In an August 13 article, the Greeley Tribune allowed Colorado Republican Party chairman Dick Wadhams to state without substantiation that opponents of 4th District Republican U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (CO) “grossly outspent” her during the 2006 election campaign. However, according to campaign finance records and reporting by the Fort Collins Coloradoan, Musgrave and her supporters in the 2006 election in fact appeared to have outspent her major opponents, Democrat Angie Paccione and former Reform Party candidate Eric Eidsness, and their supporters.

The Tribune quoted Wadhams as saying that if the Democrats “couldn't take Marilyn Musgrave out last year, in the most pro-Democratic atmosphere we've had probably since 1974, and they spent millions against her -- literally millions against her, she was grossly outspent, despite being an incumbent -- they are not going to be able to do it in 2008. ... And that's just all there is to it.”

The article by Rebecca Boyle -- which reported on Eidsness' recent announcement that he will run for the 4th District seat as a Democrat in 2008 -- did not provide any figures to support or refute Wadhams' claim that Musgrave was “grossly outspent” in 2006. In fact, according to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), during the 2005-2006 election cycle Musgrave's campaign spent $3,212,143, while independent expenditures either for Musgrave or against Paccione totaled $1,822,370. In comparison, Paccione's campaign spent $1,951,180 and independent expenditures either for Paccione or against Musgrave amounted to $585,386. Among the other campaigns, Eidsness spent $31,808 and Democrat Stanley Matsunaka spent $1,498.

According to the FEC, itemized independent expenditures for the 4th District race were:

Organization

For Musgrave

Against Paccione

For Paccione

Against Musgrave

Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund

$2,337

$2,707

National Republican Congressional Committee

$70,856

$1,735,757

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee

$119,373

$229,261

National Rifle Assoc. Political Victory Fund

$3,932

Emily's List

$16,579

$12,666

Human Rights Campaign PAC

$107,404

National Right to Life PAC

$11,825

NEA Fund for Children and Public Ed

$27,377

$21,630

MoveOn.org PAC

$1,056

Service Employees International Union

$44,996

TOTAL Ind. Expenditures:

Musgrave:

$1,822,370

Paccione:

$585,386

In addition to campaign and independent spending, the liberal 527 committee Coloradans for Life, which bought ads attacking Musgrave and Eidsness, spent an additional $1,524,654 during the 2006 election cycle, according to the Campaign Finance Institute and OpenSecrets.org.

Based on the figures provided for campaign spending, independent spending, and the 527 committee expenditures in favor of Paccione, spending on behalf of the Democratic candidate totaled about $4.06 million, compared with campaign and independent spending for Musgrave of about $5.03 million.

Furthermore, the Coloradoan reported in a December 12, 2006, article (accessed through the Nexis database) that "[t]he final tally for this fall's bruising campaign in Colorado's 4th Congressional District topped $9.2 million" and cited then-current figures from the FEC website detailing the spending in the 4th District race:

The winning campaign of incumbent Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, a Fort Morgan Republican, spent $3.3 million. But Musgrave also had help from the National Republican Congressional Committee [NRCC], which independently spent $1.8 million on her re-election bid, mostly by attacking the opposition.

The Democratic challenger, state Rep. Angie Paccione of Fort Collins, spent just under $2 million on her campaign. But her run for Congress was aided by $1.5 million from Coloradans for Life, a so-called 527 organization heavily financed by local philanthropist Pat Stryker.

The Coloradoan also reported that "[i]ndependent expenditures" for the entire race -- including the spending by the NRCC and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee -- totaled $2,407,757.

The Tribune is the latest Colorado media outlet to give Wadhams a platform to spread misinformation or launch unchallenged criticism and smears against Democrats and liberals, as Colorado Media Matters has documented.

From the August 13 Greeley Tribune article “Eric Eidsness changes party affiliations -- again -- and eyes another run for Congress,” by Rebecca Boyle:

Frederic “Eric” Eidsness is still in the exploratory phase of his 2008 campaign bid, but anticipates officially joining the fray next week to seek the Democratic Party's blessing to run against U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, R-Fort Morgan.

[...]

Still, Eidsness knows he has a hard slog ahead of him to convince the dyed-in-the-wool party faithful -- many of whom still support Paccione, or have backed [Democrat Betsy] Markey -- that he's more electable.

“I'm an engineer -- I get pretty cerebral at times. And the Democratic party is clearly about heart. I'm a man with enormous heart, but I had to learn how to do this in a different way, to communicate with the folks that are the gatekeepers,” he said. “But it's going to take a true populist. And I'm not saying I'm a populist, but I really do try to reflect the wisdom of the common man.”

Republicans counter that no matter the Democrat or the message, the district belongs to the GOP.

“If they couldn't take Marilyn Musgrave out last year, in the most pro-Democratic atmosphere we've had probably since 1974, and they spent millions against her--literally millions against her, she was grossly outspent, despite being an incumbent--they are not going to be able to do it in 2008,” said Dick Wadhams, chairman of the Colorado Republican Party. “And that's just all there is to it.”

He said he was “delighted” that the Democrats are facing a potentially bruising three-way primary and believes it will help Musgrave.

“Those candidates are going to be saying nasty things about each other, and I think they're all right. They're all correct,” Wadhams said.

Eidsness counters that the three Democrats have all discussed not going negative.