Colorado has changed. The nation has changed. And all for the worse, says former Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave, who was ousted from her seat last year by Democrat Betsy Markey. Musgrave complained about the direction of the nation under the leadership of Democrats during a Republican breakfast in Logan County last week (via Sterling’s Journal-Advocate).

Known for her strident anti-gay views, Musgrave isn’t campaigning to get her old seat back. She’s leading a crusade against Dems, claiming the nation’s political “balance of power” is shifting too far left.

Musgrave ramped up the rhetoric in a letter chronicling her re-election loss: “It’s certainly not easy to lose your seat in Congress. And harder still to be true to your values as I have been, but the radical homosexual lobby, abortionists, gun-grabbers and all the rest of the extremists finally spent enough money, spread enough lies and fooled enough voters to defeat me” (via The Denver Post).

But, as this Congressional Quarterly blog reported last month, the environmental group Defenders of Wildlife, which characterized Musgrave as “one of the most corrupt members of Congress” and beholden to oil interests, played a strategic role in her defeat, too.

Meanwhile, Republican candidates have begun campaigning in many key state races, including for the 4th Congressional District seat that once was Musgrave’s, as KUNC radio reports.