JEFFERSON CITY — As word of the possible sale of the king of beers made its way around Missouri last month, politicians jeered at the Belgian company seeking to take over the icon of American brewers.

"We're certainly not going to go quietly," St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay said in June, echoing the defensive posture taken by Democrats and Republicans in Missouri. In effect, the politicians told the foreign interloper that the company would have to pry the ice-cold Bud from their clenched fists.

Now, as InBev appears to have reached a $52 billion deal to take over Anheuser-Busch and make Budweiser the crown jewel of its beer empire, elected officials from St. Louis and Missouri are taking a new tack.

They're hoping the new king will be benevolent.

Slay, whose brother and sister work for Anheuser-Busch, said Monday that the acquisition of the city's most iconic company by a foreign competitor signals a new era in business.

"This is reality. This is the result of what has become, more and more, a global economy," Slay said. "I want to make sure we do everything we can to welcome the new company with open arms."

Sen. Claire McCaskill, who had told InBev CEO Carlo Brito she opposed the takeover, said that although she's "disappointed" in the sale, she plans to work with the new company to make sure Missouri jobs are protected.

"I am going to do everything I can to make this new arrangement work for Missouri and the millions of Americans that love Budweiser," said the Missouri Democrat.

McCaskill, the national co-chair of Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign, also took a political shot at Republicans: "We need to remember that InBev could afford this All-American company because of the weak dollar created by the economic policies of the last seven years."

Obama issued a similar statement.

"We could have and should have done everything possible to find an American buyer and create jobs at home," said the presumptive Democratic nominee for president. "America cannot afford four more years of the economic policies that have contributed to more than 400,000 lost jobs in the last six months."

Republican Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder issued a statement urging the new company to remember its roots.

"It is my hope that a joint Anheuser-Busch/InBev operation will pledge the same commitment to the city of St. Louis that we have known for generations," Kinder said.

But not everybody is convinced those promises will be kept.

Sen. Mike Gibbons, R-Kirkwood, pointed out that the increase in shareholder price — InBev is offering $70 per share, $5 per share higher than its initial offering — will have to come from somewhere.

"The thing I'd be worried about is their ability to follow through on their promises," said Gibbons, who is running for attorney general. "What's good news for shareholders may not be good news for maintaining a strong St. Louis presence. They have to pay for this somehow."

Many remember American Airlines' acquisition of St. Louis-based TWA. Promises were made about maintaining the Gateway City as a major airline hub, but they ultimately were not kept.

U.S. Rep. Kenny Hulshof, who is running for governor, cautioned in making that comparison. The economics of the airline industry are much more unpredictable, Hulshof noted. In buying Anheuser-Busch, InBev gains immediate access to a distribution network that should help its brands that are less known in the U.S., such as Stella Artois or Beck's, said Hulshof, R-Columbia.

Rather than worry about cuts, Missouri politicians should make the best case possible that InBev must keep its North American operations based in St. Louis. "We should make a case they cannot refuse," Hulshof said.

Still, uncertainty over the future persists. U.S. Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond, R-Mo., adopted a tone similar to that of Gibbons. Asked for his response to the impending sale, Bond said simply:

"Ask me in three years."

Deirdre Shesgreen and Jake Wagman of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.