Presidential prospects? Owens' focus: next three years in Colorado.

• Author: Schwab, Robert
• Position: Cover Story

Gov. Bill Owens is unassuming. He wears ties that he says are priced for the rack at Wal-Mart, and he is known to boast of wearing inexpensive suits and trousers. He won't tell you today that he plans on ever holding a higher office than that of governor of Colorado, and yet a national political columnist recently identified him as a possible 44th president of the United States, presumably George W. Bush's successor. National Review, a conservative magazine, has called Owens the nation's best governor. The Cato Institute, a conservative think tank, has given him and the current president's brother, Jeb Bush of Florida, the only two A grades when it ranked all 50 of the states' chief executives.

**********

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Bill Owens will be that chief executive for Colorado for the next three years. In an interview in October, ColoradoBiz asked him what he has planned for those next years of his term. "It would be to continue to make Colorado the type of state in which people want to live, raise a family and earn a living," Owens said. "What that means is there are a number of things you have to work on to keep Colorado attractive compared to the other 49 states.

"You have to make sure you continue to invest in infrastructure," he said.

"You have to continue to improve education. And, this is not always simply more dollars; in fact, in many cases, it has very little to do with dollars. It has everything to do with changing systems.

"You have to continue to protect what makes Colorado special, in terms of the environment and open space.

"And you need to continue to be perceived, and speak out on, being open for business."

Owens is optimistic that the state will emerge in 2004 from the economic doldrums that have stalled growth for the past two and a half years--in step with the growth of the national economy, which posted its best quarterly performance in almost two decades from July through September.

Before those results were reported, and during the interview, which ColoradoBiz requested in order to get the governor's take on job creation and economic development, Owens said he was being told the national economy would grow by plus-6 percent, indicating that his own economists are tracking national trends to inform his discussion of such issues. The initial reading on the third quarter was actually plus-7 percent.

"I think you're going to see job growth start to increase both nationally and in Colorado," he said. "I also think it's important to remember that until two years ago, the debate in Colorado was essentially: Are we...