A Colorado congressional candidate is getting a big boost in advertising from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Democratic challenger Angie Paccione, who is trying to unseat U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, a Fort Morgan Republican, will be the beneficiary of a two-week, $630,000 television advertising campaign paid for by the DCCC, according to The Hill, a Washington newspaper covering Congress.
The committee is pouring $51.5 million into television advertising for 32 congressional district races across the country, including Colorado’s 4th Congressional District, The Hill reported Wednesday on its website.
“That’s going to help,” Paccione said. “What it really does is to help level the playing field.”
Paccione said her campaign has raised about $800,000.
The DCCC is the official campaign arm of the House Democrats.
The television ads are considered an “independent expenditure” and Paccione’s campaign will have no control over the content or when the ads run.
A committee spokeswoman declined to comment Wednesday.
Television ads in the 2004 race portraying Musgrave, dressed in pink, as a corpse-robbing, soldier-fleecing skinflint raised eyebrows and created controversy in Colorado and around the country.
Those ads were commissioned and paid for by an independent political group, a so-called 527 group.
“I don’t want to see any pink suits – I just want to give Marilyn the pink slip,” Paccione said.
Musgrave has raised about $2 million so far to defend her congressional seat. Calls to her campaign office Wednesday seeking comment were not returned.
Staff writer Kieran Nicholson can be reached at 303-820-1822 or knicholson@denverpost.com.
