Democrats and the West
by Ryan Sager
Fri, 13 Apr 2007 at 1:29 PM
updated Fri, 13 Apr 2007 at 1:35 PM
The importance of the Denver convention story, of course, is that the Denver convention stands for a lot more than just a random venue chosen on a whim. The interior West is a major swing region in this upcoming election, as I've spent some considerable time jumping up and down about.
As Howard Dean put it in Colorado the other day: "We believe that the road to the White House leads through the West." (Given that 70,000 votes in New Mexico, Colorado, and Nevada would have flipped the electoral college in the 2004 election, he's right.)
So, the Denver convention will go a long way toward showcasing just how "Western" the Democratic Party can really be...
The Democratic Party has made big gains in the West in recent years. And that's largely been based on a new image of the party as not hostile to gun owners, socially tolerant, and more fiscally responsible than the Republicans. But there are still some open questions:
Is this new Western party just as interest-group-bound as the old, non-Western party? Or is there some substance behind the change?
Caving in to every demand labor makes ahead of the convention certainly doesn't help answer those questions in a way that's in accordance with the new Western Democrat image the party's trying to cultivate.
So, keep this convention fight on your radar. It's far from petty stuff.
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