Jake Young is a 
An article at RealClearPolitics of interest to those living in the Southwest. (I am looking at you, Mom and Dad.)
Political observers agree that, like in the Northeast, Democrats have made gains because they have broadened their coalition to include those more supportive of gun and property rights and more open to domestic energy exploration. Western voters aren't just choosing the same liberals who win in urban centers like San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle. Instead, Democrats have presented most Westerners with a new kind of candidate, one more in tune with Western values of limited government intervention in their ways of life. Democratic senators in the Intermountain West, including Montana's Max Baucus and Jon Tester and Colorado's Ken Salazar, are more likely to be photographed firing a gun than quoted trying to ban one, and Salazar, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter and Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano have tough law enforcement backgrounds....
Western ideology "has always been characterized by two separate strands," said Cornell Clayton, a political scientist at Washington State University. Republicans like Ronald Reagan, Barry Goldwater and Alan Simpson embodied what Clayton called "pragmatic individualism." Democrats Frank Church, Tom Foley and Henry "Scoop" Jackson embodied a more "pragmatic progressivism."
Read the whole thing.
I have been telling my friends for weeks that the states to watch in this election are Colorado and Nevada.
Politics
Comments
Thank you very much for drawing attention to this article. I am Coloradan myself and have been watching this shift with some interest.
Posted by: Hrafn | October 15, 2008 2:16 PM
This election should be easily by the Democratic nominee for President. Gun control and private property rights are two of the reasons that Obama is not running away with the election. Look at battle ground states like VA and OH. They have elected democrats to statewide office who are strong defenders of the the Constitution in general and the rights to private property and gun rights in particular.
In contrast look at Obama's record. He has repeatedly voted or advocated to jail or fine those who exercise their Constitutionally guaranteed rights to keep and bear arms. He has said that the DC gun ban was Constitutional. He voted for Kennedy's amendment which kennedy specifically designed to ban the Winchester .30-30 round (one of the most popular hunting rounds for the past 100 years).
Posted by: Mike | October 15, 2008 2:20 PM