Brewing Up A Senate Run

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People may think well of the Coors name when they reach for a beer, but will they feel the same way in the voting booth? The G.O.P. is so excited about the prospect of Peter Coors' running for the Senate that Colorado's Republican Governor Bill Owens leaked the news to the press even before the brewing baron's expected announcement this week.

Democrats, supported by recent polling, had got their hopes up of having a chance to get back the Senate seat being vacated this year by retiring Republican Ben Nighthorse Campbell. But Coors is a name to be reckoned with. Peter Coors--the son of ultraconservative activist Joe Coors, who was once described by his brother as being "to the right of Attila the Hun"--has worked to reposition the family name on the political spectrum. When he began taking over the family business, its controversial workplace policies had earned it a long list of aggrieved parties--gays, minorities, women. Coors took steps to rebuild those relationships, including hiring Vice President Dick Cheney's lesbian daughter Mary as Coors' liaison to the gay community.

But Coors, 57, won't get the Senate job by birthright. The rarefied world in which he moves--he does his elk hunting in Russia, not the Rockies--won't endear him to Colorado's rural, blue-collar constituency. And though he is a conservative Christian, beer ads that feature him with the barely clad Coors Light Twins could cost him credibility on the family-values front. Also, his bid sets up a costly, divisive Republican primary race against former Congressman Bob Schaffer. Still, state G.O.P. chairman Ted Haley isn't fretting. "It can only help us build momentum," he says.

--By Rita Healy