The “silver linings” of the Democrats’ 2004 election results starts off strongly, and then becomes thin. The Democrats saving grace for 2004 centers on some Mountain West results.

Montana is exhibit one. The Democrats gain control of the governorship, both houes of the state legislature, and just for the hell of it — Congratulations to Montana’s Potheads. (An issue that the Democratic candidate for governor had to battle against to score credibility, along with constant images of the man with a boatload of guns.) And, for what it is worth, Kerry did better in the state than Gore did. As Tom Brokaw mentioned in the eulogy to the Democratic Party, and the troubles they face outside the coastal enclaves and upper MidWest, Clinton won the state in 1992… now Montana elects Democrats to state office.

Colorado is exhibit two. Here we head toward the famed “Salazar brothers”. Ken Salazar won the state’s US Senate seat. His brother took a House seat. Everything is peachy keen. And Colorado almost looks like a bonafide swing state for presidential elections!

From there, the great “linchpin in the Mountain west” fades out considerably, and I’m left scratching my head. Wyoming had a county that voted for Kerry… Dick Cheney’s county, as a matter of fact. Idaho elected an openly gay woman to the state legislator, from that great bastion of Idahoian progressivism — Boise. Salt Lake City, if you squint hard enough and look in places…

Things go to Hell in a handbasket from there.

The map starts to look pretty much the same… you know, the inverted 1896 map all over again.

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