U.S. Senate race: no cold, down, easy contest.

• Author: George, Mary
• Position: Election '04

Salazar: 'Pro-business Democrat'

Colorado Attorney General and Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Ken Salazar makes his appeal to business based on his experience in farming and small business, his solid bipartisan record, and his disgust with what he call's Washington's "fiscal recklessness."

"I consider myself to be a pro-business Democrat," said Salazar, who is still involved with his family's farm and helps his wife run a Dairy Queen. "I know the struggles of running a small business."

He's also calling for change.

In Salazar's view, President George W. Bush and his party have divided the country and failed to act on the major issues of health care and the economy. "It's time for our country to put our people ahead of partisan politics and the greed for power." he said.

But in this year's fight for Colorado's junior seat in the U.S. Senate--a fight that may upset the balance of power in Congress--business is viewing Salazar as the establishment candidate, one who doesn't track their interests as closely as his opponent, Pete Coors.

Salazar gets high marks from leaders and voters in both parties, including the popular Democrat-turned-Republican U.S. Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, whom he hopes to succeed. As attorney general, he's worked with a Republican governor and a Republican-dominated legislature to pass more than 50 pieces of legislation.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

And if he faced any other opponent, his record and reputation likely would hold more sway among the business community, said Kenneth Bickers, professor of political science at the University of Colorado at Boulder. "But relative to Coors, it's no surprise that business would view him as the second choice."

Salazar, 49, is one of eight children from a San Luis Valley farm family whose roots date back to 1850. He earned a political science degree at Colorado College and a law degree at the University of Michigan.

In 1987, Salazar took a 50-percent pay cut to become chief legal counsel in then-governor Roy Romer's administration, where among other things he worked on economic development. He went on to run the Colorado Department of Natural Resources--and turned down numerous opportunities to work in Washington D.C. in the years that followed.

In 1998, he won the attorney general's race to become the first Hispanic to win a statewide election in Colorado. In August, he won the primary vote by a 3-1 margin over Fountain educator Mike Miles. Now Salazar is campaigning for U.S...