Keep Looking West Governors, Presidential Politics, The Big Strategy

Matt Welch of Reason magazine in an LA Times column commenting on the failures of the Bush administration has come to some conclusions that visitors to this site will find familiar.

1. The Democratic Party and the country as a whole would benefit from a more pragmatic and libertarian philosophy of government.

There's another road so obvious that the Democrats have barely considered it. If voters are fed up with irresponsible Big Government cronyism, why not offer a responsible alternative that keeps government out of people's lives except when necessary? After all, libertarian-leaning Republicans and independents are in play like they haven't been since at least 1996, and there's no saying they can't be won over by the Democrats.

2. Western Democratic governors in Montana, New Mexico, and Arizona have found this to be a sound and winning formula.

Three Mountain time zone states that voted for Bush in 2004 (Montana, New Mexico and Arizona) have Democratic governors who have moved in this direction. They balance budgets, embrace gun rights and display the kind of salty tolerance that resonates far better with Western tradition than the touchy-feely identity politics of the West Coast.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a leading 2008 Democratic presidential candidate, has slashed taxes, challenged public-sector unions and championed charter schools. Montana's Democratic governor, Brian Schweitzer, a gun-toting farmer, has won massive popularity in a deeply red state with his pragmatic environmentalism and emphasis on energy production. Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano has stolen GOP thunder by embracing school choice.

3. A Western primary would give these Westerners a badly needed voice and maybe a shot at the top slot.

These three governors have been talking to Democratic leaders about creating a "Western primary day," encompassing as many as eight states, during the next presidential election cycle. Though the number of electoral votes — 44 during the 2004 election — would pale in comparison to the South's Super Tuesday, it would nevertheless be impossible to ignore. The Mountain West is the fastest-growing region in the country and home to a traditional skepticism of government that the national party only seems to remember when it's out of power.

Democrats have already seen how far they can't go under the leadership of East Coast Brahmins and Southern Bubbas. A little ranch-flavored pragmatism for a change might go a long way.

Leo Brown | November 3, 2005 | Comment on This Post (1 so far) Permalink: Keep Looking West Governors, Presidential Politics, The Big Strategy

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