Going West Young Man

There has been a great deal of talk about whether Sen. Barack Obama could win the White House be pulling some southern states back into the Democratic fold.  Outside of President Bill Clinton, with assistance from Ross Perot, and President Jimmy Carter, Democrats have struggled mightily in an area the party owned for decades. 

As Sen. Barack Obama closes in on the Democratic nomination he has given a glimpse in recent days about how he hopes to attain the required 271 electoral votes needed to become the 44th President of the United States and he aint going south, he’s going west. 

While some think an Obama candidacy could make the party competitive in the south again, especially in Virginia and possibly North and South Carolina, many pundits think the road back to the White House for Democrats goes through the Rocky Mountain West.  In recent days Obama has visited and given policy speeches in New Mexico, Nevada and Colorado.  The stops correspond to new polls and electoral predictions that show those three states a toss up and Rasmussen Reports poll even has Obama up six points in Colorado against Sen. John McCain. 

Presumptive GOP nominee McCain also knows the interior west could be up for grabs and has also visited Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and his home state of Arizona in recent days as well. 

In fact it seems as if the Obama and McCain campaigns were trying to ”one up” one another in an area that could determine the next president.  Watch out the west could be wild again.