While I'm in Portland, I have not forgotten my Colorado roots.
I know we spend much of our time on this blog discussing the future of the Democratic Party and I think that if we are serious about reforging the Democratic Party, the southwest much become the south of the Democratic Party.
I believe the southwest can trend towards our Party for three key reasons.
First. "It's the candidates, stupid"
The Democratic Party must begin nominating candidates that will play better in this area which means we should adopt a new label. I'm tired of this "northeast corridor liberal" accusation every 4 years. Whether or not it is true, we could strive to nominate and promote candidates on both the national and local level that appeal to these types of voters. I believe the Democratic Party should focus on regional leaders in the southwest to play a larger role in the party structure.
Listen to what the NDN says about Ken Salazar (who I think makes a much more appealing long-term hope for the Democratic Party then any other leader out there). http://www.ndol.org/ndol_ci.cfm?contentid=253009&subid=111&kaid=103
There are others as well - Bill Richardson (Governor of New Mexico) and Janet Napolitano (Governor of Arizona) should play large roles in the party structure.
It's all about the candidates. We can't sacrifice our candidates at the alter of electability when personality becomes to important to many Americans, namely in the Southwest. "Democrats who are interesting personalities tend to do well here," said Jim Carpenter, Salazar's campaign manager. In the following story, from the Rocky Mountain News, the author discusses how Democrats can play well in the Southwest.
http://rockymountainnews.com/drmn/election/article/0,1299,DRMN_36_3309407,00.html
Second. The votes are already there for us.
People will pooh-pooh this diary by stating that Bush won all of the major Southwestern states. While true that Kerry picked up none of what most would consider southwestern states, all were close and all have Democratic leaders elected at the statewide level. Sure, they may not be what you would consider to be "true progressive" but they are champions of those same social issues that Democrats care about. In fact, all Southwestern states should be in the pocket for us soon with the right candidate.
Bush Kerry EV Turnout
Nevada 50.50% 47.85% 5 76.9%
Colorado 52.61% 46.16% 9 61.9%
Arizona 54.86% 44.39% 10 76.2%
New Mexico 49.94% 48.94% 5 67.8%
The combined electoral votes equal 29 votes, which would carry a Democrat within a 5 vote striking distance of the Bush 286 victory he achieved in 2004. Demographic trends are pushing this region to gain even more votes in the future - all 4 states are in the middle of massive growth spurts. Also, turnout suggests that all of these states have populations can turnout in large numbers and that these states still have significant groups that did not turn out in 2004. I point to both New Mexico and Nevada that as states that could have (with added turnout) pushed over the margin. In fact, the Colorado victory of Salazar and the loss of Kerry shows how we can win in these states and already have the numbers.
Third. Increase Hispanic Support
Bush made inroads into the hispanic population with this election. The Democratic Party must now support policies and strategies that appeal directly to hispanics. We must stop pandering to hispanic interests and instead direct ourselves to positive ways to empower the hispanic community. We must become a party of amnesty and directed citizenship goals. We also have to talk about humane ways to maintain our border and come up with consistent solutions to our social services issue with regards to immigrants. If we let the Republican party become the party of immigration because of pandering then we lose out. The Democratic Party has to aggressively CAMPAIGN in hispanic/latino areas instead of just playing ads on TV. Robert Kennedy was so successful because he traveled in those areas who were dissafected and he held their counsel close. The Democratic Party must also realize the growing middle-class hispanic community that wants to see their children succeeding in school and their nation secure. If we can come up with ways to attract and grow influence in this growing demographic, maybe we can make the southwest a democratic stronghold.
Epilogue
The question, you ask yourself is how do we overcome that 5 Electoral Vote defecit even if we win all SW states? Iowa - a news report today showed we lost it by almost 10,000 votes. With an aggressive campaign and a retooled message we can capture this state and hence the election.
What do you think?