2004 ballot.

• Position: Election '04

George W. Bush

John Kerry

As competitive as the national race for president seems to be, we struggle to reconcile the economic messages coming from candidate John Kerry's campaign with the stated objectives of the Democratic platform. We, therefore, endorse George W. Bush for a second term as president of the United States.

Unfortunately for Democrats, this might be a case of opportunity lost, for in Colorado and perhaps nationally, the incumbent president's economic agenda appears to be neither inspiring of confidence, nor able to produce the sustained recovery that conservative pundits continue to forecast. Indeed, stubborn and difficult issues threaten to sidetrack whatever short-term gains made by the president and Republican lawmakers since President Bush took office: a growing war tab with no bottom line in sight; the prospect of permanently higher energy costs; accelerating deficits driven by a combination of tax cuts and surging domestic spending; and the reality of an inevitable and enormous non-discretionary budget commitment to an aging population--a significant inhibitor to new growth and investment.

While neither candidate seems ready or willing to make the difficult decisions necessary to craft a sound strategy for economic growth, the Republican administration's inexplicable wanderings from its fiscally conservative heritage seems less onerous a prospect for business than unforeseen tax and regulatory burdens that Colorado firms might reasonably anticipate from a new, Democratic president. If only we knew.

Colorado and the nation deserve a fresh economic agenda. We hope the president uses a new term to provide one.

Pete Coors

Ken Salazar

Salazar deserves a promotion for having served the state well as an attorney general and as a member of the Democratic gubernatorial administration of Roy Romer. But two strikes against his promotion to the U.S. Senate are contained in that previous sentence. He is a Democrat and an attorney. The laissez-faire philosophy of Republican businessman Pete Coors is more reflective of the ColoradoBiz belief that government should indeed stand away from the market to allow a free-flow of economic transactions. And Coors makes a case for the too strong influence on--we would call it interference in--that marketplace by lawyers practicing their adversarial craft. Too many businesses are left losers too often when business disagreements are handed over to the courts. We think Pete Coors will work...