Here in Montana, and across the Rocky Mountain West, the election of Barack Obama represents the startling culmination of social, cultural and political changes that have been underway in this region for many years. You've heard a lot of this by now: the Mountain West, increasingly populated by amenity-seeking coastal migrants and Latino immigrants, and with an independent-minded electorate that's resistant to Republican over-reaching on social issues, is no longer solid red, but rather "in play." And if the breadth of Obama's victory ultimately rendered the electoral votes of Colorado and New Mexico and Montana and Nevada superfluous, the deeper significance of the changes remain.

It certainly didn't play out the way any pundit might have predicted a couple of years ago. Obama, for starters, is hardly the "Western" candidate that many Western Democrats imagined would be the standard-bearer for the inevitable breakthrough. "You guys have a nice deal around here," Obama said in Missoula last spring, with all the wonder of a first-time tourist. He joked about going fly fishing (a river runs through it, after all!), but it's hard to picture him in waders.
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From the new west blog: Election Day 2008

Some voters in Montana and Idaho have received a text message saying, "Flash: Due to very long lines, all Obama voters are asked to vote on Wednesday. Thank you. Please forward to everyone."

Of course, the polls close Tuesday night and the message is not true.

Secretaries of State for both Idaho and Montana made the announcement. Ben Ysursa, Idaho's Secretary of State, said he hopes it's someone's idea of a joke, and not an organized effort to illegally influence the outcome of the election. [more]

post your election experience and thoughts here

Typical of election day, it’s wet and almost cold in Boise. The leaves are past their peak, but still hanging around on some trees in bright colors. Drifts of them skitter down the street in the wind.

As I drove to the poll, I passed more than ten young people holding and waving Obama signs, in two corner locations. A few had signs for other Democrats. On a long boulevard, I didn't see Republican signs being waved, although there are plenty stuck in the ground.

Having voted in the same place for 21 years, I can say that at elevenish, it was the biggest turnout ever, with a typical 20-minute wait. I waited longer because I let people ahead of me who were wearing work clothes and looking anxious – I figured I had more time than they did.

The line was many times longer than is typical. I’ve never waited behind more than three people. Considering the early-voting and absentee ballot count in Idaho was huge this year, it was even more surprising.

Also a surprise was the line for people to register at the poll and then vote was 26 people long, every one of them under 30, from how it looked. I was dying to ask them questions, but it’s not the done thing inside a polling place.

Share your story in comments, below. NOTE: If you haven't registered for our comments function, don't worry about doing so. We do not give away, sell, or distribute our private list to anyone, or any organization, ever. Once you register, you never have to do that again. [more]

Voting Problems Hotlines

Ready, set….VOTE.

But if you have any trouble voting, there is help.

Call 1-866-OUR VOTE (1-866-687-8683) for the voter’s hotline administered by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, if any action or condition you feel prevented or was intended to prevent you from voting. Just a few examples include polls opening late or closing early, "running out" of ballots or having your identity or voter registration status improperly challenged.

You should also report any action or condition you feel made it difficult for you to vote, including but not limited to; lack of handicapped accessibility and accommodation, lack of assistance for people with limited English ability, confusing ballots, lack of privacy while voting, or generally unhelpful or unknowledgeable poll workers or officials.

For immediate situations such as a ballot which marks the wrong candidate without you being able to correct it should be reported before you finish voting. Stop what you’re doing and get a poll worker (and watcher, if there is one) and show them the problem. Refuse to finish the ballot while you call the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. There are no special forms to use or procedures to follow--just call 1-800-253-3931.

If, for some reason, you can’t do those things and decide to finish the ballot, recruit some witnesses to the situation. Take photographs if it’s allowed. Write down precisely what happened – no detail is too tiny. Get a witness to write down what they observed. After the election, send copies of your documents to the Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Washington, D.C. [more]

Election 2008

The woman who raised Barack Obama, his grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, died today.

Also today, the California Republican Party sent a complaint letter to Federal Election Commission general counsel Thomasenia Duncan which says, "Obama for America violated federal law by converting its campaign funds to Senator Obama's personal use" for his trip to see his dying grandmother. [more]

THE SCARIEST THING THAT HAPPENED ON HALLOWEEN

Something extremely scary happened last Friday on Halloween. Dan Cooper, President and Founder of Cooper Firearms of Stevensville, Montana, resigned.

Not so scary, you say. Well, wait until you hear why. If you believe in freedom and that there's a reason why the right to free speech is the First Amendment, prepare to be terrified.

Editor's note: Links to three updates at the end of the story.--Bill Schneider [more]

from the new west blog: election 2008

The last weekend in October smells like sweaters and sounds like leaves and rakes, and jack o' lanterns sit on porches all over America. But for those who live a political life, this weekend is not about Halloween.

It’s the final days before Tuesday’s election – the last chance to win over undecideds and make sure people know where to vote.

My cell phone and email inbox are eerily quiet.

I’m not hearing from press secretaries or campaign contacts. They’re directing platoon leaders of volunteers walking neighborhoods to drop literature, or they’re inside supervising endless phone calls to voters - all the things campaigns do on the weekend before an election.

Candidates are still out looking for live voters. The kids at the computers inside headquarters are downloading and printing out more walking lists. Staffers higher up are taking phone calls nonstop, putting out fires: signs are being stolen in one precinct; volunteers are stranded in another; the candidate’s spouse is late to the rally.

This is the day that overworked laser printers toast out and die, leading to a crying jag by some poor exhausted soul. This is the day campaign staff can’t stand to eat another piece of pizza from a box thrown on a table. It’s the day someone finally blows up at that one talkative volunteer who always hangs around but never actually does anything. And nobody has any more clean clothes. [more]

from the new west blog: election 2008

With newspaper readership flattening out, internet readership growth means the net is now more widely read than newspapers for campaign news.

Using the internet as a campaign news source has grown again since this year’s primary elections, according to a poll released Friday by Pew Research.

Television remains the dominant source at 72 percent, with the internet at 33 percent compared with newspapers at 29. That four point difference could be called a big number, considering that the demographics of readership break down pretty much as expected: younger people read the internet more; older people newspapers.

Nearly three times as many people ages 18 to 29 mention the internet as mention newspapers as a main source of election news (49% vs. 17%). Nearly the opposite is true among those over age 50: some 22% rely on the internet for election news while 39% look to newspapers. Compared with 2004, use of the internet for election news has increased across all age groups.

Even television has lost ground to the internet as a main source of campaign news among the youngest polled group, ages 18 – 29.

On television, the cable news outlets clearly dominate the big three networks as main sources of campaign news. Nearly half of the public (46%) turns to the cable news channels, with 25% naming CNN as a main source of campaign news, 21% naming Fox News Channel and 10% naming MSNBC. Only 24% rely on the network news outlets ABC, CBS and NBC. Another 13% look to local TV news.

The full report has some fascinating analysis of the partisanship of audiences of different news channels.




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Election 2008: Idaho's First CD

The House race between Walt Minnick and Bill Sali has entered a final, typical phase of many campaigns, with each accusing the other of transgressions.

Last week, the Idaho Democratic Party sent out a piece of campaign literature in North Idaho which had Sali and his wife’s Social Security numbers on a public document which was printed on the flier which shows that Sali has not paid taxes or campaign finance reports on time.

In a second incident, local ABC affiliate KIVl reported on a family who say Sali still owes them thousands in unpaid debts from a land lease.

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Column: Elections 2008

In this historic year when Americans will probably elect the first mixed-race president, voters seem to have rejected the far-right wing of the Republican Party, hate-filled fear politics, and the rich getting richer at the expense of the poor and middle class.

Idaho, which will likely give McCain his biggest win, is an exception - but one race may be the beginning of a shift already felt in other Western states.

It's the run for Idaho’s First Congressional District between incumbent Republican Bill Sali and Democratic challenger Walt Minnick. Will this one hold the red line and keep a far-right fear-politics ideologue in office, or defy Idaho’s history to elect a Democrat – albeit a conservative one?

Not since 1992 has there been a Democrat from Idaho in Congress (current U.S. Senate candidate Larry LaRocco), but if ever there was a time it’s realistically possible, it’s on Tuesday.
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