We here in Utah cannot understand this bizarre argument that Obama doesn't capture a "white vote." There are as many black people in my state as there are Clinton voters: nearly none. These facts were on display in our primary results and in the crowd shots from every Jazz home playoff game this year. Besides the fact that the "white vote" argument is offensive and beside the point, it is just plain wrong.
It may be true that Hillary Clinton is the only acceptable candidate to some narrow income group of Caucasians that reside between the Mississipi river and the states bordering the East coast. But, MY GOD, who cares? It is Hillary Clinton's utter lack of ability to be competitive among white voters in Western states that resulted in Obama breaking the proportional allocation system, and making narrow Clinton wins in states that satisfy the Penn/Wolfsson criteria insignificant.
Let me use Utah's example to show you why it is so particulary important to us, most of whom are white, that Obama become our candidate immediately...
Don't we in the West deserve to be acknowledged by the party? Haven't we done our part by electing Tester, Schweitzer, Salazar, etc.? Aren't we the best hope for our party to grow its base in the next four years? The answers are yes, yes, and yes. Western Democrats have had a rough go of it since Reagan was having wet dreams about jelly beans in the White House. The situation is changing out here. The "sportsman" voters, the libertarian-minded voters, and the residents of our rapidly-growing urban centers are prime and fertile teritory for our party message. It is shocking to me how little awareness there is in the rest of the country of our political disposition. Every pundit and most bloggers I read this year were claiming that Utah, Idaho, and Colorado were "toss-ups," right until voting day. Those states provided some of Obama's largest margins.
Utah, like Idaho and much of the West, is about as certain to vote Republican in November as John McCain is to vote for himself. However, our state Democratic party is not a non-entity. I lived in Seattle for nearly ten years before moving back here last year. It is more fun, more rewarding, and harder work being a Democrat in Utah than in Washington. Our state's demographics and political climate presents unique challenges.
Salt Lake City is a liberal center. Our county mayor is Howard Dean's cousin, Peter Corroon. He is extremely popular and politically safe. Our former city mayor, Rocky Anderson, was a former ACLU lawyer. His replacement, Ralph Becker, was a left-minded environmental planner in his private life. We have one of the highest concentrations of same-sex families in the nation.
One of our legislative districts sends a Democratic representative to Congress, Jim Matheson. We do this despite some truly ridiculous gerrymandering that was conceived solely for the purpose of getting rid of him.
Surrounding Salt Lake City are miles and miles of Republican orthodoxy. At present, they make it virtually impossible for us to dream of capturing a statewide race.
But, our local races matter. I can only attempt to describe the real benefits I see from our local Democratic leadership. Mayor Corroon played hardball with our local MLS soccer team on their stadium demands, and managed to get a stadium deal that did not waste our tax dollars on extravegant sports entertainment. Our city has a brand-new progressive light rail system. It was recently expanded to serve Salt Lake's principal suburbs with the ambitious goal of providing transport for an equal number of commuters that use our highways. We have an effective burn-watch system that attempts to control our dreaded "inversion" pollution problem as best it can. I can contrast this with the totally ineffective efforts I saw by local politicians in Seattle to deal with these same concerns. (The story of mass transit policy in Seattle would be funny if it were less tragic). It works in reverse, too. There is a Salt Lake suburb with a truly detestable Republican state legislator of the worst kind. In referring to a bill that he disliked, he called it a "little black baby. An ugly little thing." We have a real chance to remove some of these cretins. Honestly, in my tiny life, knowing that guy is not in public office, even though most of you have never heard of him, would give me greater satisfaction than almost any other political development I could imagine.
Two things are true here, as I suspect they are elsewhere in the West: 1) Our existing Democratic party success are fragile; and 2) We are not as far from achieving more success as you might think.
Republican voters in the West share only some of the concerns that other Republicans around the nation share. Again, I will use Utah as an example. The LDS religion is responsible for the vast majority of the religious conservativism in my state. An important and oft-overlooked characteristic of these people (of whom I, ostensibly, am one) is that they are not afflicted with the same aversion to government spending that afflicts their Republican bretheren. Members of the church in good standing tithe 10% of their income to the church. These people are accustomed to the idea that a large chunk of their income will be used to serve others. This is reflected in, for example, the fact that our local Bar offers pro bono legal services that are among the best funded in the entire nation. Charitable giving here, even outside the church accounts, is quite high. Also, traditionally conservative voters in Utah share a latent environmental sensitivity. Many of them are sportsmen. They hunt, fish, and camp. When they find plastic bottles and paper trash in their campsight, they get upset. When there is an oil slick in their favorite fishing hole, they are pissed off. In rural Utah, deeply Republican people have suffered greatly over the years from nuclear testing during the Cold War. Getting restitution for these people is one of only two areas where I strongly applaud the work of our geriatric Senator Hatch (the other being his support of stem cell research). Also, Utah conservatives are libertarian, although possibly less so than those in other Western states. They don't approve of government intrusion into their private lives (unless, or course, you are gay. But, I digress). Bush's surveilance programs are not popular here. Our state also strongly rebuked his no-child left behind bullshit; viewing it as an unnecessary and unwelcome intrusion on our local ability to manage our own schools.
All of this brings me to my simple and main point: These people hate Clintons. I do too, but that is irrelevant. There is a reason why our primary had a record turnout, and why Obama absolutely trounced her here. There is a huge and growing number of voters here in the West that is looking for some sign that the Democratic party is ready to be something new. These people aren't particularly happy about voting for another Republican, but they sure as hell know they aren't voting for a Clinton. More than any problem with message or organization, our party suffers here from a stigma and an association with ugly political battles of the past. If we are going to build on what we have here, we have to offer something new. It doesn't even have to be a new message; it just needs to come in a new package. It needs to come in a package that doesn't remind skeptical voters that are upset and ready for a change of anything they despised in the past. We are doing good things here in Utah, and it will get better if we have a real chance to appeal to independents and disaffected Republicans. That will happen with Barack Obama. It will never happen with Hillary Clinton. In fact, I'm afraid a Billary ticket (even in the VP slot) would so inflame the Republican base here that it would threaten my beloved and effective local elected Democrats.
Superdelegates: Please do not disregard our huge and one-sided primary elections this year in red Western states. These developments mean something. End this thing quickly. Give us a case to take around our neighborhoods that this is a new Democratic party. Give us a chance to show that the 50-state strategy is working.
I am just a meaningless general election vote in the middle of a sea of Republicanism, but the way you handle this ongoing drama makes a huge difference to me. I promise there is something in it for all of you in the end, except for maybe you cigar-smoking DLC members. You guys can suck it.
Nobody here cares that Obama is black. Don't let the predilictions of some Midwestern machinists convince you we do. Obama's blackness isn't going to stop him from being our next president. If you harbor some deeply felt suspicion that it will, I submit to you that the principles of our party demand you keep those feelings to yourself and cast your vote for him as if you were color-blind. If we really our a country of racists, then we deserve John McCain. At least give all of us whiteys a chance to prove that we're not. History says we probably don't deserve that chance, but I'm asking for it anyway.