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Show Hinckley Journal of Politics Autumn 1998 High Aspirations in the Rocky Mountains: The Push for a Western Region Presidential Primary by Peter C. Carlston When it comes to U.S. presidential primary elections, the very selection of the nominees to be the leader of the free world, the State of Utah and the western states have virtually no say. In order to attract more media and candidate attention in national presidential primary elections, as well as increase the political clout of Utah and the other western states, western leaders propose a Western Region Presidential Primary. Would a regional primary really bring more media and candidate attention, and therefore more political clout to the west? This article analyzes these questions and explores the possible implications of the proposed "Rocky Mountain Region Presidential Primary." Introduction Power and Growth of the West Utah is experiencing a period of incredible growth and material progress. The success of the Utah sports teams, the scheduled coming of the 2002 Winter Olympics to Salt Lake City, the presence of the LDS Church headquarters, the great skiing in the beautiful mountains, the fresh air and quality of life, the increasing national influence of several state leaders, and more contribute to the rising prominence of the Beehive state. In fact, the west as a whole region is going through dramatic changes. Governor Michael Leavitt (1998) recently shared these statistics that reflect the success of the western United States: Job growth - eight of the top ten job-producing states are in the west. Fast-growing counties - 11 of the top 15 are in the west. Personal income gain - seven of the top ten are western states. Population growth - nine of the top ten are western States. Political realignment - the west will pick up eight of the 11 new congressional seats as a result of the 2000 census. These numbers are pretty amazing. However, in spite of the rapid growth and the booming economies, when it comes to media coverage of regional issues and of presidential primary elections, the attention Utah and most western states Peter C. Carlston is a senior at the University of Utah working toward a degree in Political Science. He has served as co-editor of this edition of the Hinckley Journal of Politics. receive is disproportionately low. One should think about it: Did Bush, Dukakis, Clinton, or Dole make many presidential campaign stops in Utah during the last decade? The West Has No Voice Why are intermountain west states out of the game when it comes to determining the party nomination for President of the United States? Two main reasons: First, although the states are large in area, they have few delegate votes because of their small populations.1 Second, most of the delegates are chosen long after the presidential nomination has been secured with votes from other states. Building Western Muscle Utah Governor Michael Leavitt and other western leaders are working to build the political strength of the Rocky Mountain states. In an address on May 19, 1998, Leavitt declared: No mountain state has the delegate vote or the punch of political tradition to impact the debate or anoint the frontrun-ner. But, collectively we could change the landscape. Group the eight mountain states together and you have a powerhouse. Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming together would have 50 more delegate votes than Texas and 16 more than California. Group them on a single day in late February or early March and you have viability. You have the Western Regional Primary. Leavitt has compared the proposed "Rocky Mountain" primary to the South's "Super Tuesday," asserting it "would 1 See Appendix, Table 2: Delegates per State; and Table 3: Electoral Votes per State, 41 |
