Things aren’t looking great for Pete Coors in the Colorado Senate race–new polls have him trailing Democrat Ken Salazar by 6 points (Public Opinion Strategies, a GOP firm) and 9 points (Zogby). Republicans in the Rocky Mountain State will do well to remember that Sen. Wayne Allard’s re-election two years ago didn’t turn out to be as close as the final polls had predicted. It’s possible that Colorado surveys underestimate GOP strength. I wouldn’t place a big bet on Coors today, but I wouldn’t count him out, either.

Maybe he’ll even win the college vote. One of the latest lines of attacks on Coors is that he wants to lower the drinking age to 18. Here’s a new ad:

“If Pete Coors has his way, the legal drinking age would be lowered to 18, and overnight he would have over 200,000 potential new customers. As far as Pete Coors is concerned, it doesn’t matter if it’s really bad for kids, as long as it’s really good for business.”

It’s true that Coors is on the record saying he believes the drinking age should go down: If an 18-year-old can fight for America in Iraq, then he ought to be able to crack open a cold one at base camp. Hard to argue with that reasoning, as far as I’m concerned. But I’m sure the idea doesn’t poll well with soccer moms. Coors has more or less promised not to pursue the matter if elected to the Senate. Yet I wonder if the issue might help him in a funny way, or at least not hurt him as much as some might guess. Whereas many people vote their pocketbook, college students might be tempted to vote their beer bellies. Heck, the Coors position on 18, 19, and 20-year-old drinking ought to represent a great opportunity for College Republicans in Boulder. A vote for Coors is a vote to end Prohibition on young adults!