Democrats gaining hold in the West

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By Valerie Richardson

DENVER# | The last three Coloradans to hold this year's open Senate seat could be described as variations on a Republican theme: the exceedingly conservative Bill Armstrong, the rather conservative Hank Brown and the dependably conservative Wayne Allard.

It's hard to imagine putting any modifier in front of "conservative" to describe Mark Udall, unless it's "not." Yet the Democratic congressman has staked a claim as the early front-runner in the race to succeed those bastions of Colorado Republicanism.

At a Democratic volunteer rally Saturday, Mr. Udall, wearing the traditional Western campaign ensemble of jeans, cowboy boots and a hefty silver belt buckle, fired up the party's ground troops by telling them that "as Colorado goes, so goes the nation."

"Traditional conservative values are reflected more by Democrats now in the West than Republicans," Mr. Udall said later. "There's a new kind of conservatism, particularly the 'live and let live' approach to people's personal lives."

His opponent, former Republican Rep. Bob Schaffer, may roll his eyes at his opponent's attempt to don the conservative mantle, but there's little doubt that Democrats such as Mr. Udall have broadened their appeal among traditionally right-leaning Western voters.

In a year full of ominous harbingers for Republicans, chalk up another bummer: The party's grip on the Rocky Mountain West is slipping. Democrats are poised to make real gains here in November, thanks to savvy candidate selection, a few ill-timed Republican scandals and a national pro-Democratic tide.

"There's just been a tremendous amount of growth. All these states are attracting people from California and the Midwest, and these people don't have any particular ties to the state Republican or Democratic Party," said Denver pollster Floyd Ciruli.

"They tend to be independent, and if you have a reasonably attractive candidate and a national trend for the Democrats, there's no reason you can't elect Democrats," he said.

In 2004, all of the eight inner-mountain states broke for President Bush. This year, three of those - Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico - are seen as tossups ripe for the picking by the Obama campaign.

On the Senate side, Republicans in Colorado, New Mexico and Idaho are grappling with stiff challenges for seats previously occupied by Republicans, while only one Western Democratic senator, hardy Montana perennial Max Baucus, faces re-election.