William F. "Bill" Owens (born October 22, 1950) is an United States politician and a member of the Republican Party (United States). He is the current (and 40th) Governor of Colorado. Born in Fort Worth, Texas, 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 Union 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 Party (United States) 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." http://www.nationalreview.com/moore/moore100202.asp, while the Progressive States Network, a liberal group, named him one of the country's "worst" governors.http://www.progressivestates.org/content/233/05012006-stateside-dispatch-lowering-the-bar-americas-worst-governors Following the retirement announcement of United States Senate 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 of the United States George W. Bush in Bush's second term. Owens has described his politics as mostly conservatism with some libertarianism influences. He was widely considered to be a possible candidate for President of the United States, or a possible nominee for Vice President of the United States in 2008 or 2012, however with the loss of Republican control of the Colorado State Senate during his tenure, speculation about a potential presidential bid has softened. .

                       

Courtesy of: http://www.wikipedia.org/