Betsy Markey's campaign to replace Republican Representative Marilyn Musgrave in Colorado's 4th District seat in the House is hoping to highlight her experience as a mother, a small business owner, and director of security policy for the U.S. Department of the State. With this emphasis, Markey intends to gain credentials as a fiscally responsible Democrat who understands and sympathizes with concerns businesses in Colorado may have with federal regulations as they apply to taxes and marketing.

She has introduced a program for economic reform which she calls "Finding a Middle Road" and stresses the importance of voter input in her legislative process if elected.

Her goals for understanding and sharpening economic legislation as congresswoman are to (as stated on her campaign blog):

"1. Spend one day each year personally working in a small business in the district and one day working on a farm.

2. Commit to meeting AT LEAST twice a year with representatives from the Chambers of Commerce in each county, as well as with representatives of the labor community and the local economic development councils.

3. Meet at least once a year with Governor Ritter to discuss the economy, as well as primary and secondary education. I will also pledge to hold an education summit once a year with leaders from both the business and education communities to discuss the challenges we face in educating the next generation of our workforce.

4. Hold a real “district work week” during one of the first scheduled congressional recesses of the year. This would involve meetings with local government officials and business owners, tours of local industries and town hall meetings with constituents and press.

5. Hold a town hall meeting in every county in the district during my first year in office.

6. Hold “Workplace Town Halls” where I travel to work places around the district and spend the lunch hour in a town hall meeting with employees and management."

Markey is definitely commanding this race over the incumbent Musgrave with an impressive seven point lead. Though most republicans polled said that their loyalty was still with Musgrave, Coloradan independents and moderates are leaning in the direction of the progressive Markey.

According to the poll taken by Survey USA Roll call, Markey leads by an impressive 30 points over Musgrave with independent voters, 41 among moderates. In times like these, when America longs to solve problems and be rid of partisanship, does it help to have such staunchly rigid political dogma favoring one side as Musgrave, or do the votes count more from the ambivalent middle parties?

Markey's campaign is gaining speed after the recent polls showed her lead over Marilyn Musgrave at 7 points.

According to Markey, "Marilyn has focused on divisive social issues, issues that tear people apart. And I want to talk about where we can find common ground. How Democrats and Republicans can make progress on health care, the economy, instead of just grandstanding and poking fun at the other side.”

Markey's campaign aims to use the incumbent Republican's focus on large social issues, such as gay marriage and abortion, against her by portraying her as out of touch with the more pressing issues that face the voters of Colorado's 4th District directly.

This move on Markey's part is an attempt to appeal to the voting block outside of the guaranteed 38% voting base for Musgrave on the issue of gay marriage alone. If she plays the card right and follows it up with a strong ad campaign over the next two months, it will be interesting to see how her populist angle benefits in the elections.

Michael Shiavo, husband of the late Terri Schiavo blasted Musgrave during her 2006 campaign regarding her outspoken support of keeping his wife connected to life support despite his request to remove her feeding tube.

Terri Schiavo collapsed in 1990 due an eating disorder and was put into a vegetative state by doctors. She died of dehydration after her water tube was removed.

Congresswomen Marilyn Musgrave is an outspoken proponent of the right to life and brought the issue to Congress in 2005. Michael Shiavo made an effort to unseat Musgrave after her statements about his decision to end his wife's life.

Her statements on the House floor included, “When we talk about a permanent vegetative state, I am offended by that. Terri smiles and acknowledges the people that love her when they come to see her. She cries when they leave. How heartless are we to call somebody like Terri Schiavo a vegetable? What are we thinking?”

With her second failure in 2006 to pass her signature issue, the Federal Marriage Amendment, Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave is avoiding the controversial issue in her bid for reelection to Colorado's 4th Congressional District's House seat. This proposed amendment would make marriage strictly a union between a man and a woman and make illegal any same-sex marriages nationally.

Just two years ago she stated, “The future is grim unless we do what we need to do to win this battle, as we face the issues that we are facing today, I don’t think there's anything more important out there than the marriage issue.”

Garnering a 236-187 vote in the House, less support than the vote two years prior, she failed to get her legislation passed.

With public support waining for a Federal amendment, Musgrave has moved on to other topics in an effort to revitalize her constituency's support in this election cycle.

Republican Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave is a staunch supporter of prohibiting online poker. She cosponsored the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act which made internet gambling illegal in the United States in 2006.

When the Act was passed, many casual poker players were infuriated due to the Federal Government's intervention in gambling, as they have not banned physical gambling nationwide.

Garnering negative attention from the internet poker playing community, Musgrave has been listed on the Leach List with an “F' rating. The Leach List has become a mecca for online poker advocates' decisions when voting.

A devout Pentecostal, Marilyn Musgrave has been increasingly defending her position on a resolution sponsored by the Congresswoman to declare 2007 the “National Year of the Bible.”

Pointing out that the first amendment does not give you freedom from religion, the resolution called for the President to issue a proclamation demanding all citizens rediscover the Bible and encourage the Federal government to celebrate the year with Bible programs and ceremonies.

Religious proponents and most right wing conservatives called the idea preposterous and a waste of government time to attempt to pass the legislation.

"When I first started listening to D. James Kennedy on Truths That Transform," she said, "I was so encouraged that there was a minister of the Gospel that said what was right and what was wrong, and what our responsibility was as Christians in this great nation."

The resolution died in committee.

Musgrave is widely considered the most conservative member of Congress and is locked in a heated fight to retain Colorado's 4th Congressional District House seat.

On top of all the economic and social issues covered in the above arguments, Markey is also the candidate to vote for in relation to the many, many environmental problems our state, and indeed the nation, is facing. Markey is willing to work with those on the right in finding a way to create domestic energy while maintaining and improving our environmental integrity. I live in Colorado, and it is a beautiful state- but we are losing more and more of that healthy beauty to unhealthy development, thanks to corporate interests. Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund President Rodger Schlickeisen, in a press release endorsing Markey, has this to say about her opponent: "Marilyn Musgrave has spent her years in Congress serving the special interests and not the public interest. She has repeatedly voted with big oil and other polluters at the expense of the environment, a record which earned her a score of zero on our 2007 conservation report card".