Media Coverage
If you don’t want to see it in print
The Aspen Times has on its masthead:
If you don’t want to see it in print, don’t let it happen.The sad stories of Republican Senator Stevens of Alaska and Democratic presidential aspirant and former Senator John Edwards are recent reminders the wisdom of that warning.
These two scandals are neither identical nor equivalent. Each is bad in its own way. Senator Stevens maintains his innocence. Senator Edwards no longer does. Senator Stevens is under indictment. Senator Edwards is not. But what they have in common are highly embarrassing reports of activities that would normally be considered mortal wounds to a political career. Senator Stevens will certainly have a tough challenge to retain his Senate seat. Senator Edwards will not be the Democratic Vice-Presidential nominee. The tree of trust and credibility, once felled, can only be re-grown slowly, if at all.
The scandals also have in common a warning about the temptations of high office. By historical standards, these scandals are not the most shocking cases. Given human frailties, they will not be the last. Against scandalous behavior there is the power of self control, the power of the law (when it applies), and the power of the press. When the first two fail, the third is there to remind us that “If you don’t want to see it in print, don’t let it happen.”
Leo Brown | August 15, 2008 | Comment on This Post (0 so far) |
Nevada and Fox Update
The Nevada Democratic Party has ended its strange partnership with Fox News to host a candidate’s debate. PTV declined a live feed for a webcast. John Edwards opted out. Then Bill Richardson, too. Recent jokes by Roger Ailes, President of Fox News, about Barack Obama sealed Fox’s well-deserved fate.
Leo Brown | March 10, 2007 | Comment on This Post (4 so far) |
Now we're talking. Move the Congress to Denver.
Congressional Quarterly's Craig Crawford has a novel solution to the whole dust-up over whether Speaker Nancy Pelosi can have a bigger plane for her longer nonstop flights to San Francisco than did ex-Speaker Denny Hastert.
Convene Congress in Denver.
Yup, he really said that:
As population shifts further and further west, it does not seem fair for so many lawmakers to have such trouble getting back to their constituents. Why not a summer home for Congress in Denver? ...The Constitution does not require Congress to meet in Washington. And wouldn’t it be nice to share those lobbyist expense accounts with restaurants in the heartland?
Hot damn. Who needs the DNC Convention when you can move Congress?
Kari Chisholm | February 9, 2007 | Comment on This Post (1 so far) |
"Is the West the New South?"
Is the West the new South?In the same way that Republicans rode to dominance in Southern politics four decades ago, Democrats are now carving out their own expanse of territory – in the nation's cactus-and-cowboy belt.
Oh geese, here we go. Just about every week since the election, and probably regularly from now on, a regional or national publication features an enterprise piece with the following elements:
1. Who are these Western Democrats?
2. They sure do seem to talk different.
3. Well, can the national party use them to fool the rest of the country into thinking they're good ol'down to earth types?
It isn't like each publication has learned something new, that Democrats are being elected in the West, and not just in pockets here and there, but in more and more numbers everywhere. This particular piece doesn't seem to answer the question its sets itself up with (is the West the new South?), but rather answers another question, "is the West the new West?"
The West is not the South, and never will be the South. Not culturally, politically or even demographically.
Until the West grows a lot larger, is probably won't be large enough to be compared to the electoral power of the South. Yes, an important swing region, but not the Solid South in any stretch of the imagination.
Politically speaking the West and the South had generally been able to fall under the same definition of conservative that was under the umbrella of the Republican Party. But, as the South has pushed for a more socially conservative party, the West has bucked:
Bonnie Ward, who lives in the Denver suburb of Lakewood, also in the 7th District, was a registered Republican until a few years ago. Now she's a Democrat.She believes the GOP has lost touch with independent-minded Westerners by, in part, “cozying up with the religious right.”
Emmett O'Connell | December 6, 2006 | Comment on This Post (1 so far) |
Colorado, New Mexico, and Nevada are now blue states
Emmett pointed us to the great article from the Salt Lake Tribune that had this great quote:
A Tribune analysis of U.S. House results shows that Democrats have narrowed a 20-point GOP edge in 2000 to a slim 48 percent to 47 percent deficit in 2006. In three states - Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico - Democrats have turned their red states blue, winning a majority in the House races.
...but the article also included great chart that tells the tale. Download the PDF here, or just take a peek (click to zoom):
Kari Chisholm | November 20, 2006 | Comment on This Post (0 so far) |
Radio Open Source on Tester v. Burns
My favorite radio show (though I listen to it as a podcast) is featuring the Montana Senate race. Radio Open Source is a different type of show, in that it uses its blog to develop a scope for how their show will run.
In addition to their listener suggested format, they also regularly interview bloggers who have an expertise in whatever. topic. So get on over there and tell them what's going on in the West and Montana. I've already suggested Matt Singer as one of their guests.
Emmett O'Connell | October 30, 2006 | Comment on This Post (0 so far) |
East Coast Bias on Meet the Press?
In 1991 the University of Washington Huskies finished their football season undefeated, running over three nationally ranked teams. But, the Huskies ended up sharing their national title with Miami, who went undefeated in what was widely considered a much lesser conference.
This year, UW and Miami would have faced off in a national title game, but back then it was the opinion of the voters that mattered. Makes sense though, Miami was on television on the same time zone as most of the voters who were considering who was best. The University of Washington was foreign and distant.
And, so rules the East Coast Bias.
Things out there are worth much more than things out here. Which is probably the same reason why the only two Senate races featured on the Meet the Press Debate Series west of the Mississippi are in Minnesota and Missouri.
I could see them at least featuring Burns v. Tester.
Emmett O'Connell | October 30, 2006 | Comment on This Post (3 so far) |
Big Surprise: the West is in play
Everyone was expecting the year to be bad on Republicans, but nobody thought it would be a problem out in the West. Midwest, Northeast sure. But, losing house seats in the West was about as unthought of as losing seats in the South.
That, at least according to Roll Call, is the thought going through the minds of DC pols this week:
“The West is very bad right now, as compared to what it normally is,” conceded one GOP consultant who spoke on condition of anonymity.The consultant added that while Republican prospects for holding seats in Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Indiana still look grim, the drop-off in this year’s GOP vote in several key Western states will be much greater than in those Eastern and Midwestern districts.
“In terms of the difference between the normal Republican performance and what we’re going to see this year, the West is the worst that we’re going to see,” the strategist said.
Last week's news that Idaho may have a Democratic governor in a couple weeks was also reflected upon:
(Idaho Dem chair) Stallings described his frustration with getting Democratic leaders to pay attention to the open Idaho House race this year, given the conventional wisdom that no state that voted 68 percent for President Bush in 2004 would be fertile ground for a competitive contest.Stallings recalled that after state Rep. Bill Sali (R), who is not well-liked by the state Republican establishment, won the GOP primary he tried to convince national Democratic leaders that the race was winnable.
“They just sort of pooh-poohed me,” he said.
But Stallings did praise Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, who has been at odds with his party’s House and Senate campaign chiefs over spending priorities all cycle.
“I have to give a lot of credit to Howard Dean and the 50-state strategy,” Stallings said. “I think he recognized that if the party’s going to be competitive nationally they’ve got to either reach to the South or the West and I don’t see that happening in the South. The West is really the potential for growth.”
The consensus in the story was that the large swath of libertarians out West being pissed off a the GOP, and the demographic changes in places like Nevada, was making the West a bit nicer to Democrats. Just on the surface though, this implies some sort of sameness of Democrats nationwide.
Democrats in the West, though, are different the Democrats anywhere else and this article didn't put that into words. And, that Westerners may be smart enough to recognize the difference between Brian Schweitzer and Joe Biden might make a difference too.
Emmett O'Connell | October 28, 2006 | Comment on This Post (2 so far) |
Western Democrat conversation on Air America tonight
Tonight, RadioNation with Laura Flanders will feature a conversation about the politics of the West with WesternDemocrat.com co-founder Kari Chisholm.
The show is heard live in 63 cities, and will be on at 5:30 to 5:45 p.m. PST. If you can't listen live, check your local affiliate's schedule or listen online at AirAmerica.com.
Kari Chisholm | October 14, 2006 | Comment on This Post (2 so far) |
SF Chronicle on the "red West Shifting to Blue"
Though it seems to focus a bit too much on the hot button differences between Western Democrats and coastal Dems, such as abortion and gun rights, the San Francisco Chronicle did an all-right piece on the Western Democrat theme.
Here's a particularly good passage:
Some of the Democratic gains in the West can be attributed to the same national trends that endanger the GOP's hold on Congress this year. Bush, who won all eight states in 2000 and 2004 -- with the exception of a 500-vote loss to Al Gore in New Mexico -- is losing popularity. Anger over the war in Iraq and frustration over one-party rule are tempering Republican prospects.But those who study the West say something more profound and perhaps more lasting is taking place.
As Republicans took control of the South in the decades following the civil rights battle, the party has increasingly embraced socially conservative issues that have far less appeal in the West, analysts say. The GOP's emphasis on banning abortions and same-sex marriage, and promoting prayer in schools do not play so well in the more libertarian West.
Colorado, Nevada and Montana have adopted medicinal-marijuana laws, and Nevada has a measure on the November ballot that would legalize possession of up to an ounce.
Like I said, half of it dwells on the fact that many Western Democrats don't tow the line all that well on social issues, but it eventually gets to the point of style (which is seams to portray as just that, style). There have been better articles written about the Western Democrat trend, but this one isn't the worst.
Emmett O'Connell | October 2, 2006 | Comment on This Post (1 so far) |
Help write wiki for radio show on the AZ-8
Radio Open Source, an innovative show that jump starts their radio show with blog conversations, is developing a wiki on several important Senate and House races this fall, and their show next week will be on the Arizona 8. Though, the GOP recently pulled out of this race, this could be a good oppurtunity to broaden the reach of the "Western Dem" message.
Comment on the show here.
Help write their wiki on the race here.
Emmett O'Connell | September 28, 2006 | Comment on This Post (0 so far) |
Are the netroots liberal? Or just partisan?
Over at the National Journal, John Mercurio shares a comment he got from Western Democrat's own Jonathan Singer. Here's the comment, since archives are subscriber-only:
You write, "Liberal bloggers, who, much like the Club for Growth, encourage ideological purity over party loyalty, cheered Chafee's victory."I really don't believe that the top issue for the progressive netroots is "ideological purity." In some ways, I think you may have it backwards. The concerted netroots effort to go after Lieberman started when he went on FOX News to bash Democrats over the war, not because of his stance on the war (which was longstanding).
The netroots have supported a number of non-doctrinaire Dems who are willing to stand up for the party, most recently with Jim Webb. Brian Schweitzer, a favorite of many, certainly isn't in line with the left of the party on the issues of coal or guns, but he remains extremely popular. Other Western Dems -- Trauner in WY, Grant in ID, and Fawcett in CO -- show up on the Daily Kos/MyDD/Swing State Project ActBlue page even though they are not hard-core liberals.
Taking a look at unscientific approval ratings from Daily Kos readers, more moderate/conservative Democrat Harry Reid has a significantly higher approval rating (70 percent) than more progressive/liberal Nancy Pelosi (36 percent).
There are certainly issues upon which the netroots look for politicians to fall in line. Social Security, Iraq and Net Neutrality come to mind. But the netroots does not take the same tack as groups like Club for Growth on these issues. There was no challenge -- not even talk of challenging Ben Nelson, for instance. He may not agree with us on all of the issues, but he doesn't go on national television to denigrate his party, either.
Good stuff, JS.
Kari Chisholm | September 21, 2006 | Comment on This Post (11 so far) |
Newsweek's Howard Fineman Discovers Brian Schweitzer & Jon Tester
'Nuff said.
Kos & Co. think that person will come from, or at least feel a kinship to, rural America. It fits with their neo-Jeffersonian view of things—and their disdain for the soft-money me-tooism they see stifling the party in Washington. ...But perhaps the netroots’ favorite avatar in waiting is Gov. Brian Schweitzer of Montana. In their eyes he’s the rootin’-tootin’ real deal, a rancher turned politician who believes in government activism set free from traditional liberal thinking and interest-group methods. This week a protégé of Schweitzer’s, a rancher named Jon Tester, won the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate. Kos happily noted that Tester comes from “the middle of nowhere”—Big Sandy, Mont.—and provided a link to a Yahoo map to prove it.
So that’s the place to start from in this new political era: not Washington, but the middle of nowhere.
Kari Chisholm | June 8, 2006 | Comment on This Post (10 so far) |
Brian Schweitzer on 60 Minutes
Tonight, Governor Brian Schweitzer (D-MT) will be profiled on the famed CBS show 60 Minutes.
They'll be talking about his work on alternative energy solutions.
We've discussed Schweitzer many times here at Western Democrat. Dig in to our Montana section and learn more.
(Hat tip to David Sirota.)
Kari Chisholm | February 26, 2006 | Comment on This Post (4 so far) |
Winning in the fly-over states
The UK's excellent newspaper, The Guardian, profiles Salt Lake City's liberal mayor - Rocky Anderson - and then draws some big conclusions about the red/blue divide in America.
Cities like Salt Lake offer a few lessons beyond political demography. First, they show that the tendency for coastal liberals to write off as rednecks those who live in "fly-over states" is not just patronising and counterproductive - it is flawed in fact.Second, they suggest the understanding of the US as a nation riven by a binary divide between Democrats and Republicans is in desperate need of nuance. Not that there isn't some truth to it. But because that truth is limited to the very narrow field of party allegiance rather than the broader sense of how people understand their lives and their politics. Gena Edvalson, a lesbian whose partner Jana is pregnant, says her neighbours in Salt Lake City couldn't be nicer. "They're going to have a baby shower for us," she says. "But that won't stop them from legislating the hell out of us." That is depressing (two-thirds of Utahns voted for a gay marriage ban in November). But it also suggests potential.
Which brings us to the third, and most important, lesson. If those coastal liberals decided to drop in rather than fly over once in a while they might actually learn something. Rather than duck tough issues because of the hostile political environment, progressives here have tried to reframe them in a way that resonates with potential allies. "We don't talk about gay liberation in Utah," says Anderson. "We talk about healthy families and strong communities and say that in the most intimate aspects of our lives the government ought to butt out. You have to stand up even at the risk of losing races - some things are more important than winning a race."
Couldn't have said it better ourselves.
Kari Chisholm | October 5, 2005 | Comment on This Post (14 so far) |
Dan Kemmis: Blogging the Western Primary
That's right, folks. Dan Kemmis - former mayor of Missoula MT and Speaker of the Montana House - is now blogging.
Over at Headwaters News, he's talking about the Western Primary idea. It's an excellent catch-up on what's happened over the last decade - and especially the last few months - in pushing the idea forward.
When the DNC Commission held a hearing in Chicago in May 2005, Western Democrats turned out in force to back Stratton’s plea [to endorse a Western regional primary.]. U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar endorsed it, as did Colorado Congressman Mark Udall and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.
In particular, he's concerned about some recent suggestions that three or four states might be enough.
it is for the sake of acquiring more regional clout that Westerners should make a coordinated regional primary or caucus a reality. We won’t acquire that kind of clout if we settle for a three-or-four state primary, and we shouldn’t fool ourselves into thinking that we will.
Dig in and check it out - it's important and juicy stuff.
Kari Chisholm | September 9, 2005 | Comment on This Post (0 so far) |
Brian Schweitzer: "Didn't we learn anything from Al Gore?"
Brian Schweitzer is in the Washington Post today.
Ya gotta read the whole thing, but here's a few choice selections:
On closing the gender gap with the GOP:
He learned that a significant percentage of Montana men are mule-headed, unwilling to change their minds on issues, even when presented with information showing that their views are not supported by facts."So, I started doing my ads while I was sitting on a horse or holding a gun," Schweitzer said. "I spoke to men visually and showed them I am like them. Hell, I can be on a horse and talk about health care.
"Ninety percent of them don't ride horses and many of them don't shoot a gun, but my ads said visually that I understand Montana. My gender gap disappeared. I think I have just summed up why Democrats lose elections."
On the Western Democrat project:
Schweitzer makes speeches around the country and is often mentioned, along with a handful of other Democratic governors, including Bill Richardson of New Mexico and Janet Napolitano of Arizona, as part of a promising crop of New West politicians who are invigorating the Democratic Party.
And on hopes for the White House?
Schweitzer playfully plays down ambitions outside Montana: "I am just a Montana farmer. I don't know if what I say or do is exportable. It is a long way from Little League to playing for the Yankees."
But if you want hear what he said about John Kerry, well, you gotta read the article.
Kari Chisholm | September 5, 2005 | Comment on This Post (3 so far) |
Featured in CQ
Greg Giroux of CQ Weekly gave WesternDemocrat.com - and, more importantly, the western Democrats - some press in today's edition.
It's not online, so we'll excerpt heavily:
As the result of gains in 2002 and 2004, Democrats now hold four of the region's nine governorships in the region: in Montana and New Mexico, where they also control the legislatures, as well as in Wyoming and Arizona. Wins by Colorado's Ken Salazar for the Senate and his brother John for the House were among the few Democratic takeovers of Republican-held congressional seats last year, and Democrats also won control of both halves of the Colorado General Assembly."This much is absolutely clear: No region in the country is better positioned to produce new 'blue' states than the West," Brian Kuehl, spokesman for Democrats for the West, told a Democratic National Committee commission in May in arguing that the party schedule for a regional primary there in three years. "We believe that with coordinated regional party-building efforts and concerted attention from Democratic presidential candidates, many Western states will endorse the Democratic presidential nominee in 2008."
Democrats for the West was formed last year by former officeholders from the region to press national party leaders to pay attention to the region, where they have devoted scant resources in the most recent presidential campaigns.
"We're going to have to continue to apply pressure on the national party to get them to continue to remember the West," said Kari Chisholm, a Democratic consultant in Portland, Ore., who launched a Web site after the 2004 election that exhorts the party to move westward in search of additional gains. "It's so easy for folks to think that the country ends at the Mississippi River and doesn't reappear until you get to California."
...Independent analysts agree that Democrats cannot afford to overlook the region. "There are states out there that are available if the Democratic Party can continue to project a positive image that resonates with the voters here," said Kelly Patterson, director of the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy at Brigham Young University outside Salt Lake City. "You can't write off these states, not all of them, and still stay in play nationally."
...
Those Democrats who have succeeded in the region have generally done so by convincing voters that they "are cut from a little bit different cloth" from the national party, says Rep. Jim Matheson, who has won three times in an overwhelmingly Republican Utah district by positioning himself as one of the most conservative Democrats in the House. "The national party ought to understand that we approach things a little differently out here," Matheson says. "A cookie-cutter approach to campaigning doesn't sit well with any of us who run for federal office out here in the West."
Democrats view John Salazar as another Mountain West role model. He was elected by 4 percentage points last year in rural western and southern Colorado, an open House district that Bush carried by 11 points. He campaigned as a champion of development to bring more water to the state's Western Slope in the name of economic development and additional farming - a theme that, in the region, would be more routinely adopted by a GOP candidate. Salazar's support for gun rights, a near requirement for electoral success in the hunter-friendly West, put him at odds with Democratic leaders in Washington.
State and local level Democrats have been even more successful at distancing themselves from their national party over the past two election cycles. Janet Napolitano in Arizona, Bill Richardson in New Mexico and Dave Freudenthal in Wyoming were each elected governor in 2002; Brian Schweitzer won Montana's governorship last year. All succeeded Republicans.
Schweitzer, who won by 20,000 votes in a state Bush carried by 92,000 votes, emphasized the protection of public lands for hunting; one TV ad described him as an "avid outdoorsman" who brandished an "A" rating from the National Rifle Association. Kemmis recalled Schweitzer "identifying that attraction to the outdoors simultaneously with hunting and with conservation."
...
The politics of the Mountain West are being influenced by population growth. The 2000 census found that all five of the fastest-growing states in the past decade are in the region: Nevada (66 percent), Arizona (40 percent), Colorado (31 percent), Utah (30 percent) and Idaho (29 percent).
As more people move in, the region is becoming more urban and suburban and less rural. Nearly 90 percent of Nevadans and Arizonans and more than 80 percent of Coloradans now live in metropolitan areas. Democratic presidential challenger John Kerry of Massachusetts ran strong in the Las Vegas and Denver metropolitan areas last year, although Bush was able to carry both states by dominating the rural areas.
"Democrats have always done well in urban areas, and so as those states become more urbanized, Democrats are going to do better," Chisholm says. "At the same time, I think it's really critical that Democrats continue to build their reputation among rural areas throughout the West."
...
More people also will mean more political power: In the form of the additional House seats, and therefore more electoral votes, the region is sure to gain in the reapportionment after the 2010 census. That is why many Mountain West Democrats want to harness their states' growing cumulative strength by coordinating virtually all the region's presidential primary voting on a single date in 2008.
"I think that Democratic presidential candidates will do well in the West when they address Westerners as Westerners, and when they address Western issues in Western terms," Kemmis says.
Kari Chisholm | August 1, 2005 | Comment on This Post (1 so far) |
Schweitzer perfect storm continues
What started with David Sirota's "Top Billings" back in the Washington Monthly back in December is continuing with Mr. Matt Singer's "The Progressive Frontier" in In These Times. The Brian Schweitzer media machine marches on:
Since then, Democrats across the country have turned to Montana for answers and hope. Some critics denigrate Schweitzer's victory, claiming that a red-state Democrat must simply be a Republican lite. But that analysis falls flat: Schweitzer is a strong proponent of choice, as well as an advocate for the environment and for middle-class Montanans. And those who have seen the outspoken Schweitzer challenge the Bush administration in the press lately realize: Real Democrats, not faux Republicans, won in Montana.If Democrats can succeed this well in Montana, they can win anywhere. The question is how.
Which is exactly the point. Not, as RepublicanVet would put it, "stop crying" and "get behind the President," but actually being afraid of asking people what government can do for them.
He drove across the state, meeting people in rural areas and asking what they needed from government. Those discussions resulted in an agenda that included healthcare reform, economic development and a new approach to higher education with an increased emphasis on community colleges and technical schools. Schweitzer then took his new issue agenda and crossed the state again, giving speeches that never fell into wonk speak. Instead, Schweitzer ran on values, delivering a talk about his family homesteading in Montana, building a church and a community with their friends and neighbors. He talked about being a Bobcat (a graduate of Montana State). He talked about talking to people.
It is a good read. Good job, Matt.
Emmett O'Connell | July 13, 2005 | Comment on This Post (4 so far) |
Red on the Outside, Blue on the Inside
Quote of the week comes from national pollster (and Billings MT native) Celinda Lake:
“A lot of the West,” says Celinda Lake, “is red on the outside, blue on the inside.”
Read the rest of the great article in the American Prospect: True West by Robert Kuttner
Kari Chisholm | July 2, 2005 | Comment on This Post (0 so far) |
Schweitzer on Dobbs again
UPDATE: Here's the transcript. Just search down the page for Schweitzer, its about just more than halfway down.
Gov. Brian Schweitzer will be on Lou Dobbs again tonight. Or if you're on the east coast, Brian Schweitzer was just on Lou Dobbs. This from the Helena Independent Record pretty much says it all on why:
Schweitzer, who dished on Washington politics with Lou Dobbs on CNN two weeks ago, railed against the cozy relationship between politicians and lobbyists, and told viewers that he has to wash the "stink" off every time he leaves the nation's capital.His candid remarks prompted Americans from all corners of the country to send him e-mails of adoration. Schweitzer will again be on Lou Dobbs' show Thursday, which runs 4 p.m.-5 p.m. MST on CNN.
"Here I am at 80 years old, in love AGAIN!!!" wrote Ruth Guarino of Bishop, Calif. "More power to you — stay honest and you cannot lose. God bless and I am sending a BIG HUG to someone who is one in many million.."
Craig Wilson, a political scientist at Montana State University-Billings, said American's discontent with politics as usual is running high against the backdrop of the war in Iraq. The nation is also divided over President Bush's judicial nominees and his proposals to privatize portions of Social Security.
"He's hit the mother lode of populism here," Wilson said Tuesday. "Yes, it's touched a popular nerve, but it's a stretch to say this means he has a role on the national stage."
Its not simply populism that Schweitzer brings to the table, its the good government is good government ideals that Western Democrats are bringing to the party. Schweitzer goes hand in hand with Harry Reid's talk about reforming Washington DC.
Emmett O'Connell | June 9, 2005 | Comment on This Post (0 so far) |
Echo Echo
One of our most interesting speakers yesterday was David Domke, from the University of Washington. Domke, the author of God Willing, Political Fundamentalism in the White House, the 'War on Terror' and the Echoing Press presented an analysis of the press as it functions in the political arena in the United States.
According to Domke, very few people in America trust the press or believe what it ways. Only 22% believe TV news--even CNN only rates at about one-third. Interestingly, FOX news only came in at 21%. Because people don't believe the press, Domke argues that the media do not exert political force, but that their primary function is as an echo chamber for political messages.
In his analysis of how the echo chamber works, he found certain characteristics that are more likely to produce echoing messages. An echo-enticing format is consistent, persistent, and unified--something the Republicans are very good at, the Democrats....not so good.
He also defined echo-enticing content: moral, confrontative, and nation-enhancing (exhibits strong pro-American message).
As an illustration, he showed a graph of Clinton's popularity ratings during the 98 impeachment debacle. Why were his ratings the best (70%) during the height of the scandal? Because the messages coming from the left were about protecting the constitution (nation-enhancing), framing the impeachment as a partisan attack (confrontative), and casting the Clinton's behavior as a private matter (moral).
He also said that unlike most presidents, Bush has positioned himself as a prophet of God rather than a petitioner of God. Many presidents have asked for God's help, but Bush acts as if he knows precisely what God wants. Domke characterized this as a theological version of manifest destiny.
Cross-posted at the American Street.
Jenny Greenleaf | June 4, 2005 | Comment on This Post (0 so far) |
Gov. Brian Schweitzer on Lou Dobbs
Gov. Brian Schweitzer (MT) was on Lou Dobbs last night. Great stuff:
I think the folks back in Washington, D.C., they kind of hear it from the folks back home. Folks back home, they’re getting tired of just delivering a message. That’s what it seems like in Washington, D.C. They choose up sides, then they have a message and then they go out and deliver the message and they accuse the other side of things. They say the other side is not getting something done. Meanwhile, the first side is not getting something done.It’s states—it’s state governments that have to get things done. We balance budgets. We deliver programs and in Washington, D.C., it seems like what they like to do is talk about things and raise money from the constituency groups because they’re shrill. I don’t think that’s good public policy.
Emmett O'Connell | May 25, 2005 | Comment on This Post (1 so far) |
Deadwood Democrats
Over at Salon.com, Matt Welch argues that Democrats ought to be watching the HBO series, "Deadwood," for cultural cues toward becoming a majority party. Deadwood often celebrates a kind of fronter libertarianism that's been rejected by the new right-wing big government evangelicals.
At a time when Washington is passing laws to intervene in individual medical cases, and self-described federalists want to amend the Constitution itself to prevent individual states from experimenting with marriage laws, "Deadwood's" skepticism of government and celebration of individuality couldn't be timelier.
Salon throws a bone our way, of course, too - pointing out the electoral strategy inherent in this cultural shift.
There is an excellent pragmatic political reason to embrace "Deadwood's" frontier ethos as well -- the West, and especially the Mountain West, may be the key to the Democrats' electoral future. The "Western strategy," chewed on daily at Web sites like New West and WesternDemocrat, aims to extrapolate from the interesting trend of popular Democratic governors like Brian Schweitzer, Bill Richardson and Janet Napolitano running pro-Bush states such as Montana, New Mexico and Arizona, as the region as a whole grows sharply in electoral votes. This new Western breed of Democrat tends to be pro-gun, anti-tax and shruggingly tolerant of their constituents' various political beliefs and religious affiliations."When you've got more cattle than people and you've got blue sky that goes on almost forever," Montana Gov. Schweitzer told Salon recently, "people have got room to roam without bothering each other. Live and let live."
As "Deadwood" and the success of these politicians illustrates, that gruff tolerance and natural skepticism toward authority is written into the very DNA of the West. It's no accident that Barry Goldwater's libertarian take on Republicanism originated from Arizona, and it becomes clearer with each day that the modern GOP has little in common with the man whose idea of limited government meant real separation of church and state, and the "constitutional right to be gay," among other heresies.
Glad to hear the word is getting out. Thanks, Matt Welch.
Hat tip to Norwegianity for pointing us to the Salon article.
Kari Chisholm | May 22, 2005 | Comment on This Post (0 so far) |
Turning the West blue
Following up on the excellent coverage by their own Mark Barabak, the L.A. Times editorial board has noticed the Western movement in a editorial called "A Blue Tinge in the West"
Statehouse shifts of the last several years are signals of a changing Western political identity and independence. The social conservatism that keeps the South red may not be enough for the West. Old-fashioned individual liberty and Democratic populism are getting a hearing. The national Democratic Party seems interested, but unsure how to get to the new rodeo.
Are you reading from the East Coast - or from the cubicles at the DNC? If so, starting hanging out here at WesternDemocrat.com... We'll show you the way.
Kari Chisholm | April 25, 2005 | Comment on This Post (1 so far) |
Schweitzer in Salon
As Kos puts it, the "Schweitzer lovefest" continues. At least a Western Democrat is the current governor de jur of the party, and some people are recognizing that this is what the party needs.
In an hour-long interview, Schweitzer gave impassioned advice on how Democrats can win back the rural West by "leading with their hearts" and recognizing that a one-size-fits-all platform on gun control won't play in hunting and fishing states like Montana.A native Montanan who spent time in the Middle East before returning to start his own business, Schweitzer espouses a political philosophy that combines the class-based populism of a John Edwards with the budgetary pragmatism of a Howard Dean, all wrapped up in shit-kicking Western dialect that the Daily Kos' Markos Moulitsas Zúniga calls "a genuine version of Bush's fake ranch."
UPDATE: AP has a good story on Schweitzer's first 100 days:
Craig Wilson, who heads the political science department at Montana State University-Billings, said Schweitzer has reason for satisfaction."He's gotten what he's wanted," he said, attributing the successes to Schweitzer's elaborate preparations for becoming chief executive.
"You've got to have some ideas to start with, some policy proposals to start with," Wilson said. "You have to hit the ground running. He has some ideas to start with. He showed that coming out of the box."
Schweitzer's successes are all the more remarkable in the face of GOP animosity, Wilson said.
"Democrats elected a governor for the first time in 16 years and there were bad political feelings going into the session," Wilson said. "He won and Republicans are angry over reapportionment. They were mad about what happened from the beginning, were loaded up and wanted to take shots at the governor."
Its telling that the thing Montana Republicans hate about him most is what is drawing national Democrats to him: his bad-ass attitude. That should tell you something, there is nothing that GOPsters hate more than a Western Democrat with an attitude.
Emmett O'Connell | April 19, 2005 | Comment on This Post (0 so far) |
The Los Angeles Times and the Western Voice
The Los Angeles Times has discovered Western Democrats. Mark Barabak has a great round-up of the issues, politics, and personalities.
We'll open, however, with his close... It's about the culture, stupid. Or, as we've put it before, it's about stepping quietly away from the brie-and-chablis prep-school liberals back East.
Democrats need to talk in a "Western voice" that resonates with voters and lays to rest old stereotypes, said Pat Williams, a Montana congressman for 18 years until retiring in 1997.Williams, a fellow at the O'Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West, a policy center at the University of Montana, said when it came to environmental issues, he "seldom mentioned the word 'wilderness' because that denoted the national government setting aside huge pieces of a state. Instead, I always talked about clean places to fish, hunt and camp."
Gov. Schweitzer is blunter still. Seated in the governor's modest office in Helena, he is the very image of Western informality in bluejeans and a loosely fitted bolo tie.
"Don't dress like a lawyer," he counsels his fellow Democrats. "Don't talk like a lawyer. And be prepared to go out and meet people and answer their questions straight. Don't wiggle around and sort of be with them and sort of be against them…. I think most people don't spend the time to figure what all the issues are all about. They want to know you have a heart and a backbone."
Bingo.
Kari Chisholm | April 18, 2005 | Comment on This Post (1 so far) |
Richardson v. Gingrich on immigration
Gov. Bill Richardson and Newt Gingrich faced off on Fox News Sunday on George W. Bush's immigration plan, and at least from the transcript, the differences between the New Mexico Governor and presidential candidate and the former House speaker, weren't immediately obvious. Both agreed that we need stronger boarders, for at least the sake of keeping terrorists out. Both also agreed that we need some way to ensure that today's illegal immigrants can become the upstanding citizens of the next decade.
Richardson, with a hint of DLCness in his argument, pointed to immigration reforms as a way to promote responsible living in a population that by default, we're inviting into this country economically, while making them criminals legally:
What he has said is there should be a guest-worker program for three years. You re-apply. You go back.I would go one step further. I think what is also needed is some clear path toward some type of legal status, legalization.
We have an immigration system that's broken. We have 10 million illegal immigrants in America, 25 percent in the last two years.
So if you have an earned legalization program that has benchmarks of law-abidingness, that has benchmarks of working hard, and you combine it with tough law enforcement, more border guards, a crackdown on illegal smuggling, better detection of those that overstay their visas, stolen/lost passports — what is needed is a comprehensive immigration reform, not piecemeal, punitive measures.
An interesting note as the back end of the transcript is Richardson's take on the Schiavo debacle. Brit Hume tries to compare Richardson's states rights argument as equal to the states rights code wording against civil rights, but that doesn't seem to come off very well.
Emmett O'Connell | March 28, 2005 | Comment on This Post (0 so far) |
Speaking of immigration, Richardson
Gov. Bill Richardson, our Presidential contender from El Norte, will be on Fox News Sunday tomorrow to talk about immigration.
Emmett O'Connell | March 26, 2005 | Comment on This Post (2 so far) |
RE: Purple Mountain Strategy
John Yewell's piece in the Salt Lake Tribune over the weekend covers a lot of the regular ground that has been tilled since election day. Brian Schweitzer and the Salazars, etc, etc, are showing that at least statewide in the West, Democrats can beat Republicans with a new way of politics. And for everyone that hasn't noticed, the West is not the South.
Does the Democratic Party have Western mojo?Well, maybe.
Of the eight states between the plains and the West coast - Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado, Montana, Utah, Wyoming and Idaho - only Idaho seems irremediably Republican. Even Utah has a few prominent Democrats. The first five can legitimately be considered swing states, having voted for the presidential candidate of each major party in at least one of the last four elections.
Those five states, none of which went for John Kerry, total 32 electoral votes, one more than New York.
Also waiting in the wings are people like Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo., son of former U.S. Sen. Morris Udall. Mark Udall has announced he will challenge incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard in 2008.
If Western Democrats consolidate these gains in 2006, the national party should look closely in 2008 at candidates with a little dirt under their fingernails, at least for vice president. Out here, we prefer blue collars to blue bloods.
I would disagree with his assessment that Idaho is "irremediably Republican," it wasn't that long ago that Idaho was the home of original Coyote Dem Cecil Andrus.
Yewell is a little more spot on when he takes it a bit deeper over at the New West Network:
Democrats nationwide are wrapped up with figuring out what to believe in that will appeal to voters. I think that’s the wrong question. They should be asking: How do I learn to live with people I disagree with, and still reach out to them, still help them, still find ways to make this complicated country work together. What is the right way to live? Westerners can teach Democrats the answers to these questions. Those answers will help them win not just here, in the Mountain West, but across the country.
This is the exact sentiment that needs to be carried by Western Dems across the region to voters and nationwide to our party. I just finished reading Daniel Kemmis's "This Sovereign Land," which is an absolutely fricking must read for Western Democrats.
Kemmis argues effectively that the future of Western politics will go to the party that breaks out of the brittle dichotomy of the Republicans standing for resource extractors and the Democrats with national environmental groups. The winning party will be seen as the party of the serious middle, the party that actually fights for local cooperation and local control of the landscape.
For Democrats, the hardest part will be convincing national environmental groups that this is a good idea, or when the enviros don't come along, abandoning them. It’s a hard decision, because this will be a real choice between national Democrats and actually reviving the party in the interior West. I should also add that this choice has to do with Democracy in general than just resources management, but I'll get to that later.
Emmett O'Connell | March 14, 2005 | Comment on This Post (1 so far) |
Kos likes Schweitzer for America '08
Even more love from Kos on the West, this time on Schweitzer specifically (thanks to leftinthewest for the link):
Seriously, if Schweitzer wants to run for president, I'm there with him. His brand of Western economic populism, conservationism (not "environmentalism"), and strict supporter of gun rights is the ticket to taking the Mountain West, hence, the whole country.
Emmett O'Connell | March 8, 2005 | Comment on This Post (1 so far) |
The Democratic Response: Governor Brian Schweitzer
Brian Schweitzer, the Democratic Governor of Montana, gave the weekly Democratic response to the president's Saturday radio address. From the AP:
"President Bush was recently here in Montana and we had just one question for him," Gov. Brian Schweitzer said in his party's weekly radio address. "Why allow bad beef to enter the U.S. from Canada and not allow safe medicine?"
There's more on Montana and Brian Schweitzer right here on Western Democrat.
Kari Chisholm | February 26, 2005 | Comment on This Post (0 so far) |
Best Schweitzer interview yet
New West magazine out of Montana has an interesting interview with Gov. Brian Schweitzer. Actually the entire project is interesting, and I'm going to love to see where it goes.
“I want to make sure we understand here that the knowledge-based economy does not preclude the resource-based economy,” he says. “It adds value. When we look at possible deals in venture capital in Montana, most of them so far, have to do with natural resources because our knowledge-based economy is growing up around the natural resource business. It’s still about adding value to our natural resources. We will have pure knowledge-based opportunities, but right now, those opportunities are based around natural resources.”We beg to differ with this statement, for obvious reasons. We’re not drilling for news. But he keeps going with a chemistry lesson on coal, coal-bed methane and hydrogen. He makes sense. He’s a soil scientist, so he knows this stuff.
He’s not the typical Democrat, nor the typical Montana Democrat for that matter. Perhaps that is just what the state needs.
“I might be a hybrid,” he says.
Plus Schweitzer on blogs:
Schweitzer liked the citizen journalism idea and wants to make sure we know he’s blogged himself.“Can I blog?” he asks.
We answer, yes, of course.
“Great, I can be in the peanut gallery.”
We might just have to take him up on the offer.
Emmett O'Connell | February 5, 2005 | Comment on This Post (1 so far) |
Your weekly the West is not the South warning
The State of Columbia South Carolina, throw them onto the stack of folks that don't get it.
In addition to the South, Fowler said the party has written off the Rocky Mountain states and “religious” voters.
Let this be a warning to the Southerners flaunting themselves at the regional caucuses, touting their 50-state strategies and "little bit like greens without the cornbread” homespun humor. When you make it out to Sacramento next Saturday, leave your ideas for winning back the South at home, because I for one, don't want to hear them.
The West, for one simple thing, ain't a bunch of Southern Baptists running around with confederate flags on the back of our pickups. Our racists idiots prefer compounds, assault rifles and swastikas to burning crosses and the like.
I could go on and on about how the South is different.
When Democrats talk about a 50-state strategy, they shouldn't be talking about all of the areas in red on the map as being the same place. The Midwest, the South and the West each have reasons why Democrats aren't winning their nationally and very good reasons why some Dems are winning locally.
In the South it might be because George W. Bush has a friend in Jesus and John Kerry is going to hell. In Montana, it may be because it just didn't look right, that shotgun and Kerry together like that. The shotgun and Brian Schweitzer made way more sense.
Emmett O'Connell | January 16, 2005 | Comment on This Post (5 so far) |
Gary Hart on the West
Gary Hart, former Senator from Colorado and Presidential candidate, served up this
little nugget of wisdom about a month ago:
Well, I have also been unorthodox in the sense of challenging the conventional wisdom about the North and the South. In the east coast corridor, all the analysts and the commentators and pundits talk about what the Democrats have to do to recapture the South and "NASCAR Dads" and all this kind of nonsense.I've argued for an East-West strategy for the Democratic party in which the Democratic states east of the Mississippi combine with potential Democratic states in the west, and I think Colorado is a prime example of what can be done out here. Now we win California and often win Washington and Oregon, but you can combine with that New Me