The 6th connects the eastern, southern and western suburbs of Denver. Generally white-collar and Republican-oriented, they have an added link in the 1990s -- a concern about their economic future.

Like others across the country whose prosperity has been closely tied to military and aerospace spending, many residents of the 6th are not sure how they will fare during the nation's economic transition.

Denver's Lowry Air Force Base, which employed a number of workers in the Arapahoe County suburbs on the 6th's eastern side, stopped operations in September 1994. Nearby, Denver's Stapleton Airport was set to be replaced by the new Denver International Airport, although technical problems in the new facility delayed its opening until late February 1995.

The 6th has enough economic diversity to provide a safety net of sorts. Many of the federal government's regional facilities have headquarters in the Denver Federal Center in Lakewood, just west of Denver. The Coors brewery and the National Renewable Energy Lab are in nearby Golden. The 6th also has benefited by the growth of the telecommunications industry. Two of the nation's largest cable companies, Telecommunications Inc. and Liberty Media, merged and are headquartered there, employing about 2,400.

Golden is in a portion of western Jefferson County added to the 6th in redistricting for the 1990s. Jefferson also includes the affluent communities of Evergreen and Conifer and mountain homes hidden in the foothills of the Rockies.

But with 20 percent population growth in the state in the 1980s, the 6th in 1992 redistricting had to lose more people than it gained. Pared away were a few neighborhoods in southwest Denver as well as the northern portion of the city of Aurora on the eastern side of the district. The 6th, which in the 1980s included portions of Adams, Arapahoe, Denver and Jefferson counties, now is limited to portions of only Arapahoe and Jefferson. The district population is almost evenly divided between the two.

But the district retains other pieces of Americana. Near the affluent community of Cherry Hills Village just south of Denver is the Cherry Hills Country Club, site of a number of professional golf tournaments including the 1960 U.S. Open, won by a young Arnold Palmer. Near Golden is the grave of the legendary frontiersman and showman, William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody. Not far from Evergreen is the notorious Troublesome Gulch, where the media staked out Gary Hart's home in the dying days of his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination in May 1987.

In general, GOP candidates enjoy a long head start in the 6th, thanks to the moderate to affluent bedroom communities. But the large number of registered independents will occasionally look at other options. In 1992, with Ross Perot drawing 25.4 percent of the three-way vote (his best showing in any Colorado district), George Bush carried the 6th by fewer than 3,000 votes.