Rocky Mountain tussle

摘要

Just how much are Colorado's votes J worth?Oneanswerisahandsome$11m. In a tight battle to seize the Senate seat being vacated by the Republican incumbent, Ben Nighthorse Campbell, the Democrats' Ken Salazar, the state's attorney-general, has raised $6m; meanwhile, the Republicans' Pete Coors, a beer tycoon, has raised $5m (including $400,000 that he loaned to his own campaign). Now the contest, already the most expensive in the state's history, seems set to become ever more negative. Mr Salazar, who has around $800,000 left in his war-chest, accuses Mr Coors of being a know-nothing "rubber stamp" for George Bush and in hock to big business, to boot; Mr Coors, with some $676,000 on hand, charges Mr Salazar with being weak on national defence and wanting to raise taxes.