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Markey war chest swells in October to $383,000

By Daniel J. Chacon, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published October 23, 2008 at 7:40 p.m.
Updated October 23, 2008 at 7:40 p.m.

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Republican Marilyn Musgrave and Democrat Betsy Markey shake hands before facing off during a debate Oct. 9 at Colorado State University in Fort Collins.

Darin McGregor / The Rocky

Republican Marilyn Musgrave and Democrat Betsy Markey shake hands before facing off during a debate Oct. 9 at Colorado State University in Fort Collins.

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Democrat Betsy Markey raised more than twice the money in the first half of October than the three-term Republican congresswoman she is trying to unseat.

Markey raised about $383,000 in the Oct. 1-15 fundraising period, compared with the estimated $150,000 U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave raised in the same 15 days.

But Musgrave has about $125,000 more cash on hand.

"We came in with a huge cash-on-hand advantage. We still maintain an advantage on cash on hand going into the end, and that's frankly the priority as you come into the final days," Jason Thielman, Musgrave's campaign manager, said Thursday.

Ben Marter, Markey's campaign spokesman, said they're "feeling good" about their fundraising efforts to date.

"We've just had an enormous outpouring of support," he said. "People are excited about this race. People are excited about Betsy."

Markey has raised about $1.3 million total compared to Musgrave's estimated $2.4 million.

Thielman said Musgrave outraised Markey in several quarters.

"The net of that is that we have had and continue to have an advantage in the resources that we can bring to bear in the final days of the campaign," he said.

Markey's support "is growing and building," Marter said.

"Our momentum is building. Not every candidate in this race can say that," he said, referring to the National Republican Congressional Committee's decision to cancel the final week of TV advertising buys for Musgrave.

Thielman reiterated that the NRCC believes that Musgrave, although in a tight race with Markey, can pull ahead and win.

"This campaign is tighter than a new pair of cowboy boots, but the reality is that those cowboy boots are going to fit Marilyn Musgrave as she walks across the line," he said. "They're never going to fit the feet of Betsy Markey, and the NRCC knows that."

Comments

  • October 23, 2008

    8:55 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    windskull writes:

    More GOOD news for Betsy Markey
    http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/2008...
    GOP 'goner' list warns of House rout
    .....One well-connected Republican operative told Politico that the list, if anything, understated the number of members needing a political lifeline. The operative also said the GOP is all but writing off the seats of Reps. Marilyn Musgrave (R-Colo.), Joseph Knollenberg (R-Mich.), Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), Phil English (R-Pa.), and the open New Mexico House seat of retiring Rep. Steve Pearce (R-N.M.), who is running for the Senate.

    After THIS it`s small wonder the Republican Party is distancing themselves
    http://www.progressnowaction.org/page...
    Perhaps Musgrave is trying to divert attention to an emerging national scandal that clearly involves her: It has been reported widely that Musgrave may have received an illegal boost from the win-at-all-cost Bush Whitehouse in her last reelection campaign. (DP, 10/19/08)

    In 2006, in the midst of a hotly contested re-election bid, Musgrave requested that four high-ranking Bush Administration officials come to Colorado to make appearances with her. A House of Representatives committee investigation report just revealed that although those trips, including the Secretaries of Agriculture, Transportation, and Veterans Affairs, were reported as official government business and funded with taxpayer dollars even though they clearly benefited Musgrave's struggling political campaign.

    This week we tried to ask Musgrave about this scandal, but she refused to answer or even acknowledge our question

  • October 23, 2008

    9:01 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    windskull writes:

    This corrects the broken link to sign the petition demanding a full investigation http://MisguidedMusgrave.com/investigate

  • October 25, 2008

    11:24 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    jbowen43 writes:

    Musgrave has done nothing for Eastern Colorado other than embarrass its citizens. She should go and give someone with a real brain an opportunity.