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Sunday, July 23, 2006
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New West: "A harbinger of a Western shift? When Montana Senator Conrad Burns proposed a ban on new oil and gas leases on the Rocky Mountain Front last month, and energy company Questar followed up with a donation of their energy leases to a sportsman's conservation group, New West's Courtney Lowery wondered if the move might be the beginning of a larger trend within the Western GOP. A number of conservation-minded moves by Western Republicans in recent weeks have led USA Today to wonder the same. The Bush administration has been pushing hard for increased drilling on federal lands with great success: according to the BLM, permits have jumped from 3,540 in 2002 to 7,018 in 2005. But the Burns proposal, along with a recent roadless proposal by California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, a drilling ban by New Mexico's Heather Wilson, and recent comments by Wyoming GOP Sen. Craig Thomas about protecting national forests, suggest that Western Republicans are beginning to push back."
"2008 pres"
8:42:50 AM 
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The Denver Post editorial staff weighs in on Denver hosting the 2008 Democratic National Convention. They write, "Denver's major advantage in the convention effort - Colorado and the Western region fulfills the party's needs politically, not just logistically. Colorado is a moderate state that enjoys a solid record of cooperation among state political and business leaders. Democrats can spotlight Sen. Ken Salazar, an independent thinker who has earned a national profile despite ranking almost dead last in Senate seniority. Hickenlooper is an entrepreneur and a do-gooder who can't easily explain how he came to be mayor but has proved popular across the city and its suburbs. Rep. Diana DeGette is a hard-working congresswoman whose persistence paid off in a bipartisan plan for stem-cell research. Wellington Webb served three terms as mayor and then was a key leader at the Democratic National Committee. They personify the type of officeholder any party should embrace - eager to pull on their boots, tackle the public's business and deliver a Colorado message of faith, hard work and perseverance."
"2008 pres"
8:16:06 AM
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From today's Denver Post: "Democratic Rep. Diana DeGette used the party's national weekly radio address to declare that President Bush was motivated by 'cold, calculated, cynical political gain' when he vetoed a bill that would expand federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research. Bush, in Colorado on Friday for a fundraiser, had long threatened a veto. 'The president's veto had nothing to do with morals,' said DeGette, of Denver, but instead was 'the kind of politics that snuffs out the candle of hope and that condemns the disabled and the sick.' DeGette and Rep. Mike Castle, R-Del., co-sponsored the bill, which would allow federal funds to be used in research on embryos derived from fertility treatments that would otherwise be discarded. DeGette called Bush's veto 'a sad sidebar in a debate that has been about ethical scientific research and hope.'"
"2008 pres"
8:13:02 AM
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Green Conservatives are being courted by the Democratic party, according to the Denver Post. From the article, "As more oil and gas wells spring up throughout the Rocky Mountain West, moderate Democrats are telling hunters and anglers worried about open space that they feel their pain. Hoping to capitalize on the frustration of outdoorsmen and women watching the mechanization of their playgrounds, Democrats are talking about responsible land policy that balances industrial and recreational needs. The approach has created some strange bedfellows. Sportsmen, traditionally leery of Democrats because of their pro gun-control stance, are coming to the table to talk about how to protect the land. And environmentalists, who in the past have demanded that all public land remain pristine, are softening enough to talk about responsible industrial land use. Democrats see this new group of disaffected hunters and mellowed greenies as one of the keys to electoral victory in the Rocky Mountain West."
"2008 pres"
8:10:02 AM
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Here's an intro to the Democratic Leadership Council Meetings being held this week in Denver, from the Denver Post. From the article, "Although the West is often thought of as rugged Republican territory, Western leaders and those who study the region say that belief is about as accurate as the Marlboro Man. 'The Interior West is more libertarian, more tolerant and has a 'leave me alone' attitude,' said Ryan Sager, author of 'The Elephant in the Room: Evangelicals, Libertarians and the Battle to Control the Republican Party.' While Republicans have clearly dominated the West in elections, their success has more to do with the GOP's ability to masterfully paint Democrats with a broad stroke than with core GOP values, Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer contends. He said Republicans cast Western Democrats in the same mold as the stereotype of East and West Coast Democrats: anti-gun, rabid environmentalists who want bigger federal government. Schweitzer, who won his 2004 race partly by vowing to preserve and expand access to public land for hunters and fishermen, said he made sure while campaigning that people knew he was a Western Democrat."
"Also helping Democrats appeal to Western voters, according to Sager, is the Republican Party's alliance with the religious right. That alliance is especially strong in the South, where social and moral issues often carry more weight. John C. Green of the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, a nonprofit research center, said the West is "much less religious" than the South, and religions there are more diverse. 'Evangelicals in the West tend to be open to a broader agenda. They are more concerned about the environment, human rights and social justice,' he said - which gives Democrats an opening in the political fence. But the challenge is formidable, especially considering President Bush won all eight Interior West states in 2004."
"2008 pres"
8:02:22 AM
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Curious Stranger: "Despite a last second appeal by a 'Blue-Green Alliance' of the Sierra Club and United Steelworkers on Colorado's behalf, today Nevada was chosen by the DNC Rules & Bylaws committee as the site for a 2008 Western Caucus, to be scheduled between the traditional Iowa and New Hampshire nominating season leadoffs. So, while a disappointment for Colorado, its a big win for the West."
Here's the coverage from the Denver Post. They write, "A Democratic National Committee panel voted Saturday to shake up the 2008 presidential nominating schedule, recommending that Nevada and South Carolina move to coveted January time slots, while denying Colorado's bid to advance its caucus date. Colorado was one of several states in the running to move its caucus between the early Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary in hopes of raising the importance of its nominating contest. If the panel's recommendation becomes official next month when the full national committee acts on it, Nevada's caucus will be held Jan. 19, 2008, immediately after Iowa's caucus Jan. 14. South Carolina's primary would immediately follow New Hampshire's primary Jan. 22."
"2008 pres"
7:49:50 AM
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© Copyright 2009 John Orr.
Last update: 3/15/09; 11:46:39 AM.
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