Bill Owens

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Bill Owens
Image:Bill Owens.jpg
40^th Governor of Colorado
Term of office: January 1999 – present (term limited, 2007)
Lieutenant Governor:	Jane E. Norton
Predecessor:	Roy Romer
Successor:	Bill Ritter
Born:	October 22, 1950 Fort Worth, Texas
Political party:	Republican
Profession:	Teacher
Spouse:	Frances Owens
Religion:	Roman Catholic

This article is about the Governor of Colorado. For others, see William Owens.

William F. "Bill" Owens (born October 22, 1950) is an American politician and a member of the Republican Party. He is the current (and 40th) Governor of Colorado. He did not seek reelection in 2006 due to term limits.

Born in Fort Worth, Texas, Owens has a master's degree in public affairs from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. He is an expert in Soviet affairs and writes and lectures often on Russia. Owens is a practicing Catholic. He is married with three children. Before his political career, Owens worked for 20 years in the private sector as a consultant with Deloitte and Touche, with the Gates Corporation, and as director of a trade association.

Owens served as a member of Colorado state house of representatives from 1982 to 1988 and Colorado state treasurer from 1995 to 1999. Since 1999, he has served as the 40th Governor of Colorado. In the 1998 governor's race, he defeated his Democratic opponent, Gail Schoettler, in a very close election (they both received about 48% of the vote). He won the 2002 governor's race by defeating the Democratic candidate, Rollie Heath, 64%-32%, the greatest majority in Colorado history.

In 2002 he was proclaimed by the National Review, a conservative political magazine, as the "best governor in the U.S.," <ref>http://www.nationalreview.com/moore/moore100202.asp</ref> while the Progressive States Network, a liberal group, named him one of the country's "worst" governors.<ref>http://www.progressivestates.org/content/233/05012006-stateside-dispatch-lowering-the-bar-americas-worst-governors</ref>

Following the retirement announcement of U.S. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell in 2004, Governor Owens briefly considered running for the open seat, but ultimately decided against it. Leading up to the 2004 primary, Owens caused some controversy in the Republican Party by announcing support for Bob Schaffer's run to replace Campbell, but then endorsing Pete Coors when Coors announced his entry into the race.

Owens has also been mentioned as a potential nominee to the Cabinet of President George W. Bush in Bush's second term. Owens has described his politics as mostly conservative with some libertarian influences.^{[citation needed]} He was widely considered to be a possible candidate for President of the United States, or a possible nominee for Vice President in 2008 or 2012.^{[citation needed]} However, with the loss of Republican control of the Colorado State Senate during his tenure, speculation about a potential presidential bid has softened.^{[citation needed]}