June 22, 2007 06:19 PM UTC

"New Angie" Good Enough for "New Marilyn"?

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• by: Colorado Pols

We’ve seen the “new Marilyn Musgrave” in recent months, as the GOP congresswoman tries to revamp her image before the national Republican Party finally tires of her act in CD-4. In the meantime, it seems we’re also seeing the “new Angie Paccione” as her former Democratic opponent makes changes of her own. But while Musgrave may be making changes at the right time, Paccione may be altering her style a little too late.

The Rocky Mountain Chronicle has a long article about how longtime Democrats are openly supporting Democrat Betsy Markey over Paccione in a primary, and curiously, they aren’t pulling many punches:

“I think Angie Paccione has some baggage issues,” says [Stan] Matsunaka, referring to the personal finance and bankruptcy problems that Musgrave featured in attack ads last fall…

…“I don’t know if anything is going to change by throwing all that money in there again,” Matsunaka adds. “People want to ride a different horse to victory.”

Others claim nothing personal against Paccione. Yet they simultaneously express a desire to “move on” and support a candidate they hope will finally color the district blue for the first time since 1972.

“Angie ran a really good campaign and worked very hard at it, but it didn’t appear as though she had the necessary qualities in order to get a majority of the votes,” [Bob] Bacon says. “I’m hoping that perhaps with a new face and different characteristics, [Democrats] will be more successful this time.”

“I’m not sure that Angie could have done anything differently,” [Pam] Shaddock adds. When Paccione lost, “my feeling was maybe she’s not the candidate for this particular race.”

The confidence in another Paccione candidacy was so eroded that Sen. Ken Salazar personally asked her not to run in a conversation held about two months ago. Paccione obviously ignored that request, and since then Salazar’s Northern Colorado Director, Betsy Markey, has formally entered the race.

After coming close to defeating Musgrave last fall, Paccione has tried to make changes to a campaign structure that may have made her as many enemies as friends among Democrats. Former campaign manager Gary Chandler alienated virtually everyone he came into contact with and was roundly criticized during and after the campaign. For this race, Paccione has brought on longtime operative Steve Welchert as her general consultant. Paccione addressed the need to make changes in an email sent to supporters last week:

I am fully committed to give 100% of my time and effort to work harder and smarter to give the people the victory they deserve.

I too have grown as a candidate. In 2006, we had a novice campaign that had to learn on the fly. But as we gained strength and confidence you and the voters showed confidence in our message and our mission. While we came up just two percent short of our goal-closer than any Dem in 34 years-we also had some remarkable accomplishments…

…I am assembling a professional team, and with a much stronger turnout generated by a Presidential election in 2008, I am confident we can erase those two points and make this a Victory for America!

In the immediate future, the key for Paccione will be whether she can raise money amid strong Democratic competition. Supporters point to the fact that she raised a lot of money in 2006, but much of that money came because she had no Democratic opponent; Musgrave is so reviled by many Democratic activists that anybody who ran against her would be able to raise a good deal of cash just by being “not Marilyn.”

Paccione may have organized a more professional campaign staff than she had last year, but it may prove to be too little, too late. We’ll find out in a couple of weeks, when Q2 reports are revealed, whether she still has enough support to make another run.