Free Range Democrats
Democrats with eyes on the future have been looking west for some time now. It's easy to see that the Western Democrats, winning races and maintaining strong approval numbers in states that vote predictably Republican in national elections, must be doing something right. It's something we have talked about here a number of times. Montana native Bob Brigham and Schweitzer campaign consultant David Sirota have been proponents of the Montana Governor for some time. Now even The New York Times has gotten into the act, with an article by Timothy Egan, "Out West, Democrats Roam Free."
Look at these numbers," said Gov. Brian Schweitzer, pointing to the annual Montana State University survey showing him with a job approval rating of 69 percent - 27 points higher than President Bush in Montana and 21 points above the Republican senator, Conrad Burns, who is up for re-election next year. "People seem to like what we're doing."
Across the vast inland sea of Republican red, in states like Kansas, Wyoming, Oklahoma and Arizona, other Democratic governors are soaring at the same high level of approval in the polls. They may not look much like coastal Democrats, and they may not talk much like their party leaders. At times, they act as if they would rather catch the bird flu than have their pictures taken with Howard Dean, the Democratic Party chairman who often runs into "scheduling conflicts" with the governors whenever he visits.
But as Democrats look to nationalize the Congressional elections next year, they have been traipsing off to political backwaters likes Helena, Cheyenne, Wyo., and Topeka, Kan., for tips from Heartland Democrats. The breed that has long been ignored, but was forced early on to learn some survival strategies, is now in vogue.
With the national GOP in shambles, it's fairly clear that if the Democrats come even close to pulling together attractive candidates with interesting ideas, there will be huge gains for the party in 2006 and 2008. As we've been looking beyond the beltway for quite a while, the media is apparently finally catching up.
Governor Dave Freudenthal of Wyoming sums up the secret of the Western Democrats' successes pretty simply. "Stick to the kitchen issues - health care, jobs and fairness - and stick to the facts." While that sounds great, it exposes an underlying problem which may explain how it's possible that Brian Schweitzer and George W. Bush can be elected on the same day. Governors don't deal directly with national security issues. They have the luxury of sticking to "kitchen issues." However, the war in Iraq has all but destroyed the Republican dominance on the issue of foreign policy. This should level the playing field, opening huge doors for the Democrats in general, but Western Democrats in particular.
|
|
|
Permalink :: 14 Comments :: Post a Comment
|
In order to post a comment, you must be logged in. If you have a member account, please log in to comment.
If not, you can make an account right here. It's quick and free.
