NOELLE STRAUB Star-Tribune Washington bureau | Posted: Sunday, July 15, 2007 12:00 am
WASHINGTON - Bolstered by recent electoral gains in the region, several groups have sprung up in the past few years to raise money or promote Democratic candidates in the Mountain West.
The new groups have begun taking in cash and bringing staff on board. And although at least one political analyst says the possibility of a Democratic wave in the region is overhyped, the new outfits believe the West offers great potential for their candidates.
Their names drive the point home: Western Majority Project, Project New West, Democrats for the West, WesternDemocrat.com.
The Western Majority Project, a federally registered political action committee with affiliated state-registered PACs in Western states, held its first fundraiser on June 7. The event took in $60,000. Montana Sen. Jon Tester, who is on the advisory council for the federal committee, attended the Washington event, but Sen. Max Baucus had a scheduling conflict and did not, said Executive Director Sky Gallegos.
Gallegos said the group formed because elected leaders in the Mountain West felt they needed a systematic approach to look at the trend of successfully electing Democrats and turn it into a long-term sustained effort to reach voters.
Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada co-chair the federal advisory council. Other members include Tester, Baucus and Gov. Brian Schweitzer; Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter and Sen. Ken Salazar; and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Sen. Jeff Bingaman.
Gallegos said the group will spend this year raising money and launching the PAC. Next year it will hold specific activities, including hosting a regional training seminar for campaign staff in the West. The group will also launch a Web site next year focused on campaign tactics, case studies of elections and leaders in the region, she said.
"While there's some overriding similarities among the region and their constituents, there's a lot of unique and very distinct leaders and electoral context in each state," she said.
The group will also schedule activities around the 2008 Democratic National Convention, which will be held in Denver. The events will "talk about winning campaigns in the Mountain West as well as highlighting and celebrating the elected leaders we have in the region."
So far the PAC has a modest office in Denver, Gallegos said. The group will keep consulting, fundraising and bookkeeping staff this year, but will have a fuller staff next year, she added.
"If you look at the demographic changes of states growing at a rapid pace, I think it speaks toward the possibility of a long-term trend toward a moderate electorate and the kind of leaders we've seen so far," Gallegos said.
Gallegos, who helped develop and launch the PAC, soon is leaving it to join the convention staff.
Two groups take shape
The officials originally came up with the name New West Project for their effort. But that concept broke into two separate entities: the Western Majority Project and the Project New West.
"Project New West is a private organization, and it's really trying to dig down and understand who the Western voter is, what their issue priority is and how you talk to them," said Executive Director Jill Hanauer.
"It's time for the West to have a regional identity," she said.
The organization, which formed in the last few months, is based in Denver and has staff throughout the West, Hanauer said. No elected officials are directly connected to it. Funding comes from a variety of sources, but the group is so new she declined to talk about the specifics of its operation yet.
"There's great opportunity here, and it's not going to happen overnight, but this is a part of the nation that's absolutely trending blue," she said.
The group provides strategic guidance to organizations, campaigns and individuals who are looking to understand Western trends and issue priorities, she said.
Tired of being ignored
A group of former Western officials formed a separate group called Democrats for the West. Its Founders Committee includes former Montana Rep. Pat Williams and former Wyoming Gov. Mike Sullivan, along with others from New Mexico, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona, Utah and Colorado.
"Even when I was in Congress, it was clear to me that both parties virtually ignored the eight states of the Rocky Mountain West," Williams said. "Republicans did better out here, but really both ignored it. And I know why, because of the electoral vote count."
But just because the region doesn't hold huge sway in the presidential election, the parties ignore it at their peril, Williams said.
"You can't be a national party and simply ignore one massive region in the country, especially when its states are growing fastest in almost every area (from) demographic to economic," he said.
"So from that, some of us got together and said, 'Well, on the Democratic side, what can we do?"' he added. "We thought there was genuine election opportunity here for progressives… Democrats have this sort of a don't fence me in philosophy about governing, we're willing to try things. And the West has always liked that about Democrats."
The officials began talking in 2002 and held formal meetings over the next couple years, he said. "Because of the creation of other groups in the West since us, money has been scattered, and I think Democrats for the West have had trouble raising very large amounts of money," Williams said.
But he said the group has had some success reigniting interest both on a national and state level in electing Democrats.
"When I came back from Congress 11 years ago, there wasn't one Democratic governor in the eight states of the West, and today there are five," he said. "The same is true with the congressional delegations."
Long-term change?
Respected Washington political analyst Stuart Rothenberg believes the talk about the West turning Democratic is overblown.
"I believe it is hype," he said. "I just think there was an exaggeration of how the Rocky Mountain West was becoming more competitive and realigning and Republicans are in disarray."
Rothenberg said Wyoming and Idaho have not changed politically, still electing Republicans on the federal level. Other Western states including Colorado and Montana have historically elected some Democrats.
"I guess my general argument is this, that much of the Rocky Mountain West has been politically competitive, particularly in governor's races," he said. "Democrats did very well this last election, but until I see other elections, I'll assume it's a bit of an aberrant election because it just was such a strange environment, obviously so strongly anti-Republican."
Williams disagrees, arguing that "in the West, the political marketplace has swung left."
Gallegos said the region is volatile and up for grabs.
"I think all of us are certainly hoping and we're not taking anything to the bank and we're ready to work for it," she added.