[fieldmarshaldj]

"The district used to be marginal, with a GOP lean of sorts. I wonder what the redraw did to it."

I believe the GOP redistricters shored it up (the one currently in litagation for next year's election), but AuH2ORepublican would have more info on that. The seat was previously held by Ben Nighthorse Campbell when he was still a Dem.

[JNB]

Looking at the 2004 national journal congressional almanac, the district under the lines used for the 2002 election gave Bush 54% of the vote. This would be a difficult district for the Democrats to grab.

[Impy]

It was shored up but I haven't seen any #s for it or for the new 7th.

This one is probably out of the rat's reach.

Wasn't McInnis the one that Pete Stark called a fruitcake?

[AuH2ORepublican]

"I believe the GOP redistricters shored it up (the one currently in litagation for next year's election)"

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Yes, the 2003 redistricting (which RAT AG Salazar is taking to court) took out part of heavily Hispanic Pueblo County and some liberal ski counties and made the district more Republican. I haven't seen the final numbers, but if Bush got 54% under the old lines, I would guess he got 56% under the new lines. In any event, it is quite inhospitable turf for the RATs; this is not 1980s Colorado.

I'd much rather have McInnis as a Colorado Senator than the moderate Campbell. McInnis wanted to run in the primaries against Campbell in 1998 (just 2 or 3 years after Campbell switched to the GOP), but the NRC convinced him not to, since it didn't want a party-switcher to face a primary challenge. Given the fact that Campbell's recent fundraising hasn't exactly broken any records, could McInnis's decision be based on a hunch (or information) that Campbell won't seek reelection? I know Campbell said he was running again, but maybe he changed his mind. If so, it would be a very interesting Senate race between McInnis and whoever runs for the RATs (maybe Salazar, Udall or perhaps even Gary Hart).