Has the West changed enough for a Democratic presidential candidate to win there? Other than the coastal states of California, Oregon, and Washington, western states like Colorado, Arizona, Montana, used to be unfriendly ground for the Democrats. But times have changed, in gubernatorial and senatorial races across the West, and the panelists at Thursday morning’s ‘Convention Conversation’ at the DNC in Denver were evidence of that very phenomenon.

The panel, bookended by the bolo-tied U.S. Senator from Colorado Ken Salazar and Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer, along with Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano represent the new-look Democratic Party in the West.

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Two election cycles ago there was not a single Republican governor in the western states, today there are seven western states with Democratic governors, and if you include the plains-states of Kansas and Oklahoma, the total becomes nine Democratic governors west of the Mississippi.

At the Federal level, Congressman Mark Udall of (D-CO) also has an excellent shot at winning the vacant seat left by the exiting Republican Senator Wayne Allard. The West is undergoing a demographic changes that are trending its politics toward the blue.

“Montana is a little tougher trip up the river for the Democrats than it is for the other states” said Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer. “Right now in Montana it is dead, dang, tied at 45-45 between Mccain and Obama.” Schweitzer, who has been a vocal supporter of McCain said that Obama has been to Montana five times to campaign already, and that was more visits that the state hosted over the last two presidential campaigns put together.

Energy: Old and New

The critical issues that get Democrats elected as governor in the West are not necessarily the same issues that play for Westerners in a presidential election. One such issue (though hardly a “single-issue” in the traditional sense), energy and natural resources always play big in the West. And now with the added wrinkle of the promise of renewable energy, energy politics have taken on a whole new meaning.

Gov. Napolitano noted that because of federal abdication of leadership on renewables, the states have had to pick up the slack. “We’ve been missing our partner in the White House,” said the Arizona governor.

“Senator McCain’s record has been abismal. I’ve seen an ad with wind [turbines] and I said to myself, what is he talking about?” [which, I should mention was the exact same reaction I had when I saw it]

The trio hammered the theme I heard from Democrats all week in Denver, and that is McCain and has simply not shown up when he’s had opportunities to pass meaningful legislation to support extensions of the renewable energy investment tax credit and production tax credits.

Don’t forget about the water

When asked about McCain’s Colorado River Compact misstep Salazar spoke most forcefully on the issue, reiterating that McCain would only be able to renegotiate the compact “over my dead body.” Salazar, who is an expert on water law and policy said there is absolutely no reason to renegotiate the compact, especially considering the amount of work and cooperation that is already being done to make the system work.

Schweitzer, who made a big splash with his speech earlier in the week said, “He just stepped in it, it is fresh, it is wet, and it still smells bad.”

Napolitano said For McCain to take Arizona he’s going to have to work harder than he has so far.

Is water a big enough issue to play nationally? Probably not. How about renewable energy? Perhaps. The electoral college mandate is such that it essentially has fifty individual electoral races nestled within a larger national race. And Democrats and Republicans alike will be targeting, framing, and tailoring their message for each state, and I can guarantee you, this is not the last time we will hear western Dems raise issues of water, natural resources, and renewable energy in the next several months.

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Photos: Tim Hurst; Map: Wikimedia