"The West will not be ignored" in presidential contest

The editorial in yesterday's Denver Post declared, "The West will not be ignored" and predicted that the 8 Rocky Mountain states are no longer predictably Republican and perhaps four or more could go Democratic in the presidential contest. "Like all Americans, Westerners grumble at the rising cost of gasoline and home heating. But we also host the nation's greatest storehouse of natural resources and worry about how the rush to drill for gas and oil, mine uranium and eventually perhaps produce oil shale can affect our fragile environment and precious water resources. And we can't wait for both parties to address those issues."

Gov. Napolitano noted that just 6 years ago, all 8 states had Democratic governors. Today, 5 of them, Arizona, New Mexico, Montana, Wyoming and Colorado, have Democratic governors.

I think the Post is on target. Sen. McCain recently weighed in on the Colorado River Compact and today's Las Vegas Review Journal discusses both McCain's and Obama's positions on nuclear waste storage at Yucca Mountain.