Idaho Politics column
Finally, DNC Will Meet in the Rocky Mountain West
By Jill Kuraitis, 7-14-09
The Democratic National Committee has never been known for its Western orientation - a frustration for Democrats across the west for years.
It’s been tough for Rocky Mountain voters to identify with candidates with heavy Eastern support like Sen. John Kerry. Despite his vacation home in Sun Valley, Kerry has the eastern prep-school persona alien to westerners, and looked silly in costume-hunting gear.
Democrats who have run campaigns in the west will tell you stories of trying to get the right kind of support from the DNC, whose staffers are in glass-fronted offices in the swamp called Washington, D.C.. Many of them have never spent enough time in the west to understand – never mind appreciate – western Dems.
That’s why the story that about 100 DNC members and western Democratic leaders will meet in Coeur d’Alene August 7-9 for the Democratic National Committee’s 2009 Western States Caucus Conference is encouraging to Idaho Dems. The meeting has never been held in Idaho before.
Jeanne Buell is vice-chair of the Idaho Democratic Party and serves on the Executive Committee of the Association of State Democratic Chairs. She said the meeting was scheduled for Idaho in recognition of the work that Idaho Democrats have done to start changing the state’s political landscape, including the election of Congressman Walt Minnick and the record-shattering attendance at the 2008 presidential caucuses statewide.
The son of long-time former state senator Mary Lou Reed of Coeur d’Alene, Bruce Reed, currently the CEO of the Democratic Leadership Council and former special assistant to President Bill Clinton, will be the honored guest at a Thursday, August 6, barbecue kicking off the meeting.
[End of article]The meeting is at the Coeur d'Alene Casino and Resort run by the Coeur d'Alene Tribe rather than in the city of Coeur d'Alene. It is approximately 28 miles from Coeur d'Alene and only a few miles from the small town of Worley, Idaho.
Comment By Michael Blain, 7-17-09Ms. Kuraitis' rather snide remarks about the National Democratic Comittee and Mr. Kerry reflect the politics of resentment one usually associates with Idaho politics, Ms. Palin and her ilk.
She seems to assume that only people who live in the Intermountain West can speak for real Westerners. How about good democrats who reside in California, Oregon, and Washington? There are different kinds of "Westerners." Blue-dog democrats are a special type of Westerner, not the defining type.
This kind of thinking is the sort one expects from so-called "blue-dog" democrats like Mr. Minnick. Lets face it, this type of democrat is most comparable to the so-called southern "Dixiecrat" of old. Never forget, those "democrats" set back social progress in this country for generations.
Ms. Kuraitis, where's the beef ? So-called "Blue-Dog" democrats are no better or different than reactionary politicians like Mr. Simpson.
One can only hope that the progressive movement in Idaho or the DNC does not adopt this strategy. Thanks to California, Oregon, Washington, and Massachusetts we have a relatively progressive administration in power at the national level. I would hate to see the DNC adopt the "Blue-Dog" strategy. It would represent a deep betrayal of the people who voted for progressive social change in this country.
Respectfully
My inexactitude in defining "westerners" does leave the impression you write about. I should have been more specific. Since NewWest.Net doesn't cover California, Oregon and Washington I made the fuzzy assumption that readers would understand. Too fuzzy. If it matters, I don't favor the Blue Dog team, or the other team, either. I'm watching them duke it out with great interest.
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