bucheon bum
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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 Posted: Sun Oct 01, 2006 10:45 am Post subject: Red West Shifting to Blue |
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An interesting article about the changes in the West:
Republicans' grip is loosening in mountain state
Basically the thesis of the article is the GOP's embrace of social conservatism is finally starting to alienate some voters in the West, who are more libertarian than anything else.
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The opportunity in the West is among the reasons that the party recently scheduled a presidential caucus in Nevada to be held a week before the New Hampshire primary in 2008, and Denver is among two finalists to play host to the party's 2008 presidential nominating convention.
"Our whole theory is that the Democrats have to come out West if they want to win a national election,'' said Steve Farber, an influential Denver attorney who is co-chairman of the city's convention host committee.
Democrats in the nation's capital are paying attention. Dean, the quintessential button-down Yankee, has made a dozen trips to the Mountain states over the past year.
Republicans now hold 20 of the 28 congressional seats and 12 of the 16 Senate seats. Democratic parity in the West alone would shrink the GOP's majority by 40 percent in the House and 80 percent in the Senate. This November, as many as 9 of the most competitive 50 House races are in the Mountain West. Democrats also have a chance to add two governors and a senator from the region. |
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Schweitzer said he came to realize that Montanans were perfectly willing to vote for a pro-choice, pro-environment candidate who talked about expanding health care so long as he communicated such ideas while he sat on a horse. Preferably with a gun in his hand.
"I don't use language that makes me sound like I'm highfalutin or condescending,'' Schweitzer said in an interview, saying that Republicans provided his party an opening in the Mountain States by being aloof, pro-development and unwilling to defend the West's natural resources.
"The folks who like to have guns and like to drink beer by the six-pack, they're thinking, 'I'm not supporting those kind of Republicans. What do the Democrats have to say?'
"And my response was 'here we are.' Yep, we like guns. We're glad you have some, because we have some, too. We like to fish and hunt. We're going to maintain your right to access that public land.''
The environmental issue has worked for Western Democrats, although it is not the Sierra Club version familiar to Californians. The federal government owns huge tracts of land in the West, and residents depend on the federal dollars that support it, and the income that comes from exploiting the resources. The Endangered Species Act is frowned upon, even if residents don't favor its repeal. Many are simultaneously resentful of government efforts to restrict their use of the land and of private industries' attempts to destroy it.
"The (Bush) administration is pushing to develop our natural resources as fast as they can,'' Rep. Salazar said in an interview. "I'm in favor of developing our resources, but let's do it in a responsible way. I have people on both (political) extremes mad at me, but like most of the people in my district, I'm somewhere in the middle.'' |
Hopefully the dems will realize the west is for their taking while the south (and yes, ohio) is not worth the energy. |
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