How the west was lost?
The Democratic Party's effort to make gains in mountain west states may have to take a back seat to the perceived need to kowtow to special interest and fringe groups. First, the Dems, under pressure from leftist bloggers, pulled the plug on a candidates' debate in Nevada because it was going to take place on the dreaded Fox News channel. When the debate was announced, Harry Reid, who knows a thing or two about surviving as a Democrat in the mountain west, said:
This is more great news for Nevada. I'm happy FOX News will be a partner for the August presidential debate. Western issues will be a major focus of this debate in particular. With FOX News as our partner, candidates will have an opportunity to not only speak to Nevada voters, but voters across the West who will be instrumental to electing a Democratic president in 2008.
But the Democrats have decided to give up that opportunity in order to appease fringe elements of the party.
The Democrats' mountain states aspirations also led them to make Denver the location for their 2008 convention. But now the party is under pressure from the union movement to abandon Denver. As this editorial in the Examiner reports, AFL-CIO officials say they will urge Democrats to move the convention unless Colorado Governor Bill Ritter signs a bill repealing a long-standing Colorado law requiring that, once a company’s employees approve a union, they have a second, secret-ballot vote on how dues will be assessed, with a 75 percent supermajority required for approval. Earlier, Ritter vetoed such legislation, which would undermine the protection of workers' pay checks.
Ritter, by the way, is a Democrat, part of the wave of Democrats who are succeeding in western states by eschewing the hard-left agenda of the national party. If Ritter really angers the unions, maybe they can get Ned Lamont to move west and mount a primary challenge.
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