Willie Horton

Reports surfacing in the last hour suggest State Sen. Josh Penry is set to announce he will be ending his campaign to unseat Gov. Bill Ritter. Penry campaign spokesman Andrew Cole did not confirm reports.

Although Penry jumped into the campaign strongly this summer, winning “rising star” status from popular Washington Post blogger Chris Cillizza, he has recently struggled.

Our sister site, the Iowa Independent, has an eye-popping investigative report detailing the The American Future Fund (AFF), the Iowa-based GOP group that is behind radio and TV ads attacking numerous closely contested congressional races across the country, including radio and TV attacks on U.S. Senate candidate Mark Udall here in Colorado. Keep reading for details on the group, whose key players were behind the Swift Boat and Willie Horton ads.