Attack ads linked to Colo. Dems

DENVER, Sept. 28 (UPI) -- The former chairman of Colorado's Democratic Party has been linked to a series of attack ads against U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, R-Colo.

The ads, which some analysts call the nastiest in the nation, feature a pink-suited woman representing the first-term Republican legislator committing a variety of indecent acts including stealing the watch off the wrist of a dead man. The Rocky Mountain News described the woman in another spot in the series as "flitting into a fiery battle and taking money out of a soldier's wallet."

The group behind them -- Colorado Families First -- is headed by former Colorado Democratic Chairman Tim Knaus.

Musgrave's Democratic opponent, Stan Matsunaka, said he hasn't seen the ads and had nothing to do with them.

However, two of the donors underwriting the ads are also among the "top 150 donors/individual financial contributors" to Matsunaka's 2004 congressional campaign, CampaignMoney.com said -- retired software entrepreneur Tim Gill and philanthropist Pat Stryker.