Kevin Drums links today to a fantasic and important piece in the Washington Monthly (magazine not blog) about the Democratic Party's dramatic victory in Montana state offices last week.
Despite the fact that George W Bush won the state by twenty points, "a Democrat, Brian Schweitzer, won the state's race for governor. Schweitzer not only won, but he also won decisively, beating his opponent Bob Brown, the Republican secretary of state and a two-decade fixture in Montana politics, by a solid four points. His victory was so resounding and provided down-ballot party members such strong coattails that Montana Democrats took the state legislature and four of five statewide offices."
So how did Democrats achieve this feat in a state that is nothing short of crimson red?
"...in addition to a winning personality and strong populist convictions, Schweitzer had an innovative, three-part political strategy, one that perfectly fit the current conditions in Montana, but which Democrats across the country could learn from. First, Schweitzer took advantage of public dissatisfaction with two decades of insular one-party rule in the state capital, casting himself as an outsider and a reformer. Second, he rallied small business, usually a solidly GOP constituency, to his side by opposing the deals Republicans had cut in Washington and Helena to favor large or out-of-state corporations over local entrepreneurs. Third, and most interesting of all, Schweitzer figured out how to win over one of the most important, reliably Republican, and symbolically significant groups of voters: hunters and fishermen."
There are many lessons in this story, not least of which is that it always helps to have charismatic candidates who can make their points with a certain amount of color and humor, but I don't think it can be understate the extent to which Schweitzer did everything right in this campaign, and how this could be a model for winning red states nationally.
It is absolutely imperative that we defeat the emerging DLC-ish meme about the ineffectiveness of economic populism in red states. Brad Carson, the ill fated candidate for senate in Oklahoma, just penned a defeatist piece for the New Republic on this very question, arguing that the Thomas Franks of this world are misguided, and that red state voters will always choose Republican hacks who impoverish them but pledge to execute abortion doctors over strong economic populist Democrats. As Schweitzer shows, it isn't simply about economic populism - courting small business (which ought to be a natural Democratic constituency, and whom corporate DLC candidates are not going to be able to win), and the sportsmen vote both played a role - but that's certainly a crucial part of the formula.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2004/0412.sirota.html
