| Buckle up, folks, we'll be hearing plenty about presidential politics and Montana in the next few days, what with the two leading presidential candidates and a former president in town.
Probably one of the best analyses of Montana politics I've read in a while came recently from Chris Cilliza, who appeared to have actually researched the state's political environment beyond fundraising and '04 voting numbers.
This is what he had to say about how Clinton could win Montana in June:
The wildcard in all of these calculations is the vote that will come out of the Native-American areas of the state. Native Americans make up 6 percent of the state's population, according to the 2000 Census, but are likely to vote at a proportionally higher level in a Democratic primary with estimates running from 10 percent of the primary electorate to as high as 17 percent. Former President Bill Clinton is a revered figure on the reservations, a status that should accrue to his wife's benefit, according to those who know the state well.
And, as if right on cue:
And then on Tuesday, the former president will stop in Havre.
Population 9,451.
Even in a race as tight as that between Hillary Clinton and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, has it come to this?
Why Havre? Pundits opine it's because of its proximity to the Rocky Boy's, Fort Peck, Blackfeet, and Fort Belknap reservations.
Indian people have not forgotten Bill Clinton's visit to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota in 1999, which made him the first sitting president to visit a reservation since Franklin Roosevelt. In that speech - nearly a decade before his wife became a presidential candidate - he specifically mentioned that Hillary Clinton had spent more time in Indian Country than any first lady in history.
"Indian people prospered more under his administration than any other," said state Rep. Margarett Campbell, D-Poplar....
"He has a lot of influence in those communities," said Campbell, of the Fort Peck Reservation. "His coming up there is a real reminder to Indian Country of what the Clintons are capable of in terms of understanding Indian Country and being willing to really look at some innovative and long-term systemic ways of making changes, both social and economic.
Kudos to the Clinton campaign for making this visit. Montana's Native Americans are going to enjoy a deserved and much-needed moment in the sun, and to hear a voice address concerns about health care, poverty, education, and voting rights on the country's reservations.
That's a good thing, no matter who wins the primary. And it'll be even better if Obama, too, makes a similar visit, and suddenly issues important to Native Americans become a crucial component of the 2008 presidential election.
Good times. |
