One reason Colorado Democrat Betsy Markey unseated Republican Rep. Marilyn Musgrave last year is that Musgrave had a reputation of being more concerned about hotbutton social issues and not the everyday economic struggles of residents of the state’s 4th District.

Republican state Rep. Cory Gardner, who is probably the leading Republican challenger to Markey in the 2010 election, thinks that the 4th District, which includes vast swaths of northern and eastern Colorado, will return to its Republican roots by responding to his message of fiscal restraint and limited government.

“I am focusing on the issues – the economy, kitchen-table matters, and those things that are affecting people’s everyday lives today,” Gardner said Wednesday at a meeting with reporters that was organized by the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), the campaign arm of the House GOP.