U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman, an Aurora Republican, previewed his campaign against Democratic challenger state Sen. Morgan Carroll on Sunday at the sixth annual summer barbecue fundraiser thrown by Jim and Joy Hoffman at their Greenwood Village home.

“The challenges going forward, it’s going to be tough,” Coffman told the crowd of some 250 supporters. “But I want to continue as the only veteran in the Colorado delegation, as the only member of Congress to have served in both Iraq wars.”

Staying on the offensive regarding the VA hospital under construction in Aurora amid tremendous cost over-runs, Coffman said, “We’ve got to clean up the VA, and I’m going to continue leading that fight in the Congress.” Carroll has charged that Coffman, who heads a subcommittee charged with overseeing the VA, has failed to exercise that oversight effectively, but Coffman and his allies have scoffed at her attacks.

Later, turning his attention to Carroll, Coffman acknowledged that it was “going to be a tough race.” His opponent, he said, was Carroll, “a personal-injury attorney.” As the crowd groaned, he quickly added, “and there’s nothing wrong with that. I think that industry, or that profession, has an important role to play in our society. But there are bad apples within that profession, and Morgan Carroll has done her best to represent those bad apples in the State Legislature.”

“She wants to do to America what she’s done to Colorado,” Coffman continued. “What she needs to do in Colorado is help clean up the messes that she’s created here, that have hurt this economy, that have hurt jobs, that have hurt Colorado’s working families. I look forward to a spirited race,” he said, and then repeated his characterization: “Because Morgan Carroll, representing the bad apples of that industry has created a lot of IOUs there and you can bet she’s going to raise a lot of money from them, so I need all your help.”

Coffman easily won a fourth term in the 6th Congressional District last year against challenger Andrew Romanoff in what was pegged as among the most competitive races in the country. Both sides have said the same about the contest to represent the nearly evenly divided district in next year’s election.

— ernest@coloradostatesman.com