August 14, 2008 06:26 PM UTC

Musgrave More Loyal Than Your Dog

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• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: Fort Collins Now political columnist Rebecca Boyle writes:

Democrats cheered the news Wednesday that Vice President Dick Cheney was in Colorado to raise money for U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, the Republican from Fort Morgan, who is in a fight for her political life in the 4th Congressional District.

Musgrave’s opponent, Betsy Markey, made hay of the much-maligned veep’s visit in a fundraising email, exhorting supporters to counter the money Cheney would raise.

“A single event with Dick Cheney will bring thousands of dollars into Marilyn Musgrave’s campaign. Dollars that will most certainly be used to distort and attack both my record and positions on the issues in ways that may very well make Karl Rove blush. Dollars that will go towards making certain that the corrupt, status quo that has been present in Washington is maintained and strengthened,” Markey wrote…

For their parts, the Colorado Democratic Party and ProgressNow Action highlighted the fact that taxpayers funded the trip, because Cheney traveled via Air Force Two.

Cheney is hardly the biggest boldface-name Republican to campaign for Musgrave. In 2004 and 2006, President Bush came to Greeley to campaign for her.

Colorado State University political science professor John Straayer, a longtime political observer, said the visit would help Musgrave in terms of money, but little else…

Probably not the kind of ranking you really want to have if you’re a Republican candidate in 2008.

As The Fort Collins Coloradoan reports:

Since taking office in 2003, Musgrave has voted in accordance with White House wishes 84 percent of the time, compared to an average of 80 percent for all House Republicans during the Bush presidency that began in 2001, according to a study released last week by Congressional Quarterly.

The three-term Republican representative from Fort Morgan sided with her party on 97 percent of the most partisan votes during her tenure, above the 92 percent average for her fellow Republicans and 93 percent for Democrats.