Legislatures

The New West Project

This is wonderful:

The New West Project, headquartered in Denver, will conduct research and develop strategies to secure and exploit recent Democratic gains in the Western states, party sources said.

At least four Western governors - Janet Napolitano of Arizona, Bill Richardson of New Mexico, Brian Schweitzer of Montana and Bill Ritter, Colorado's governor-elect - are expected to lead the group's advisory council, the sources said. Incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, Sen. Ken Salazar of Colorado and other members of Congress will provide "strategic guidance."

Reid confirmed the creation of the new organization, which he said would "build upon the leadership of people such as governors Napolitano, Richardson and Schweitzer" and "work to focus attention on the West."

This is a high level group. Consider the Western Strategy in play, my friends. It is wonderful to see this sort of institutional arrangement that will only benefit our local, state and national candidates long term. It looks like part think tank, part strategy firm, part communications development - all aspects that will be welcome by the plethora of candidates that will be running these next few cycles to take advantage of our our new promise out here in the west.

The best part of the article? The quote from an unnamed "Western Democrat":

As an example of what the new organization may do, the Western Democrat said that political professionals would analyze such questions as "the difference between first- and second-generation Hispanic voters, ... what motivates them and how we communicate with them," as well as "why a recent transplant from California, who has voted Republican all her life, is now voting for Democrats."

Good question, "Western Democrat" - it just leaves me amazed to see our namesake invoked so strikingly in an article. Methinks the author of the article, John Aloysius Farrell , might just be an reader of our humble site. If so, thanks for the article John - we'll be watching for you in the future.

It's great to have a new project designed for this express purpose and examining the multitude of new questions that are arising from the new political climate in the West. Now, if any of those people involved in the project are paying attention it would behoove them greatly to include netroots and blog outreach as an element of the project. You see, since major political focus has been absent from the West for awhile the netroots and blogosphere have been proliferating and recruiting top candidates all over the place. It would be an essential element of any plan that you should put together.

I'm excited.

Here's the The New West Project!

Landon Mascareñaz | December 6, 2006 | Comment on This Post (0 so far)
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Arizona, Colorado, Demographics, Governors, Legislatures, Local Government, Montana, National Leadership, Nevada, New Mexico, Policy Issues, Regionalism, Statewides, The Big Strategy, Urban/Rural Divide, Utah, Wyoming

Post-Election Statehouse Roundup

To quote Buffalo Springfield, "there's something happening here". Post-election, Western Democrats have made great gains in the states, building strong majorities in the legislatures and taking or retaining several governorships. Here's a look at the numbers, courtesy of NCSL.

Arizona

Pre-Election

Senate 12-18 Republican majority

House 21-39 Republican majority

Post-Election

Senate 12-18 Republican majority

House 28-32 Republican majority

Pickups

Senate – stays the same

House - +7 seats

Democratic Governor Janet Napolitano was overwhelmingly re-elected.

California

Pre-election

Senate 25-15 Democratic majority

Assembly 47-32-1 (Ind.) Democratic majority

Post-Election

Senate 25-15 Democratic majority

Assembly 48-32 Democratic majority

Pickups

Senate – stays the same

Assembly - +1 seat

Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was re-elected.

Colorado

Pre-Election

Senate 18-17 Democratic majority

House 35-30 Democratic majority

Post-Election

Senate 20-15 Democratic majority

House 39-26 Democratic majority

Pickups

Senate – +2 seat

House - +4 seats

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill Ritter was elected Governor.

Idaho

Pre-Election

Senate 7-28 Republican majority

House 13-57 Republican majority

Post-Election

Senate 7-28 Republican majority

House 19-51 Republican majority

Pickups

Senate – stays the same

House - +6 seats

Republican gubernatorial candidate C.L. “Butch” Otter was elected.

Montana


Pre-Election

Senate 27-23 Democratic majority

House 50-50

Post-Election

Senate 26-24 Democratic majority

House 50-49-1 (Ind.) Democratic majority

Pickups

Senate – -1 Seat

House – stays the same

Democratic Governor Brian Schweitzer is up for re-election in 2008.


Nevada

Pre-Election

Senate 9-12 Republican majority

House 26-16 Democratic majority

Post-Election

Senate 10-11 Republican majority.

House 27-15 Democratic majority

Pickups

Senate – +1 seat

House - +1 seat

Republican gubernatorial candidate Jim Gibbons was elected.

New Mexico


Pre-Election

Senate 24-18 Democratic majority

House 42-28-2(Ind.) Democratic majority

Post-Election

Senate 24-18 Democratic majority

House 42-28 Democratic majority

Pickups

Senate – stays the same

House – stays the same

Democratic Governor Bill Richardson was overwhelmingly re-elected.

Oregon

Pre-Election

Senate 17-11-2(Ind.) Democratic majority

House 27-33 Republican majority

Post-Election

Senate 17-11-2(Ind.) Democratic majority

House 31-29 Democratic majority

Pickups

Senate – stays the same

House - +4 seats

Democratic Governor Ted Kulongoski was re-elected.

Utah


Pre-Election

Senate 8-21 Republican majority

House 19-56 Republican majority

Post-Election

Senate 8-21 Republican majority

House 19-56 Republican majority

Pickups

Senate – stays the same

House – stays the same

Republican Governor Jon Huntsman is up for re-election in 2008.


Washington

Pre-Election

Senate 26-23 Democratic majority

House  56-42 Democratic majority

Post-Election

Senate 32-17 Democratic majority (not since 1965)

House 63-35 Democratic majority


Pickups

Senate – +6 seats

House - +7 seats

Democratic Governor Christine Gregoire is up for re-electionin 2008.

Wyoming

Pre-Election

Senate 7-23 Republican majority

House 14-46 Republican majority


Post-Election

Senate 7-23 Republican majority

House 17-43 Republican majority

Pickups

Senate – stays the same

House - +3 seats

Democratic Governor Dave Freudenthal was overwhelmingly re-elected.

kencamp | November 22, 2006 | Comment on This Post (4 so far)
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Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Governors, Idaho, Legislatures, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming

FBI Raids Offices of Alaska Legislators

At least 6 Alaskan legislators had their offices raided by the FBI in an investigation into ties between the lawmakers and an oil field services company. One of the legislators whose office was raided , state Senate President Ben Stevens, is the son of U.S. Senator Ted Stevens.

A copy of one of the search warrants, obtained by The Associated Press, links the investigation to a new production tax law signed last month by Gov. Frank Murkowski and a draft natural gas pipeline contract Murkowski and the state's three largest oil companies negotiated.

The warrant called for seizure of documents concerning any payment made to lawmakers by Bill Allen and Richard Smith, executives of oil field services giant VECO Corp. Agents also looked for documents about contracts, agreements or employment of legislators provided by VECO, Allen, Smith and company president Peter Leathard.

Sought-after items named in the search include hats or other garments bearing the phrases "CBC," "Corrupt Bastards Club" or "Corrupt Bastards Caucus." What the names referred to was unclear, and authorities would not comment.

I'll tell you which corrupt bastards they're looking for. Maybe they're looking for the corrupt bastards at BP who are rolling in profit but allegedly manipulating the market. Or how about Ted Stevens, aka Mr. Bridge to Nowhere? Or maybe it's Governor Murkowski, aka Mr. Nepotism, who appointed his daughter U.S. Senator after he resigned to become Governor. How did that work out for you Frank? And so for good measure the FBI can take young Mr. Stevens and young Ms. Murkowski away with their parents. Alaska will be a much better place for it.

kencamp | September 1, 2006 | Comment on This Post (2 so far)
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Alaska, Legislatures

Democrats help out the Sagebrush

As Republicans are falling over themselves to abandon the spirit of the Sagebrush Rebellion (here and here) to please big companies back east, Colorado Democrats are trying to convince the oil and gas industry to be good neighbors (Denver Post):


A high-stakes clash of economic titans is set to break out at the Capitol today, when lawmakers consider forcing energy companies to increase compensation for landowners whose property values are hurt by the uninvited roads, gas wells and heavy equipment used to extract natural gas.

...

House Bill 1185 would encourage energy companies to enter into surface-impact agreements with landowners before drilling on their property and force them to post a $25,000 bond for every well where an agreement was not possible. Courts would decide disputes over compensation.

...

The bill, scheduled to be heard by the House Transportation and Energy Committee today, represents a second attempt of its kind from Rep. Kathleen Curry, D-Gunnison. The freshman chairwoman of the House Agriculture, Livestock and Natural Resources Committee saw a similar bill die in her own committee last year, a defeat she blamed on an aggressive energy lobby.

Emmett O'Connell | January 25, 2006 | Comment on This Post (0 so far)
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Colorado, Legislatures, Policy Issues, The Big Strategy

Bring ActBlue West

ActBlue, one of the best ideas since there have been good ideas, is expanding down to statewide and state legislative races. The only thing they need is help navigating through 50 different campaign finance systems. They've already figured out Virginia, and good for them for not picking a Big Blue East state first.

But, it would be safe to assume that their next obvious choice would be something like New York or Massachusetts, unless we convince them otherwise. The West needs ActBlue more than any other region. ActBlue has already helped insurgent candidates (Paul Hackett) and there isn't a region were insurgents can do more in a short period of time than in the West.

From their post on MyDD:

The Plan

We're starting to navigate the campaign finance landscape in each state, and we've got a fantastic group of volunteers helping us gather information on candidates across the country. (We could always use more, by the way — check out our directory of state candidates and let us know who we're missing.)

The most challenging part is the legal side of getting our fundraising operations going -- the staff time and lawyers, Lawyers, LAWYERS, LAWYERS required to do this right are going to cost on average $10,000 per state, at least for the first set of states we take on.

So we're asking: can you help make it happen?

We're going to take an approach just like Howard Dean's 50-state strategy: with the help of this discussion we'll choose a small set of states to start with. If the fundraising there goes well, we'll add more!

Please chime in below with your thoughts on priority states, and thanks for all you do to make the Democratic difference.

I'd be remiss not to mention this: just like we have a directory of candidates, we also have a directory of our fundraising drives for all the states. So if you're hankering to support a state RIGHT NOW, you can do so here.



Swing State Project: ActBlue Expanding to State Races

Washblog: Help bring ActBlue to Washington State

Emmett O'Connell | September 22, 2005 | Comment on This Post (0 so far)
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Legislatures, Local Government, National Leadership, Supporters, The Big Strategy

Schweitzer helps launch national progressive organization

Earlier today in Seattle, a new organization for progressives launched. The Progressive Legislative Action Network, or PLAN, will serve as a policy resource for legislators - developing model legislation, organizing grassroots support, providing expert testimony.

The kickoff speaker was our pal Governor Brian Schweitzer of Montana. He blasted the Bush Administration and the right-wing Congress:

"We cannot govern this country depending on Washington D.C. Washington is a wholly owned subsidiary of corporate America."

Schweitzer went beyond progressive applause lines, though, and described a vision for an energy policy that makes America independent of the "sheikhs, dictators, rats, and crooks" that hold us hostage to Middle East oil. (And do be sure to note that Brian lived in Saudi Arabia for seven years...)

According to Schweitzer, the technology exists today (and has for 50 years) to convert coal into diesel fuel, cleanly and for about one dollar per gallon.

"If you want energy in this country, look inside this country. We need a hydrogen economy - not fifty years from now, fifteen years from now."

And according to the Governor of Montana, all that change is going to start at the state legislatures across America. And PLAN is going to help show the way.

Kari Chisholm | August 16, 2005 | Comment on This Post (9 so far)
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Governors, Legislatures, Montana, Policy Issues

More thoughts on Coffin of Nevada

Coffin
I don't often post twice on the same topic, but I think I may have left out some feelings I had on my Nevada post last night. The more I thought about Bob Coffin in Nevada, the more rilled up I got.

It must be sickening to watch a legislature -- Democratically controlled, but reacting to the policy whims of a Republican governor originally bent on giving a tax rebate to Nevada's richest -- roll over you and your seemingly good idea of paying back National Guardsmen.

Coffin isn't the first Western Democrat to point out that maybe the states should be doing something more to support our National Guardsman. Brian Schweitzer on Lou Dobbs last night was all about the shifting rolls, and additional pressure, being put on our National Guards. Schweitzer was talking about the contrasting missions of fire fighting and Iraq, but it was still there.

Bill Richardson was the one that came up with the idea that maybe the states should pitch in to help defray the cost of Guardmen's insurance.

Lastly, how many of us would already know about Bob Coffin if he was a Republican legislator from Orange County, fighting against Democratic controlled legislature in California? If a California Republican fasted for a week to promote his bill for bonuses for National Guardsman, he would be a hero.

But, have we heard anything about Bob Coffin from Ann Coulter? What about Michelle Malkin?

Sean Hannity?

I'm sure Rush was all over it.

The fact is that none of these folks (that would absolutely be out of their minds crazy for a Republican doing what Coffin did) care that a Democrat wanted to give bonuses to his state's National Guardsman so much that he fasted for a week. Not just a Democrat, but a Western Democrat, and one from the home state of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Emmett O'Connell | June 10, 2005 | Comment on This Post (2 so far)
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Legislatures, Nevada

Coffin, the Democrat stone in the midst of all

The legislative session just ended in Nevada, and they chose a tax-rebate over money over Nevada citizen-soldiers:

The Senate voted Friday for Gov. Kenny Guinn's plan to spend down some $300 million in surplus state funds by returning up to $300 apiece - though in many cases far less - in 2004 vehicle registration fees to Nevadans.

The official vote was 21-0, though Sen. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas, who has been the bill's sharpest critic of late, said he meant to vote against SB519.

"Whittle away at this and begin to see how many citizens are going to get this rebate, it's not many," Coffin said. "What does this all lead me to? It is the rock with the check attached to it that's going to come through my window."

Coffin said that people think they'll get a $300 check for registration fees for each of their cars, but that's far from true. He said large private businesses with a fleet of cars will get the most money.

Coffin, an "Independent Democrat" from Las Vegas, took the extraordinary step of going on a 7-day hunger strike in support of his bill soldier bonuses:

After fasting since last Sunday on behalf of his bill to give bonuses of up to $500 a month to Nevada National Guard members and reservists for their time served after Sept. 11, Sen. Bob Coffin needed help to his seat on the Senate floor on Saturday.

"They tell me I passed out over here but I don't believe them," he said, adding, "I have to (fast). On behalf of the kids."

Coffin, D-Las Vegas, has high hopes for SB355, which carries a $25 million price tag. He would like the money to be carved out of the $300 million that will likely go to rebates for Nevadans, and says there is room for both plans.

For all of the attention Coffin got in the Nevada press for what some could call a stunt, I was amazed by how indifferent other Nevada politicians were. Instead supporting Coffin's bill, the majority of the Dems in the leg in Nevada mostly worked to at least spread out the wealth of Gov. Guinn's rebate plan. Under the Republican's original plan, Nevadan's rebates would be connected to the value of their car, so while some would get thousand's of dollars back, others would get as little as three. The Las Vegas Review-Journal has a pretty sound round-up of the rest of the session.

(For everyone that likely won't get the title, its from a Yeats poem, Easter 1916)

Emmett O'Connell | June 9, 2005 | Comment on This Post (3 so far)
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Governors, Legislatures, Nevada, Policy Issues, Republicans

Montanans dig the Dems

After an entire legislative session led down the primrose path by bleeding heart liberals, you would think Montanans would wake up and realize that they just handed their state over to a bunch of stinking Democrats (Thanks to leftinthewest.com) But, alas, no:

Montana voters gave the 2005 Legislature significantly higher marks than they did the previous two sessions, although the verdict was nearly divided, a Lee Newspapers poll taken last week found.

...When asked how they would rate the 2005 Legislature, 49 percent of voters gave it positive marks, while 45 percent handed it negative grades, with 6 percent undecided.

...In 2003, 70 percent of voters had a negative assessment of the Legislature, while 27 percent had a positive one, with 3 percent undecided. In 2001, 58 percent of voters had a negative evaluation of the Legislature, while 27 percent had a positive one and 15 percent were undecided.

It appears that Montanans not only like what Democrats have to say in campaigns, but also how they govern. Under the heading Got'er Done, the Montana Democrats list their accomplishments for the past session:

1. Health Insurance Tax Credits and Insurance Pooling HB 667 (Wanzenried, Missoula-D) • Sets up purchasing pools and tax credits for small businesses that offer health insurance to their employees.

2. Prescription Drug Plan SB 324 (Tester, Big Sandy-D)
• Provides a prescription drug discount program for seniors and the disabled. High costs of prescription drugs forced people to cut their pills in half. This bill lowers drug costs so those people can take the medicine they need.

3. Economic Development Trust Fund HB 249 (Lindeen, Huntley-D)
• Provides a long-term, stable economic development funding source to help sustain local and regional economic development projects.

4. State Employee Pay Plan HB 447 (Gallik, Helena-D)
• Provides the first significant pay increase for the lowest paid state workers since 1991.

5. School Funding HB 63 (Villa, Anaconda-D)
• Provides $80 million additional funding for schools, helping 98% of Montana kids. Also gives schools more flexibility to maximize state dollars without placing a burden on local property taxpayers.

6. Definition of a System of Quality Public Schools SB 152 (Ryan, Great Falls-D)
• Provides a basis for a new funding formula based on educationally relevant factors, specifically addresses the constitutional provision of Indian Education for All, and maintains the constitutional authority of the Board of Public Education to set accreditation standards.

7. Increases Cap on Taxable Business Equipment SB 48 (Harrington, Butte-D)
• Increases cap on exemption for taxable property from $5,000 to $20,000. Eases the tax burden for 13,372 Montana small businesses. Also eliminates the trigger that would reduce business property tax rate from three to zero percent.

8.Ethanol Production SB 293 (Black, Shelby-R)
• Requires that when the State of Montana produces 40 million gallons of ethanol, fuel sold in Montana must be mixed with 10% ethanol.

9. Country of Origin Labeling HB 406 (Bergren, Havre-D)
• Requires meat sold in Montana to be labeled with a country of origin tag or label.

10. Habitat Montana HB 79 (Golie, Great Falls-D)
• Makes the Habitat Montana program permanent. The Habitat Montana program authorized the Fish, Wildlife, and Parks Commission to secure, develop, and maintain wildlife habitat.

Emmett O'Connell | May 31, 2005 | Comment on This Post (3 so far)
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Legislatures, Montana

No More Republicans Jumping on the Bed

This op-ed from the Arizona Republic reminds me of the song "five little monkeys." If you haven't heard it before, well your loss. But, the silliness of the song resembles the Republicans in Arizona, who are getting down to monkey business:

Now that conservative Republicans have an edge at the Legislature, they can't resist trying to gum up projects and agencies that are humming along just fine, thanks.

This does nothing to move Arizona into the future.

We have an environmental department doing its job, a pro-football stadium going up, a light-rail project under way, a booming astronomy industry and an Indian commission dealing with Arizona's 22 tribes.

All rolling forward. And all with meddling legislators who want to step in the way.

Last week, taking advantage of the absence of a few of its wiser members, the Senate briefly pulled the plug on the Department of Environmental Quality. This is the agency that protects our water, air and soil from contamination.

If Sen. Bob Burns, R-Peoria, and others who led the charge against the DEQ, toasted their short-lived success, the appropriate choice would have been water laced with heavy metals and bacteria.

In another brilliant move, the Legislature adopted a budget that zeroes out the Commission of Indian Affairs. In a state where Indian communities are playing a growing economic and political role. Where reservations make up 27 percent of the state.

The great part of this for Democrats, is that the more ruckus the monkeys make, the more they'll fall off the bed and hit their heads. The black helicopter Republicans don't help themselves by making Democrats, especially smart Western Dems like Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano look smart. By acting crazier and crazier, they are giving away more room to Democrats in the middle. They can keep on acting like monkeys for all I care, though.

Emmett O'Connell | April 5, 2005 | Comment on This Post (3 so far)
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Arizona, Governors, Legislatures, Policy Issues, The Big Strategy

English only in Arizona?

Now, I'm not expert, but if I was to think of a way to move Hispanic voters in Arizona and maybe the broader Southwest away from a particular conservative party, I would sponsor an official English ballot initiative.

The Arizona house voted earlier this week voted to approve an English as an official language initiative. If approved by the Senate, it would then go to the voters in November. Because it is a popular initiative, not a bill, it cannot be vetoed by Gov. Janet Napolitano. A similar initiative passed in the late 80s, but was found unconstitutional on free speech grounds.

Republicans argue that this particular bill is less ham-handed than earlier efforts:

"Official English doesn't mean English-only," Pearce said, noting that the referendum includes exemptions.

Under the measure, documents necessary for international trade, for tourism and to protect the public's health and safety would not be affected.

Spanish-language documents printed by prison and health officials - including information on immunizations, childhood lead-poisoning prevention, sexually transmitted diseases and prison-orientation handbooks and sanitation signs - could be exempted.

It would not affect people conducting private business.

It does require that election ballots be printed only in English. Democrats challenged the constitutionality of such an amendment, arguing that printing ballots only in English violates the requirements of the federal Voting Rights Act. Pearce has rejected that notion.

The nuances are not the point though. Official English means Spanish sucks. You can make the initiative as elegant, nuanced and fair as possible, but when you get down to it, choosing one language over another makes a value judgment about both, that one is better.

Emmett O'Connell | March 30, 2005 | Comment on This Post (2 so far)
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Arizona, Legislatures, Policy Issues

Colorado Leg Gets a Little Heated

Ever since the Colorado Legislature flipped from red to blue this year, Democrats have been trying to figure out how to repeat that success across the West. Republicans, meanwhile, have been going crazy alternating between recriminations and soul-searching.

Bill CadmanNow comes word that at least one member of the newly disempowered GOP has lost it. Actually, he's the minority caucus chair. Ladies and gentlemen... Representative Bill Cadman, of Colorado Springs:

A dispute between two state representatives over a military license-plate bill escalated into a foul-mouthed threat of bodily injury on the House floor Tuesday.
"If you try that again, I'll ram my fist up your ass," Republican Bill Cadman told his Democratic colleague, Val Vigil, at Vigil's desk during the morning session.

So much for decorum. Of course, it was just three weeks ago when Representative Cadman said this about a state employee: "He has a right to say anything he wants, but we don't have to keep paying him to say it."

True, so true, Bill.

Kari Chisholm | February 25, 2005 | Comment on This Post (1 so far)
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Colorado, Legislatures, Republicans

One vote matters in Montana

The Montana Supremes today voided a single ballot in a state rep. race - and swung the control of the Legislature to the Democrats.

Background: In the 2004 election, HD12 was left with a tie vote between Democrat Jeanne Windham and Rick Jore - a Constitution Party candidate expected to caucus with the GOP. After outgoing GOP Governor Judy Martz appointed Jore, a voter in the district sued over seven overvote ballots (that had been counted for Jore). The Supreme Court agreed, ruling "one or more" votes would be deducted from Jore.

That swung the Legislature from 51-49 for the Republicans, to 50-50. And in Montana, control of a tied house goes to the Governor's party -- and Democrat Brian Schweitzer is on his way in to the Governor's mansion.

And they say a single vote doesn't make a difference.

Get the full news story from the Great Falls Tribune.

Also, Left in the West has an update on the jockeying between two Democrats for the speakership -- apparently one is seeking the backing of the GOP cacus.

Kari Chisholm | December 29, 2004 | Comment on This Post (0 so far)
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Legislatures, Montana

Framing issues in the West

From USA Today comes a look at Democratic gains in state legislatures in the '04 elections. In particular, they point to wins in Montana and Colorado - among a total of seven legislative bodies won by the D's.

In Montana, which Bush won with 59% of the vote, Democrats took control of the Senate 27-23. Before the election, Republicans had a 29-21 majority. "To label Montana as a 'red' state based purely on the presidential race ignores what's happening at the local level," says Brad Martin, executive director of the Montana Democratic Party.

A key question relates to the role of environmental, errr... conservation issues in Montana.

Many who point to a Western strategy argue that Democrats need to moderate their environmental views - but it may just be about framing the issue as conservation, and talking about them in ways friendly to hunters, fishermen, and others who enjoy the outdoors in non-lefty ways.

Martin says many hunters and other sportsmen in Montana are swing voters turned off by Republican policies they view as anti-conservation — support for mining, logging and drilling for oil and gas.
Montana Republican Party executive director Chuck Denowh agrees that the GOP is struggling to keep the sportsmen in the fold.
"People who normally vote Republican on the gun issue are straying," he says. "Whenever we're allied with the extractive industries, timber and mining, we have a hard time defining the issue to show we also support conservation."

Read the rest of the story.

Kari Chisholm | December 15, 2004 | Comment on This Post (0 so far)
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Colorado, Legislatures, Montana, Policy Issues

Derek Kilmer as our own Brian Schweitzer, Dave Freudenthal

Derek Kilmer is one of the few reasons why Dems up here in Washington can have some sense of victory after coming way too close to losing the Governorship and losing the Governorship and AG's office to Republicans. We won back both houses in the leg, and Derek did his part by beating Lois McMahan:

...he convinced voters in a relatively conservative swing district to vote their economic interests.

On Nov. 2, voters in a rural-suburban district in the south Puget Sound elected Kilmer, 30, to represent them at the Washington state legislature. He beat an honest-to-God right-wing Bible-thumping Republican incumbent - a Church Lady type named Lois McMahan. You may have heard of McMahan before. She got her 15 minutes in the spotlight in 2003, when she stalked off the legislative floor while a Muslim cleric delivered the day's opening prayer ("It's an issue of patriotism," she explained).

How did Kilmer do it? Part of it was sheer hard work, knocking on 15,000 doors over the campaign. Part of it was natural talent. Kilmer's a bright, credentialed young man: Princeton grad, Oxford Ph.D. He knows, and is known, in his district: he grew up in the region, and spent the last several years working at the local economic development board. Kilmer won support from both Chamber of Commerce types and left-leaning organizations like the Progressive Majority PAC and Howard Dean's Democracy for America.

He avoided ideological labels, but he put forward a positive message of progressive change, in the best sense of the term.

That sounds an awful lot like that "positive pragmatism" put forth by the chair of the chair of the Colorado Dems. In Derek's case it was a little easier, McMahan did her absolute best to look like an intolerant crazy. Even in a legislative district that is famous for a racial taunting incident at a high school basketball game, McMahan didn't seem to be the right person for the job.

Emmett O'Connell | November 21, 2004 | Comment on This Post (2 so far)
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Governors, Legislatures, Montana, Washington, Wyoming