| Pete T. already commented on Chelsi Moy's article on the damage Missoula's reputation does for local candidates' statewide ambitions, but naturally I'd thought I'd pitch in.
Pete wisely notes:
I have two points to make. First, we are the center of the universe. Second, if you want to be the Democratic nominee, you have to win Missoula.
That's definitely true. What's also true is that Missoula politicians do have a chance to win the state, IMHO, if they run on a strong economic populist message emphasizing local and state solutions to national problems, like energy and education.
Missoula is a liberal haven, that's true. And certainly a lot of our pet social issues don't necessarily resonate with the entire state. (Although you'd be surprised what floats with the state - medicinal marijuana? Check.) But I'd argue that issues of corporate control of the government, preserving open space and access to our wildlands, trade, livable wages, alternative energy, budegetary responsibility, Iraq, and health care gibe with a majority of the state.
Solutions progressive Missoulians embrace are often local. Sustainable agriculture? Build a couple of community farms inside city limits. Alternative energy? Build "green" homes, create co-operative urban development organizations. Republicans used to talk a lot about states' rights -- until that rhetoric got a little awkward when compared with their actual policy-making decisions.
Do Missoula candidates have a reputation to hurdle? Definitely. It's a reputation that bears little resemblance to reality, one that's been nurtured by the right to nullify the city's political potential influence in state politics. And for good reason. A Missoula-influenced future would push the Republican party to the side.
And there's reason to believe that the perception of Missoula will change naturally. As Moy writes in a tossed-in afterthought:
Missoula is changing. Its borders are expanding. People everywhere are more environmentally conscious. Out-of-state residents are moving in, and bringing with them a wide variety of personalities and attitudes.
Missoula is already the second-largest city in the state, and some predict it'll soon be the largest.
With most of Montana's voters increasingly concentrated in western Montana, the rural Montana vote will hold less weight, [UM professor James] Lopach said.
Running as a candidate from Missoula may not be "the handicap it maybe once was," he said.
The state is changing, and probably aligning more towards the Garden City than it is towards traditional ranching communities. A couple of decades from now, we might be remembering Missoula's "reputation" with nostalgia. |
