The Colorado Senate race - still 15 months from completion - is set to become one of a select group of congressional races deemed crucial by political strategists. Such a high profile race could see state and national party organizations spend a combined total of as much as $10 million, a Democratic Party leader predicts.

The estimate came Wednesday as Denver Attorney Tom Strickland formally announced his candidacy for Senate amid hopes that he would not face a challenger in Democratic primaries and promises that he would connect with Coloradans on the issues important to them.

Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., Senate majority leader, will be in Denver Monday morning and in Aspen later that night to raise funds for Strickland and state Democrats.

President George W. Bush will visit the state Tuesday to raise money for state Republicans, including Sen. Wayne Allard.

Strickland, who made campaign appearances Wednesday in Westminster, Pueblo, Fort Collins and Grand Junction, said managing growth, protecting personal privacy, lowering the costs of prescription drugs and protecting a woman's right to choose would be part of his campaign.

The 49-year-old Houston-born Senate hopeful is a former Colorado transportation director, and was the state's U.S. Attorney from April 1999 to April 2000, during which time he tripled the number of gun prosecutions and led an initiative to better enforce existing gun laws.

Tim Knaus, chair of the state Democratic Party, said Wednesday that he was hoping state Democrats would stand behind Strickland and not present a challenge in the primary, though rumors were rampant that several leaders have not ruled out the possibility.

Denver Mayor Wellington Webb and Congressman Mark Udall both recently said they would not run for the Senate.

"We have no interest in seeing a primary," Knaus said, adding that that a primary could drain Strickland's funds.

He predicted that the Colorado Senate race would be a partisan financial showdown.

"Obscene amounts are going to get spent on this race," Knaus said. "It's one of the reasons we think that a Democratic U.S. Senator ought to be elected - so that McCain-Feingold gets enacted. In the meantime, we can't unilaterally disarm. We'll be outspent, but we're going to try to raise as much as we can to get (Strickland's) message out, because I think he has a good message."

Should Strickland be the Democratic nominee, it would set the stage for a rematch of the 1996 Senate race against Allard.

In that race, Strickland's pro-choice and gun-control views contrasted with Allard's more popularly conservative stances on those issues, though the two agreed on issues such as expanding global trade agreements.

Strickland will campaign on environmental issues, his campaign manager Mike Stratton, a former lobbyist, said. Stratton added that Strickland was proud to be a part of the 1992 campaign to establish the Great Outdoors Colorado Trust Fund, which funneled $260 million in funds from state lottery tickets into parks, trails, wildlife programs and conservation.

Allard spokesman Sean Conway, however, said Allard is a tough candidate to beat on environmental issues. Allard's "No.1" priority is transforming the former Rocky Flats nuclear missile plant into a wildlife refuge under the protection of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, something the senator and Udall have worked jointly on for the past two years.

As a ranking member of the strategic committee to the Senate Armed Services Committee, Allard has crucial sway on Rocky Flats issues, Conway said.

"This has a profound effect in Boulder County," Conway said. "It's extremely important that he has seniority. If he is not there, it could lead to a slowdown of the clean-up and closure."

Still, environmentalists don't appear to be overly impressed with Allard's performance, according to Steve Smith of the Southwestern regional office of the Sierra Club.

Though those sentiments wouldn't automatically deliver a Sierra Club endorsement to Strickland, it doesn't help that Allard's record is "not too strong," Smith said.

But the influence of local environmental groups and others could reduced if national money plays too large a factor in the race.

Though both acknowledge national money will factor into the race, neither Strickland nor Allard, according to their respective spokesmen, think their combined campaigns will top $10 million.

"I'm hoping it won't be that high," Stratton said.

Adds Conway, "That's awfully high, even by today's standards. I'd be surprised if it reaches those levels."

In 1996, Allard garnered 51 percent of the vote compared with Strickland's 46 percent. Allard raised almost $2.2 million, compared with Strickland's more than $2.9 million, according to Federal Election Commission figures.

Though Democrats said they expected the upcoming Bush fundraiser and other Republican events to begin flooding cash into Allard's coffers - according to the Center for Responsive Politics, Allard has more than $200,000 on hand - it's the Democrats who are raising the stakes in a state they badly want to win, Conway said.

"They are targeting Allard," Conway said. "The Democratic Senate Committee will spend $3 million."

With national money comes fears of negative campaigning - something Strickland will avoid, Stratton said.

"We don't believe the way to do it is to tear down Wayne Allard," Stratton said.

Yet, Conway said, Stratton "knows full well" that outside money may all but preclude a negative campaign.

Should the two square off, they are likely to face at least one third-party candidate. Rick Stanley, a Denver shop owner, is seeking the nomination of the Colorado Libertarian Party.

And though the state's Green Party previously indicated it was unlikely to field a candidate should Webb have launched a campaign, with Strickland entering the race, Greens might now mount a campaign -one that would be likely be decidedly paltry in terms of cash flow compared with Allard and Strickland's.

"Things can always change," said Dean Myerson, a Boulder-based national organizer for the Green Party.