Kevin Vranes has a phud in Physical Ocean- ography and Cli- matology. He now studies sci- ence policy and politics at the Via Colorado Confidential, a Colorado group on the Western Slope is hammering Gov. Bill Ritter for being too east-centric.
The image (click it to make it bigger) is brilliant, is it not? I love georeferenced information.
The hidden political lesson in the image is appropriate for all you non-westerners who would like to have a better understanding of western US politics. It is the lesson of the east-west intrastate geopolitical divide. Colorado joins Oregon, Washington and Montana as states with geologic-become-political divides, split by north-south running ranges. The other western states, including Idaho and Utah, have their own versions but they are less prominent. (I can't tell whether AZ and NM have similar features ... Mr. Fleck?)
In fact, OR and WA make a fascinating thought experiment in U.S. politics. If OR and WA were split north-south along the natural border (the Cascades), rather than east-west by a half natural (Columbia River)/half artificial border, the U.S. Senate would undoubtedly have two very liberal Senators and two very conservative Senators, rather than four fairly centrist ones representing two more-or-less purple states (OR more purple than WA, reflected in the OR Senators being more centrist than the WA Senators).
What does not get reflected in national political reporting very often is the strong contingent of very conservative areas in the usually-leftish states of the west. The northeast corner of CA and southern-central portion of OR rivals anywhere I've traveled (I only have four states left to get to 50) as some of the most conservative country around. Then again, national political reporting is unquestionably DC and NYC-centric, even more so than the "east coast bias" in college basketball rankings and notice. The national politicos only very reluctantly come out west every four years (and really not even then). The upcoming '08's may see a new focus on the west, though, for reasons I described in this post.
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Comments
# 1 | Kevin W. Parker | January 9, 2007 5:19 PM
Geography isn't everything, though - the Western Slope contains only about 10% of Colorado's population, while the Denver area has well over half, so the distribution isn't as unfair as the map makes it seem.
# 2 | chezjake | January 9, 2007 6:00 PM
These insights into the politics of the west are very interesting. I hope that you'll continue them at your new digs.
I'm quite taken with Bill Richardson, especially in foreign affairs. Is there any reason you can see why he shouldn't lead a Democratic ticket in '08?
# 3 | Colst | January 9, 2007 6:15 PM
"Geography isn't everything, though - the Western Slope contains only about 10% of Colorado's population, while the Denver area has well over half, so the distribution isn't as unfair as the map makes it seem."
Indeed. Except for John Stulp, that map would be a good stand-in for the population density map.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Colorado_population_map.png
# 4 | Lab Lemming | January 9, 2007 9:22 PM
What does the caption mean when it says that water passes through the continental divide? Isn't the divide the line through which water doesn't pass?
# 5 | Robert P. | January 9, 2007 9:31 PM
Lab Lemming: there is an amazing system of tunnels that pipe water *under* the Front Range, from the Western Slope to the eastern third of the state. You can see one of the outlets at Mary's Lake, a few miles south of Estes Park, just off of Colorado Route 7.
# 6 | kevin v | January 9, 2007 11:41 PM
#1/#3: you're right, but obviously the population distribution isn't the only question. The US at least has a long history of trying to balance geography and population clustering (which is given as the primary excuse for why we have an Electoral College instead of a popular vote for POTUS).
chezjake: looks like Richardson is angling for the full presidential nod and I hope he takes it far. Obama and Hillary hype have guaranteed that one or both won't be a factor once the '08 primary votes are done, so maybe Richardson can come through as the late-entry darkhorse. My thought since Schweitzer won the MT governorship in '04 was that both he and Richardson would be trying to win the Dem VP slot in '08. Richardson at least seems to be wanting to go full P and not just settle for VP; I think Schweitzer would be thrilled to be tapped as a VP. Either would strongly bolster the Dem ticket with a very centrist western pro-gun D in there.
LL -- what Robert P said. Maybe it's an inside (CO) joke, but a very pointed one for here, as the westerners don't love that the Front Range communities are taking Western Slope water.
# 7 | Lab Lemming | January 10, 2007 5:12 AM
So the westerners would prefer to have that water flow away to Arizona and California? Outta curiosity, do they generate much hydro power from it? Our cross-divide plumbing, the Snowy Mountains scheme, does both, except when the winter snows fail.