Out West, Democrats Roam Free

[Thom Little]

By Timothy Egan
New York Times
Sunday, Nov. 27, 2005


The gun-loving, pickup truck-driving, church-going, jeans-wearing governor of Montana - a Democrat in his first year - was reveling in his poll numbers on a day when broader surveys found that barely a third of the people approved of their national government leaders.

"Look at these numbers," said Gov. Brian Schweitzer, pointing to the annual Montana State University survey showing him with a job approval rating of 69 percent - 27 points higher than President Bush in Montana and 21 points above the Republican senator, Conrad Burns, who is up for re-election next year. "People seem to like what we're doing."

Across the vast inland sea of Republican red, in states like Kansas, Wyoming, Oklahoma and Arizona, other Democratic governors are soaring at the same high level of approval in the polls. They may not look much like coastal Democrats, and they may not talk much like their party leaders. At times, they act as if they would rather catch the bird flu than have their pictures taken with Howard Dean, the Democratic Party chairman who often runs into "scheduling conflicts" with the governors whenever he visits.

But as Democrats look to nationalize the Congressional elections next year, they have been traipsing off to political backwaters likes Helena, Cheyenne, Wyo., and Topeka, Kan., for tips from Heartland Democrats. The breed that has long been ignored, but was forced early on to learn some survival strategies, is now in vogue.



http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/27/weekinreview/27egan.html?pagewanted=print

[bklyncowgirl]

1. Sounds like these governors are all good old fashioned populists

The article points out how they differ from urban liberals on social issues--fair enough--but it didn't point out how these governors differ from let's say, the DLC which favors trade agreements that work agains American workers and farmers.

I think these governors are moving in the right direction. A populist economic policy, a commonsence policy on guns and a live and let live positions on social issues.

[billbuckhead]

2. And what is a commonsense policy on guns

America loses 30,000 dead every year from guns. 100 billion dollars a year. This is as bad as a foriegn war but since the victims tend to be poor, minorities and battered women, it's like we sacrifice them to the neoCON gun lobby.

[bklyncowgirl]

8. First of all, I'm not pro-gun. I'm an urban non-hunter.

But here's the problem. In rural areas where hunting is a way of life the gun issue has been used as a wedge to get people to vote against their economic best interests.

Which would I rather see. In immediate focus on the perfect gun policy--which in my opinion would be registration and mandatory safety training--or people in rural areas voting for progressive candidates.

I'd rather ease up on the gun issue and press the issues that these people can agree on so that we can get decent people in office than push for the perfect and end up with conservatives controlling everything.

[Hippo_Tron]

9. Check out the gun death rate in Montana

I think it's the lowest in the country or close to it. There's a reason that Schweitzer isn't advocating gun control, MONTANA DOESN'T NEED ANY. Gun crime happens largely in inner-cities and Montana doesn't have any of those.

All that people like Schweitzer are suggesting is that gun control may be needed in some places and not in others.

[Odin2005]

4. I HATE populists.

That is why the RETHUGS are so dangerous today, they use demogougery to keep the sheeple in line. They are the ultimate "polls are more important than what is right." people. Those "good old fasioned populist Dems" of last century were racists who blamed everything on the "Jewish Bankers" and wanted a crazy pro-inflation policy, these are the people that got recalls and referendums in wester states that were used to get anti-gay legislation through, and got the Gropenator as CA governor. Democrats here in Minnesota are pissed of at our Republican governor because he a populist.

[Shakespeare]

6. I think you misunderstand what real populism is. n/t

[ReverendDeuce]

7. What???

From Wikipedia:

"Populism is a political philosophy or rhetorical style that holds that the common person is oppressed by the elite in society, and that the instruments of the State need to be grasped from this self-serving elite and used for the benefit and advancement of the people as a whole. Abraham Lincoln summed up the populist ideology in his famous Gettysburg Address, when he advocated "... government of the people, by the people, for the people." A populist reaches out to ordinary people, talking about their economic and social concerns, and appealing to their common sense."

I am proud to say that, by the above definition, I am a populist.

I think you may be referring to this line that I snipped off the paragraph above:

"Most scholarship on populism since 1980 has discussed it as a rhetorical style that can be used to promote a variety of ideologies."

So yes, the conservatives have latched onto the populist-style rhetoric for their own benefit, but they have none of the ideals. The complete article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populism

[madfloridian]

3. You forgot this quote.

You forgot this quote, and I notice that Scott at MyDD posted quotes but not this one. What he is saying is keep the party at arms length, even the chairman and the presidential nominee.

But oddly enough, in the thread I posted in GDP, most people here thought that it was just fine to be insulting to the nominee and the chairman.

I conceded, but I think it is still wrong. I think we need to proud of each other.

The money quote:

"It's only when I get lumped in with John Kerry and Howard Dean that my party affiliation becomes an issue," said Governor Freudenthal"

[Mutley]

5. These are the kinds of Dems we should be looking at for 2008.

Maybe a little moderate for some of our tastes, but what is really important: getting every last thing we want, or taking back our government?