visit to the Larimer County Food Bank on Nov. 27, where the media were invited to watch her volunteer. Inside the door is a plaque honoring those who have contributed to its success. Betsy Markey's name is on that plaque.

Young son's advice

Musgrave, who turns 59 next month, was first elected to Congress in 2002.

On the campaign trail, she bragged about her conservative credentials. She noted that after she won election to the state legislature in 1994, her then 14-year-old son, John, made a plea as she walked out the door to attend her first session.

"Mom, don't change," he said.

"I took that advice to heart," Musgrave said in 2002. "And I have not changed."

In Washington she followed through on her campaign pledge to push for school vouchers, a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage and an end to abortion.

A number of Republicans say Musgrave is no more conservative than her 4th District predecessors, including Bob Schaffer and Wayne Allard, who handily won re-election. The difference, they say, is that Musgrave managed to upset wealthy Democrats, including gay activist Tim Gill. Democrats contributed money to independent groups known as 527s, after a section of the tax code that regulates them.

The 527s paid for anti-Musgrave ads.

"I'm the poster child for 527s," Musgrave said. "If I had not attracted the hatred of multimillionaire billionaires, I probably could have had very uneventful re-elections."

Voters' message

Musgrave survived the 2004 election, but two years later she faced something besides 527s: a national tide against Republicans.

A Democratic state lawmaker with a checkered financial past and little backing from the national party nearly toppled Musgrave, who suddenly found herself in the minority in Congress.

"2006 was a wake-up call for us," said Paul Lindsay, spokesman for the regional Republican National Committee. "Voters across the country sent a message that Republicans had lost their way."

But Musgrave had another problem: Voters accused her of being out of touch with her district.

Guy Short, Musgrave's chief of staff, said the attack ads created the false impression that Musgrave wasn't responsive to her district.

"It wasn't reality," he said. "Since then we've done a better job of making sure people understand how hard she has always worked for them."

Musgrave said the criticism hurt, but she took it to heart.

"I'm doing a lot of things that get me up close and personal with people in the district. I sleep less, but I enjoy it more," she said.

Rural state lawmakers, such as Sen. Ken Kester, R-Las Animas, said Musgrave is much more visible these days on issues important to the 4th District. She opposed the expansion of the Army's Pinon Canyon maneuver site and closure of farm service agencies.

But Democrats say the new Musgrave acts too much like the old Musgrave.

They question whether Musgrave would have a link on her congressional Web site directing viewers to her "bipartisan actions of the week" if she hadn't faltered in recent elections.

"Marilyn Musgrave's desperate attempt at a political makeover won't hide the fact that she acts one way in district, but then sneaks back to Washington for her party marching orders and votes another way," said Doug Thornell, spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

"No matter who Marilyn chooses to be next year, she'll have a very tough race on her hands."

Musgrave, who predicts she will prevail, said she's still "Marilyn."

"I'm still the wife, the mother, the daughter, the friend that I was before.

"I'm a conservative Republican, but I work well with Democrats," she said.

"The way I've changed is I communicate much better what I'm doing. I work a lot harder, and I work a lot smarter."

bartels@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5327

Public statements

Marilyn Musgrave and her opponents are at odds over whether her public statements line up with her voting record.

The farm bill

* Musgrave: In November, while standing in the volunteer line at the Food Bank of Larimer County, Musgrave told the Fort Collins Coloradoan she was worried about the impact on low-income families if the U.S. Senate didn't pass the farm bill.

"I'm impatient, and I'm discouraged," Musgrave said. "You just hope that (the Senate) can sit down and decide what and how many amendments should be included and then get it passed."

* Democrats: If Musgrave were so worried about the farm bill, why did she vote against the final version in the House? Musgrave has said she opposed certain tax increases in the bill.

Health insurance for kids

* Democrats: Musgrave voted against expanding an existing health care program created by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, that would have provided coverage for an additional 60,000 children in Colorado. The bill enjoyed broad bipartisan support. Musgrave also voted against overriding President Bush's veto of the bill.

* Musgrave: She voted last week to extend the existing program while the debate continues on how it should proceed. Musgrave said she opposed the expansion because it would have "moved middle-class families out of private insurance and onto government-run insurance."

Margins of victory

Republican candidates in the 4th Congressional District traditionally increase their margins of victory with each successive election, but not U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave. She blames Democratic attack ads. But Democrats counter that Musgrave lost support by working on social issues instead of focusing on more pressing matters, such as health care:

* Wayne Allard

199054%

199258%

199472%

* Bob Schaffer:

199656%

199859%

200079%

* Marilyn Musgrave

200255%

200451%

200646%

* Voter registration in the 4th

Republican159,690

Unaffiliated140,245

Democrat103,610

Other1,950

The 4th Congressional District is vast. It includes portions of northern Colorado and all of the counties up and down the eastern state line. Sixteen counties lie totally within the district and portions of two others (Boulder and Otero counties). Also in the district are the towns of Fort Collins, Greeley, Longmont, Loveland and Lamar.

• December 29, 2007

  5:44 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  gwats writes:

  Don't be fooled by the Jedi Mind trick.. this is SAME Marilyn who had her head so far up George Bush's @#$%^ that they looked like the same person on his Campaign stop last year. This is an uber-conservative trying to get reelected! How can you tell when Marilyn Musgrave is lying? When her lips are moving.

• December 29, 2007

  6 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  BirdonaWire writes:

  Marilyn is one of the most disgusting pigs to ever represent our state. It's sad when I have to root AGAINST certain candidates instead of root for quality ones.

• December 29, 2007

  9:24 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  HolierThanThou writes:

  Bribe-loving conservatives get big contributions from every kind of profiteer be it war or health service deniers. That is their prime motivation. Principles and people be damned for the sake of their wealthy handlers. Their principles consist of nonsensical defenses for obsolete unworkable schemes. They may have emotional appeal but upon critical analysis their schemes fall apart, and then later prove to be catastrophically wrong. So, the impression that conservatives like Bush are criminally incompetent is grounded in reality.

  Historically, why does the national debt always explode under conservative leadership? Because their tax cuts benefit only the wealthiest 2%. For this short term gain, conservatives are more than happy to sue an 8 year old kid, er, I mean tax his future to death. Same thing... our kids are still going to end up broke and owing the Communist Chinese, who loan the feds money for the great conservative vision, a bundle of trillions. I suppose conservatives expect that our kids are all going to strike it rich and have no trouble making the payments. Maybe they'll make their fortunes in manufacturing...

  I won't get started on the great conservative catastrophes involving war and national security. Dear readers have heard enough depressing news for one year.

  Now that Marilyn Musgrave is playing chameleon, let's look at the flies in her diet. They're children whose parents cannot afford to purchase medicine in the world's most expensive health care system. Why is this system so expensive? It advertises, over-pays the profiteers who own and run it, and bribes or threatens politicians with 527s. It terrorizes the public and denies medicine to sick and injured people for the sake of increased profits. It has convoluted rules that even persons with PhDs and MDs cannot fathom. And Marilyn Musgrave supports this embarrassing national disgrace so much that she's happy to sicken and kill poor kids and even middle class kids to polish her conservative credentials.

  Try not to laugh too hard when you see Musgrave pretending to be a liberal. You might give yourself a hernia and need an operation.

• December 29, 2007

  10:56 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  Ted_in_Vegas writes:

  Marylin is quickly becoming the sole bright spot of Colorado's representation, liberal hatred (see above) not withstanding.

  Marylin's problem is that too many voters are too simply fooled by repetitive and misleading attack ads (again, see above).

  When will voters actually begin to think?

  Here's a clue, anytime we see any political ad not paid for by a candidate, just assume it is all a lie and disregard it. After all, 527s usually are lying.

• December 29, 2007

  1:20 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  Froward69 writes:

  Don't forget Ted_in_Vegas, all those swift boat tactics... or Lies about Max Cleland... Those are acceptable to you?
  Folks, Musgrave is simply trying to slither out of her skin.
  Do not be fooled.
  VOTE Betsy Markey!!!

• December 30, 2007

  9:33 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  JCS1958 writes:

  They said it in past generations, and it still applies today:

  Follow the money.

  The only real difference between political manipulation of tax dollars into private hands is that the process is a bit more sophisticated today. Excepting Blackwater type war profiteering (* a $300K/yr mercenary replacing a $40K/yr Marine for the same job) the tax dollar thefts are more convoluted.

  You see things like tax cuts to wealthy individuals and companies while government spending goes to programs that help these entities make higher profits. Our current administration has made horrific growth of the national debt it's biggest legacy. And for some sorry reason so many of us haven't got the sense to object.

  And Musgrave is trying hard to make it appear that she really isn't part of that machine. She is neck deep in it, rubbing elbows with war profiteers.

  * Blackhawk bills $300K per merc per year where it costs about $40K to pay and equip a Marine to do the very same job. The only differences are that the merc isn't subject to the military or civilian justice systems, and no millionaire makes money directly from the Marine. They only profit from the bloated charges for basic services to keep him in Iraq. Again, jobs that USED to be done by gov employees at a MUCH lower price. If you call yourself a conservative, THAT should really make you cringe.