Out & About

Michael Barnes is Entertainment Editor for the Austin American-Statesman. He lives in South Austin with his partner, Kip, two dogs and two cats. More on Out & About.

Some Favorite Links:
 • The Advocate
 • AllMusic
 • Andrew Sullivan
 • Arts Journal
 • Austinist
 • BBC News
 • Box Office Mojo
 • Broadcasting and Cable
 • Community Matters
 • Epicurious
 • ESPN
 • Gay Topix
 • IMBD
 • Longhorns on Statesman.com
 • The Los Angeles Times
 • The New Republic
 • The New York Times
 • PinkDome
 • Planet Out
 • Pollstar
 • Publisher's Weekly
 • Rotten Tomatoes
 • Shout
 • TMZ
 • The Washington Post
 • Yellow Tape
 • Zap2It

A note on commenting

You can comment on entries, but they will not be posted until they are reviewed by the blogger.

RSS feed

If you use an RSS reader, here is feed for Out & About: XML.
Learn more about RSS.

What's on this page?

The entry titled "Mountain West No. 14: Politics West."

Categories

• Arts
• Business
• Charity
• City
• Education
• Food
• Interactive
• Law
• Media
• Movies
• Music
• Nightlife
• Sports
• Style
• SXSW
• SXSW 2011
• The 500
• Travel
• Your A-List

More recent entries

• Imaginarium for Austin Children's Museum at Mueller
• James Armstrong's Epic Birthday Party
• Profile: Deanna Hoelscher and Steven Kelder
• Sissy Spacek speaks at LBJ Library and Museum
• Two Sunday Parties
• More entries...

Archives

• May 25, 2012
• May 24, 2012
• May 22, 2012
• May 20, 2012
• May 18, 2012
• May 17, 2012
• May 16, 2012
• More archives...

Statesman Blogs

• All Ablog Austin
• Anders Meanders
• Austin Golf: Backspin
• Austin Legal
• Bevo Beat
• Bohl Games
• Charity Chat
• City and County Beat
• Design Austin
• Editors' Notes
• First Reading
• Focal Point
• Formula Austin
• Fort Hood on the Front Lines
• Golden's Nuggets
• Hill Country Rambler
• Homeroom
• Keeping It Real
• Knittin' Kitten
• Mama Drama
• No Limits
• Pet Friendly
• Postcards
• Salsa Verde
• Salud
• Season for Caring
• ShortCuts
• Somos Austin
• Statesman Business Blog
• The 12th Word at A&M
• The Blotter
• The Goods
• The lowdown on higher education
• The Reader
• Up the Ladder
• Varsity News
• Weather Watch
• WillCo Wired

Austin360 Blogs

• Austin Arts: Seeing Things
• Austin Movie Blog
• Austin Music Source
• Digital Savant
• Fit City
• Forklore
• It's Always Funny In Austin
• Liquid
• Out & About
• Relish Austin
• Road Rash
• The Luxe Life
• The M.O.
• TV and Radio Blog

All Blogs

Blogs FAQ

Austin360 blogs > Out & About > Archives > 2008 > August > 04 > Entry

Mountain West No. 14: Politics West

By Michael Barnes | Monday, August 4, 2008, 05:30 PM

The Mountain West is a key battleground in this year’s presidential election. Alert to their unexpected roles as kingmakers, Westerners are engaging in lively debate. Most observers tend to think that Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada are genuinely up for grabs, while Montana or Idaho are long shots for Democrat Barak Obama. Utah, Wyoming and Arizona belong to John McCain, the conventional wisdom goes.

The rivalry among ruling Republicans out West seems starkest in Idaho, where Republican Rep. Bill Sali faces conservative-to-moderate Democrat challenger Walt Minnick. Sali is such an outspoken cultural warrior, repeatedly linking abortion to breast cancer, for instance, that Idaho House Speaker Bruce Newcomb, a Republican, said of Sali: “That idiot is just an absolute idiot.” An opening for Dems?

Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Politics & Law, Travel