Pete Coors? Boy, did this come out of left field. If he does win the nomination, how about some ads using donkeys fumbling issues, rather than horses playing football?

While the Rocky is claiming that Coors has given over $90,000 to "mostly Republican causes," a simple FEC query reveals over $100,000, to exclusively Republican candidates and committees. Including, none other than Bob Schaffer, in 1997 and 1998. He also gave over $20,000 to PACs associated with Sen. Allard's 2002 re-election campaign. Coors hasn't limited himself to Colorado politicians, either, giving to Republican House and Senate candidates in New York (yes, Rick Lazio), West Virginia, Montana, and Wyoming. In 2000, Coors donated $500 to Sen. John Ashcroft's re-election campaign. These are all pretty conservative candidates, in addition to his general contributions to the NSRC.

Coors Corporation has a good name in Colorado. It's generally been a good corporate citizen, even dealing well with a little beer spill into Cherry Creek a few years ago, something you wouldn't think they'd have to apologize all that hard for. Zima and Keystone may require a litte more explanation. Like any large company, Coors has had its share of EEOC complaints and corporate news-making, not all of it good. One risk here is that Salazar will try to pin every piece of bad company news on Pete himself.