During a campaign stop in Avon over the weekend, Dan Maes summed up how some Americans feel about the federal government: "Screw them!" He went on to voice frustration with his fellow Republicans.

"I've been pulled into meetings with the understanding that they'd be fundraisers, only to be told that I need to leave this race," Maes tells the Vail Daily. "In the last two weeks, I've stood up to six- and seven-term congressmen and millionaire senators. If someone wants to come after me, they can bring it on."

Maes, whose campaign has been plagued by questions about his integrity, is among the few Republicans in the state who isn't being touted as a strong challenger to the Democratic establishment. In fact, he's still dogged by negative headlines. The latest stinger comes from The Denver Post, which points out that if Maes, who has lost the endorsements of many respected Republicans, fails to capture 10 percent of the vote this year, the Republican Party will become a minor party in Colorado—which means GOP candidates' names wouldn't appear on the top of the ballots in 2012 alongside Dems. Instead, they would appear next to third-party candidates such as the Libertarians and Greens.

But, as the Post reports in another article, unaffiliated voters are leaning to the right this year, as opposed to the last two election cycles.