Obama Woos Key Western Swing States

Party boasts strong voter registration, turnout in Mountain states

(NEWSER) - The Mountain West has historically gone for the GOP, but thanks to aggressive grass-roots organizing, Democrats believe they have a shot at turning red states blue, Politico reports. More field offices, opened much earlier than the GOP's, have boosted registration in Colorado, New Mexico, and Nevada. “This presidential cycle is different,” says the head of New Mexico’s Democratic Party. “The ground game is completely different.” More»

Their support in key Western states could decide election

(NEWSER) - Campaign workers walking Latino precincts in Las Vegas are finding padlocked doors, foreclosed homes, jobless residents—and more voters supporting Barack Obama, the Los Angeles Times reports. "The economy is so bad, and I am afraid McCain has the same ideas as President Bush," one man told a canvasser. And Nevada is only one of three Western battleground states where Latinos could ensure an Obama victory. More»

Washington's neglect has voters yearning for change, Colo. senator writes

(NEWSER) - The West has long been a Republican stronghold, but Democrats have a chance there in November, Ken Salazar writes in the Los Angeles Times. Salazar himself beat the Republican establishment to win a Colorado Senate seat in 2004. Independents are now the region’s largest voting bloc, he writes, and communities are frustrated by 7 years of “feeling like an afterthought in Washington's policies.” More»

Insiders look at which might move left or right

(NEWSER) - Forget the old swing-state conventional wisdom. Salon rounds up some experts and asks where the electoral map might flip in November:

• The eastern Rust belt (Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan) is John McCain’s best hope. Ohio is traditionally weakest for Democrats, but the Michigan primary remains a problem, and aging Pennsylvanians are GOP-friendly.

The states moving fastest from right to left are not in the East

(NEWSER) - The political geography of Western states has been shifting from Republican to Democratic, and four—Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, and Arizona—could be winnable for Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton for the first time in decades, Colorado Confidential writes. Party brass wouldn’t talk up a “Western strategy,” but Democratic success in the Mountain time zone could make other swing states less essential. More»