Is there a way to save the West's influence? Presidential Politics, The Big Strategy

How do you force Presidential candidates to talk about Western issues when there will be no Western Primary? Daniel Kemmis and Bob Brown chart a path in a recent column that admits things haven't been going so well for the West and Democratic Presidential politics.

The first big event out West, the Reno forum a week or so after the Winter DNC meeting saw no candidates addressing Western issues. With another candidate forum coming up in August, dumping Fox News might have been the smartest thing in order to force a regional focus on the campaigns:

Several Western state Democratic parties have invited the candidates to Reno in August, in a laudable effort to focus on Western issues. Now that the Nevada Democrats have dumped FOX News, with its national focus, as a co-sponsor of the August debate, there may be an even better opportunity to highlight regional issues.

How could that work? Western Democrats were planning a “Western Roundup” in Reno in conjunction with the August debate. They should go ahead with those plans to bring Democrats together from all over the region, and encourage the Democratic presidential candidates to focus on Western issues. Western Republicans could do the same in one of the states where they have scheduled an early primary or caucus.

Big regional gatherings like this would be the equivalent of national labor or manufacturer conventions, which candidates do attend, and where they expect to address the issues of greatest concern to the audience.

Read the entire column here.

Emmett O'Connell | April 10, 2007 | Comment on This Post (0 so far) Permalink: Is there a way to save the West's influence? Presidential Politics, The Big Strategy

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