Vice President Dick Cheney came to Denver on Monday to help raise more than $200,000 for U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, who is on the GOP endangered list.
During his first visit to Colorado since last year’s presidential election, Cheney thanked the 200 people attending a downtown luncheon for helping President Bush carry the state in November.
He also called Musgrave the “right person for the job” and compared parts of her rural 4th Congressional District to his home state of Wyoming.
“She cares about private- property rights that are fair to farmers and ranchers,” he said.
Seats at the Oxford Hotel lunch cost from $500 to $4,000 apiece, according to Musgrave’s chief of staff, Guy Short.
The money will be added to the roughly $421,854 that the Fort Morgan Republican has raised through March 31 for her probable re-election campaign next year. She has not yet officially announced that she will seek a third term.
The vice president’s appearance was part of a Republican effort to retain the House seats of the party’s 10 most-vulnerable lawmakers. Musgrave, as well as U.S. Rep. Bob Beauprez of Arvada, were put on the Republican leaders’ endangered list in February.
The roster gives the GOP early notice on who needs fundraising help and makes the vulnerable lawmakers recipients of Retain the Majority Program fundraisers a few times a year. Embattled House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, created ROMP in 1999 and this year raised $1.5 million for the effort.
Musgrave garnered the national spotlight last year when she pushed a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. But she was criticized at home for not paying enough attention to the daily concerns of her constituents. She beat her Democrat rival, Stan Matsunaka, by 6 percentage points in November.
During Cheney’s 15-minute speech, he addressed many issues reminiscent of his stump speech during last year’s campaign, such as revamping the Social Security system, securing the homeland and strengthening the economy.
He also criticized Democrats in the Senate for filibustering Bush’s judicial nominees, calling their tactics “inexcusable.”
“These nominees are being held up for strictly partisan reasons,” he said.
Staff writer Karen Crummy can be reached at 303-820-1594 or kcrummy@denverpost.com.
