Since last month’s midterm
elections, Democrats have fallen all over themselves trumpeting
their party’s gains in the Mountain West as the harbinger of a new
political landscape. Many have suggested that the GOP now amounts
to little more than a regional party with scant appeal outside the
South.
But a reality check is in order before writing the
Republicans’ obituary in the Rocky Mountains. This year’s
Democratic gains in the region — long considered a GOP
stronghold — owed more to continuity since 2002 than the
larger trends that swept the party back into power on Capitol Hill.
If Democrats continue to read too much into last month’s elections,
they risk halting their momentum in the Rockies.
By the
end of Bill Clinton’s presidency, Democrats could scarcely have
done worse in the eight states — Arizona, Colorado, Idaho,
Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming — comprising
the Mountain West. They held no governorships, only three of 16
Senate seats, and just six of 25 House seats. But since then the
party has consistently improved its standing. In fact, until last
month, this all came while Republicans were winning nearly
everywhere else.
In 2002, Democrats took three Mountain
West governors’ mansions and gained a House seat. Two years later,
Republicans enjoyed another national victory but Democrats made
surprising gains in the Rockies, adding one governor, one senator,
and one U.S. Representative. And of course in November, this time
in concert with national trends, Democrats added the Colorado
governorship, a Montana senate seat, and three House seats, while
narrowly missing two others. Most everyone agrees that the last
three elections have cast a decidedly purple haze over the once
reddest of regions.
Does this mean the Mountain West has
taken an ideological left turn and rejected Republicans? Almost
certainly not. The most staunchly Republican region of the country
for decades, it gave President Bush his biggest margins of victory
in 2004, and its electorate tends to identify itself as
conservative.
But the recent Democratic gains indicate
that the right kind of Democrat can be successful. The danger now
is that Democrats will read too much into their national victory
and see it as a mandate for their activists7; agenda. Make no
mistake, traditional liberalism as offered in the policy
prescriptions and candidates based on both coasts will not fly in
the Rockies.
Instead, Democrats should stick with what
works in the region. This means continuing to question the Beltway
elites and Berkeley bloggers currently taking credit for the
party’s victory. It means continuing to choose moderate candidates
reflecting the Mountain West’s values. The party’s successful
candidates in recent years share traits that need to be kept in
mind.
First, successful Mountain West Democrats
demonstrate cultural authenticity. This is part of the appeal of
Montana’s outdoorsman Gov. Brian Schweitzer and Colorado’s
farmer-turned-congressman John Salazar. They dress in blue jeans
and cowboy hats just as often as suits and ties. And, unlike John
Kerry sporting fresh-off-the-rack hunter orange in 2004, it doesn’t
appear artificial or forced.
Second, successful Mountain
West Democrats embrace a respectful middle-class populism without
being condescending. Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords draws on her
experience running the family business when she speaks of creating
an even playing field for workers. Similarly, newly elected Montana
Sen. Jon Tester advocates only a partial reinstatement of the
estate tax and would carve out an exemption to allow small
businesses to stay in the family. Both also make a sincere effort
to take rural concerns and people of faith seriously, something not
always true of national Democrats.
Third, in line with
their region’s historical roots, successful Rocky Mountain
Democrats have an independent streak. Unlike their counterparts in
the socially conservative South, Mountain West Democrats can stake
out conservative positions in areas that play to the region’s
libertarian origins without abandoning core Democratic values.
Schweitzer, for instance, flaunted his National Rifle Association
“A1” rating in 2004, and had a simple gun control policy: “You
control your gun and I’ll control mine.”
Colorado Sen.
Ken Salazar’s active support during Attorney General Alberto
Gonzalez’s confirmation infuriated Democrats, but was mostly
popular back home where few criminals get coddled. Similarly,
before she took the statehouse, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano’s
legal career was largely dedicated to defending the death penalty.
In the last four years, Democrats have enjoyed increased
signs of life in a once forgotten region. And with the parties so
closely divided, every seat is crucial. But Democrats shouldn’t
forget what successful candidates in the region learned in 2002: Be
a Westerner first.
Robert Saldin is a
contributor to Writers on the Range, a service of High
Country News (hcn.org). He is a visiting scholar at the
University of California, Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental
Studies and a fellow at the University of Virginia’s Miller
Center.
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