Hickenlooper and Owens Travel to California

One stop likely will be PeopleSoft, which last week purchased locally based J.D. Edwards for $1.8 billion, creating the world's second largest supplier of business software.Many fear the mergers will mean a loss of jobs for the state, but Hickenlooper remains optimistic."I don't think (the merger) is a bad thing for Colorado," Hickenlooper said recently.

He says that homes, groceries, and meals at restaurants cost 50% more in California than in Colorado. He says his many friends and business associates in California can't imagine doing a major expansion there. But with a huge J.D. Edwards campus already in place here, he sees that as a prime location for future expansion.

"I am hopeful we will see new jobs in Colorado coming out of that merger rather than losing senior executive jobs to California," Hickenlooper says. "I don't think that's pie-in-the-sky. I think that's a realistic expectation and one that we will monitor closely in the months to come."

As far as his differences with Owens, Hickenlooper says he plans to keep them private. "I'll try to convince him in private that I'm right," Hickenlooper says. But he says one thing they both share is a desire to improve the lackluster economy in Denver and the state, he says. One of Owens' strengths is his relationship with the business community, Hickenlooper says.