Presidential Politics and the Rural/Urban Divide in the West

By Courtney Lowery, 5-30-08

Shea Anderson has a thorough story in this week’s Boise Weekly hashing out how the presidential election is playing out in the Mountain West.

While at first, the story in general looks at the standard pontifications of the West-worthiness of each candidate, it gets at more than that, diving in with analysis and research on how the growth of urban Western towns is coloring the approach and reach of the two Democratic candidates.

Shea writes:

As places like Boise and others grow in influence and population in the West, both parties hope that it transforms the electorate as well. Democrats, who typically do better in urban areas in the West, are staking their hopes on the growth of cities.