Candidates Court Mountain West
Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado unaccustomed to lavish presidential race attention.
Oct. 25, 2008 -- Barack Obama and John McCain stumped across the Mountain West on Saturday, intensifying their battle for a region that has never enjoyed so much attention in a presidential race.
Indeed, after McCain visited Albuquerque, N.M., on Saturday, Obama was scheduled to hold a rally there at night.
"It may have happened before, but we can't recall the two major party candidates for president both campaigning in our state on the same day in the final stretch," New Mexico political analyst Joe Monahan marveled on his Web site.
"If you are willing to fight the traffic and crowds, you could see both Obama and McCain within hours of each other."
Only once in 40 years has the Democratic nominee captured New Mexico, Colorado and Nevada. But in 2004, George W. Bush barely won there, edging John Kerry by less than 1 percentage point in New Mexico, 2 points in Nevada, and 5 points in Colorado. Had Kerry won those states, he would be president.
This year, the Obama campaign targeted the region as part of its efforts to expand the electoral map. And polls now show Obama leading in New Mexico and Colorado, and leading or tied in Nevada.
"This region has been trending Democratic. But there is no question that the Obama campaign, with its organizational skills, has been accelerating the process," said Cornell Clayton, a political scientist at Washington State University.
McCain sandwiched his visit to Albuquerque on Saturday with appearances Friday in Denver, Colorado Springs and Durango, Colo., and a stop in Mesilla, N.M., later Saturday. Obama held rallies in Reno and Las Vegas, Nev., before his planned appearance in Albuquerque on Saturday night.
In McCain, the Republicans would seem to have the perfect candidate to extend their dominance in the three Mountain West states.
After all, McCain is the senior senator from Arizona, the first major party nominee from the West in a quarter century. And he has displayed the kind of independence traditionally valued by Western voters, breaking with the Republican Party on issues such as global warming and immigration reform.
