Bad Beer vs. Bad Politician

Peter H. Coors, heir to a fortune built on shitty beer, is finding his campaign to take the Senate seat being vacated by Ben Nighthorse Campbell in Colorado in a bit of trouble. It's not so much because of the campaign his opponent in the Republican primary, Bob Schaffer, is running. The attacks which are hurting Coors more seem to be coming from the company that bears his family's name.

Coors's advertising, which often features scantily-clad women, has been used to attack Coors by Schaffer and other figures from the right of the Republican party in Colorado. And when Coors said he would support a constitutional amendment to outlaw same-sex marriage, the Coors Company issued a statement, and placed ads in gay newspapers in Colorado, distancing themselves from that stance. The Coors Brewing Company is fearful that Coors's campaign will reignite efforts in the gay community and elsewhere to ban Coors Beer for supporting right-wing causes.

And, well, Coors isn't exactly helping himself with his campaign:The beer baron has come across as ill-informed and unprepared on national issues. "Coors light on facts," declared a Denver Post headline after one campaign appearance.

In his TV ads, Coors calls for more federal tax cuts and a balanced federal budget. Asked how he would reconcile those two goals, he replied: "That's probably a fair question, but I just don't have an answer for you."

In a debate, the wily Schaffer demanded to know whether Coors agreed with Paul Martin on U.S.-Canadian trade. Coors fell right into the trap. "I'm not sure I know who Paul Martin is," he said warily. Schaffer pounced: "A U.S. senator needs to know who the prime minister of Canada is."

Schaffer's backers have also criticized a campaign ad in which Coors boasts that he moved up from floor sweeper to chairman of his company -- without mentioning that he inherited the top job from his father.Looks like his skills at politics are no better than his skills at making beer. And, more ominously for the Republican party, a seat that had been considered safely in Republican hands is now considered likely to go to the Democrats.

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