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Saturday, January 22, 2005

DNC Western Regional Caucus - Sacramento

In the SF Chronicle, Carla Marinucci suggests Midgen is considering jumping ship.

The Contra Costa Times on the West:

Democrats also enjoyed significant gains in Montana, where Bush defeated Kerry by 20 percentage points. The state elected its first Democratic governor in 20 years, Brian Schweitzer, and Democrats captured control of both the state Senate and House.

Montana Democratic Party executive director Brad Martin credited strong grassroots organizing and a concerted effort to frame "family values" in terms that play to Democratic strengths.

"It's a family value to have better wages, and it's a family value that people have health care," Martin said, noting Montana's poor economy and large number of uninsured residents. "We regularly organized with a values-based message."

and don't forget the other end of the Rocky Mountains:

Southwestern states, with their rapid population growth and large representation of Hispanic voters, may be Democrats' biggest target of opportunity.

Arizona and New Mexico have Democratic governors, while Democrats in Colorado in 2004 regained control of both houses of the Legislature and picked up a U.S. Senate and U.S. House seat previously held by Republicans. Nevada Sen. Harry Reid became Senate minority leader after South Dakota Sen. Tom Daschle lost his bid for re-election.

But all four of those states went for Bush in 2004, frustrating some activists who felt the national party did not realize the potential for success in that region.

I'll be blogging today's caucus meeting from a western perspective. There is talk about western convention among other regional solidarity issues that may come up today.

Posted at 10:43 AM in DNC Chair | Technorati

Comments

"It's a family value to have better wages, and it's a family value that people have health care," Martin said, noting Montana's poor economy and large number of uninsured residents. "We regularly organized with a values-based message."

Boy, this sounds a hell of a lot like what a certain former Vermont governor once said. Too bad we didn't listen to him then, since this sort of message obviously can play in red states.

Posted by: DavidNYC at January 22, 2005 01:17 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment