Fight Back Colorado Announces First Target

Fight Back Colorado, the super PAC created to unseat legislators who helped kill Colorado's civil unions bill earlier this year, Tuesday announced its first targeted legislator: Jefferson County Republican Rep. Robert Ramirez. The group sent out a mailer depicting Ramirez as a bomber pilot who is "Taking Jeffco the wrong way" on education, children's health, jobs, and birth control. It does not mention civil unions.

Ramirez did not vote on the civil unions legislation in May, but early in the session he indicated support for the bill, Senate Bill 2. Yet in the days leading up to the dramatic showdown on the House floor, Ramirez attended an anti-civil unions rally hosted by antigay Focus on the Family.

More importantly, Ramirez is perhaps the most vulnerable target for Democrats hoping to regain control of the House, which currently belongs to Republicans by a slim 33-32 majority.

In 2010, Ramirez defeated a Democratic incumbent by 197 votes, giving Republicans control of the house for the first time in eight years, according to the Denver Post.

Roger Sherman, treasurer and spokesperson for Fight Back Colorado, told the Post that Ramirez's district was being targeted because it is a tightly contested race, whereas other legislators who voted against the bill sit in districts safely controlled by the GOP.

"To target someone in an obviously safe seat, it might make a statement but not a difference," Sherman told the Post. "We want to be thoughtful in how we select targets."

Fight Back Colorado formed in June, funded in large part by gay, Denver-based philanthropist Tim Gill. The group has raised $152,000 so far, according to the Post, and plans to target two or three additional lawmakers before the November election.