A realistic story about the West and Democrats Media Coverage

Less of the Yeah! We won in Montana and Colorado, We're the best thing since sliced bread out there! And more of some real perspective from, of all places, USA Today.

While recognizing the real victories we had in the West, the article also notes that national Democrats have a hard time coming out West and sounding like serious candidates, especially on the environment. In the West, people still see the need to cut down trees, especially if the reason you're cutting them down is to prevent forest fires.

Also, while an active government isn't always seen as a problem, in immigration and education for example, Democrats have been staked out as the party of big government. Does that really surprise anyone? The way we've gotten around this is by being the party of government, period. Adult, grownup responsible government, as opposed to the tax slashing, deficit increasing government of Republicans (see Colorado).

The story ends on an interesting note:

Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., earlier this month questioned whether Senate Democrats should choose Nevada Sen. Harry Reid as their leader because he wasn't from their traditional base in the Northeast.

"The question I raise is: Are the interests of the party served best by a leader who comes from a state that doesn't have the same urban flavor that we have in our industrial states?" said Lautenberg, who later voted for Reid.

Reid, who hails from tiny Searchlight, Nev., said while Democrats must do better in the West, their focus should be on winning the hearts of rural Americans.

In Nevada's two urban areas, Kerry carried the Las Vegas area and ran only slightly behind in Washoe County, he said.

But Vice President Dick Cheney visited rural Elko twice before the election, helping Bush capture a majority of voters in rural eastern Nevada.

"Rural Nevada beat John Kerry," Reid said. "I believe where the Kerry presidential bid failed was in not selling itself to rural America."

This is an important question for Democrats to answer. If we really want to see the party refocus Westward, we have to realize that focus is much different from the urban and industrial of the Northeast and Midwest rustbelts that Lautenberg is talking about. Even though the West is quickly becoming an urban area, it is a different urban than the Northeast urban. Sounds like a topic for another post though.

Emmett O'Connell | November 27, 2004 | Comment on This Post (2 so far) Permalink: A realistic story about the West and Democrats Media Coverage

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