It is kos' flogging of Tester that actually got me involved in the blogs in the first place, and brought back some semblance of hope for me.
I was in Italy last year when I started reading DailyKos on a regular basis, and I noticed (how could you miss it) that kos seemed obsessed with this organic farmer from my own state. I started to look into it...next thing I knew, I was reading up on issues and giving cash to a dark horse who had me excited by politics again.
And here I am today, actually celebrating a winner in the town where Tester chose to celebrate his victory, Missoula. Still...
Despite the history of great Montana pols
Jeanette Rankin and Mike Mansfield to name just two, my adopted state still lies in that vast area of red-ness on the national political map.
Having moved here from the east coast 8 years ago, I know what is like to stare at that particular map and see a vastness within a vastness, the intermountain west (Montana, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Nevada) and think "well that's Reagan country, now and forever."
But it's not. Harry Reid, Nevada, takes a good deal less shit than Daschle ever did. Now in Montana we are looking at the possibility of a Dem Gov, Dem-Dem Senate slate.
But let's say Tester wins, beating Conrad's slime machine. Even when some might consider Montana's turn from red to blue revolutionary, most of the media - and the blogs - will turn away during the general election. They'll write off the state as red, candidates will do fly-overs, and head down to Colorado and then over to the coast.
This seems to do a) ignore the demographic shift of highly-educated, urban, coastal citizens to more rural areas:
http://www.ncpa.org/...
and b)reinforce the stereotype of this region as a sort of western Appalachia, nice for photographs but lousy for political analysis.
Even NPR's analysis today talked about how Burns' victory yesterday was "proof" of the non-impact of Democrats' theme of the Republican culture of corruption. The analysis was maybe 15 seconds long. It didn't take into account that we can only vote along party affiliation lines - it's not D vs. R., it's the base choosing its candidates. Nor did it point out that Burns' opponent grabbed 25% of the vote, within Burns' own party, vastly outspent and campaigned for a short time. The man is weak.
But that was all ignored in the 15-second analysis.
The west is not what you think it is. It is not a quaint, down-home rural wasteland filled with interesting characters who make it into the national attention-span from time to time.
Mark my words, if Tester wins, count on the national media, and the blogs for that matter, to focus on his flat-top and 'plain-spoken' way - code words for quirky and simplistic. The shame will be that the larger point will be missed - that Scwheitzer, Tester, et al. represent a much more flexible shift in the electorate, a shift to greater focus on key issues that can and do inform the national debate. On issues of energy, education and fiscal management as well as rights issues, these guys have nuanced, practical and forward-thinking solutions.
So, instead of focusing on their flat-tops, bolo ties and 'maverick' labels, give these guys respect for the intellectual and practical work behind their policies.
Flog 'em yes, but as kos does, for the new way forward they represent. Otherwise, they end up just being 'colorful' characters from a fly-over state.
Jeanette Rankin, first woman elected to the House of Representatives, was from Montana. Voted to keep US out of the first world war, against child labor, for equal rights and equal pay, for legal contraception. In 1917!
The west has answers. I hope the country listens.
*Update*
It's already started. In the blog kos cites in his latest Tester piece, the author refers to Tester as "down-home."