By Mark Couch

President Bush hailed U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave as a defender of family values and praised her support of the Iraq war during a fundraiser at a downtown Denver hotel Tuesday.

The president’s whirlwind visit to Denver raised $450,000 for Musgrave’s 2006 re-election campaign and called attention to the congresswoman’s steadfast support of Bush’s agenda. >> MORE

By Jim Hughes

George W. Bush took less than 20 minutes Tuesday to encourage donations to Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave.

But outside the Brown Palace Hotel, hundreds of protesters spent nearly four hours banging on pots, pans and drums; blowing on horns, flutes, kazoos and recorders; and breaking into “peace now” chants. >> MORE

Garrett Brenaman skipped a geometry test. Anthony Toronto bagged a government test.

The cost of truancy? Failing grades for a day.

A chance to wave anti-war signs and yell at the president of the United States? Priceless. >> MORE

Here is a transcript of President Bush’s remarks at Tuesday’s fundraiser for Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, as provided by the White House. >> MORE

By Michael Riley and Anne C. Mulkern

President Bush’s trip to the Arizona desert Monday began a month-long push to gain wiggle room for the administration in the immigration debate, an effort to calm roiling anger among hard-line Republicans with tough talk on enforcement.

But if Bush hoped the new approach would resuscitate his 2- year-old guest-worker proposal and open the way for immigration-reform legislation next year, Colorado observers on both sides of the debate say he’s likely to be disappointed. >> MORE

By The Denver Post

A liberal watchdog group filed a complaint Monday with the Internal Revenue Service charging that Focus on the Family chairman James Dobson violated the tax code governing nonprofits by endorsing political candidates. >> MORE

By Amy Brouillette

President Bush will be in Denver on Tuesday for some political fundraising. The visit is also going to raise some anti-war protests.

Bush is slated to speak at a fundraising luncheon at the Brown Palace Hotel for U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (pictured) , R-Fort Morgan. >> MORE

Profile By Anne C. Mulkern

Washington - U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo wants to inflame people.

He speaks on talk radio and cable television as often as 15 times a week, warning that illegal immigrants are stealing jobs, destroying American culture and killing police officers.

With every word, the ex-schoolteacher son of Italian immigrants pours fuel on a grassroots brush fire. >> MORE

Washington - The liberal attack ad is marginally accurate: Judge Samuel A. Alito did vote in 2004 to sanction the strip search of a 10-year-old girl.

But the shorthand used by People for the American Way, the Sierra Club and other progressive groups in their television campaign does Alito a disservice. The ad merely shows the phrase “approved the strip search of a 10-year-old girl” beneath a picture of Alito, among other criticisms of the nominee.

The facts of the case open a window on Alito’s conservative philosophy, but they also speak to the credibility of his critics. >> MORE

Deborah Davis doesn’t consider herself a hero. Certainly not a modern-day champion of the Constitution. Yet, in her own way, she might be a little of both. >> MORE

By Bruce Finley

The chief of U.S. efforts to build stability in Iraq through reconstruction projects says a northern oil pipeline reopening next month may boost Iraq’s economy.

But Brig. Gen. William McCoy Jr., commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Iraq, said the raging insurgency there has slowed the reconstruction work he oversees. >> MORE

By Julie Dunn

U.S. Rep. John Salazar spoke out Wednesday against the proposed $1 billion resort village atop Wolf Creek Pass.

“At the end of the day, I just don’t see how a project of this scope and size can continue,” Salazar, D-Colo., said in a statement. “The development brings the threat of dangerous roads, contaminated water and harm to the very wildlife and landscape that makes the area so unique.” >> MORE

By Steven Saint

The rising cost of health care in the U.S. must be confronted with the same intensity as the war on terror, Sen. Ken Salazar said Tuesday.

Inspired by the 9/11 commission’s overhaul of homeland security, Salazar, D-Colo., and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., are proposing a national commission on health care. >> MORE

I’m still waiting for a call back from Mike Casper about a federal lawsuit filed Monday.

I’m not holding my breath.

The lawsuit accuses Casper of forcing three people to leave a taxpayer-financed Social Security forum in Denver after they arrived in a car with an anti-Bush bumper sticker that read “No more blood for oil.” >> MORE

By Mike Soraghan

Washington - A furor among sportsmen has a House committee chairman promising to rewrite public-lands mining legislation to ensure access to prime hunting and fishing areas.

The vow by House Resources chairman Richard Pombo, R-Calif., reflects growing concern in Congress that a plan to lift an 11-year moratorium on selling public land to mining companies may have unintended consequences for the West. >> MORE