August 13, 2007 11:35 PM UTC

Democrats Hopeful for West Slope Pickups

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• by: Colorado Pols

As the Grand Junction Sentinel reports:

The Mesa County and Delta County Democratic parties have amassed a half-dozen prospective challengers from both counties to face off against Rep. Steve King, R-Grand Junction, in the 2008 election, party leaders said this week.

Eric Jessen, chairman of the Delta County Democrats, said none of the candidates likely will be announced for some time. He said three Delta Democrats are considering a run for the historically Republican House district seat.

Jessen said the Democratic Party is likely going to put up a strong candidate in the House District 54 race just as it has in the neighboring House District 58 race. Montrose City Councilwoman Noelle Hagan announced last month she will face off against three-term incumbent Rep. Ray Rose, R-Montrose, in 2008…

As we’ve discussed before, Rep. Rose’s seat moved from the safe to in-play column after his reputation took a hard shot spearheading a highly unpopular Montrose County recall attempt. We hadn’t considered Rep. Steve King’s historically GOP seat–as this article notes, the Democrats didn’t even field challengers there for several elections–to be in real contention, but anything’s possible if the generally dismal climate for Republicans around the country holds true.