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The Democratic Party chairman in Wyoming
is predicting that Democratic candidates throughout the Rocky Mountain
region will be damaged if his party selects Hillary Clinton for
president.
"Every Democratic candidate in Wyoming will be painted with
that same liberal, big-government brush. We will also be the target of
the locker room jokes that rightfully belong to Bill Clinton," John
Millin wrote in a letter to The Denver Post.
"While I don't agree with this view of Mrs. Clinton, I have to
accept that this is the truth. It has become the dirty little secret in
the Democratic Party," he wrote. "Westerners have an independent,
libertarian spirit and Democrats can make Republicans pay a heavy price
for years of pandering to the social conservatives. None of this will happen if Hillary wins the nomination."
The Clinton campaign dismissed Millin's comments as the work of a
surrogate for a rival candidate, Sen. Barack Obama. The Democratic
National Committee and the state Democratic spokesman in Wyoming
hastened to point out that the party is neutral in the primary campaign
and that Millin's opinions are his own. Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal,
a Democrat, declined to comment. Millin is a superdelegate who has
thrown his support to Obama.
"Hillary Clinton's been a change agent for 35 years, and she's
the only candidate who's taken on the Republican attack machine and
won," campaign spokesman Isaac Baker said. "That's why poll after poll
shows her beating the Republican candidates in a general-election
matchup."
Larry Drake, a Denver volunteer for Clinton and a Vietnam War
combat veteran, characterized Obama as a onetime advocate of handgun
bans. "We believe in gun rights in the West," he said. "If this guy
thinks Obama is more electable than Hillary, I'd like to know why."
Democrats have gained ground in the Rocky Mountain region in
the past two elections, winning close congressional races and
corralling five of eight governor's offices. They chose Denver as their 2008 convention site in the
belief they could capture some of the Western states that previously
helped elect George Bush.
In Colorado and New Mexico, Democratic Party chairs disputed their
Wyoming colleague's assessment that Sen. Clinton could damage that
quest.
"I would disagree with that tremendously," said Colorado
chairwoman Pat Waak. She noted that Colorado elected Democrat Ken
Salazar to the U.S. Senate in 2004 — and Democrats now control the
legislature and the governor's office — despite John Kerry's
150,000-vote loss to Bush in Colorado.
Western voters "are looking for authentic, honest candidates"
and are not necessarily party-line voters, she said. Clinton "seems to
be a target at this point for some people, in part because she's a
front-runner."
In New Mexico, Republican U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici's retirement
has precipitated a candidate scramble that leaves all three of its
House seats and a Senate seat open.
Given that unprecedented situation, "Democrats are going to
come out in force, no matter who the nominee is," state chairman Brian
Colon said.
National polls have consistently shown Clinton as the early
favorite in the Democratic race. But with the first caucus less than
three weeks away, some polls suggest Obama is gaining ground in the
runner-up spot.
Millin is not the only Democratic leader in the Rocky Mountain
states who has been worrying about the local effects of a Clinton
nomination, but he was the only one willing to speak on the record.
Floyd Ciruli, an independent pollster in Colorado, said
Clinton inspires the most passion — for and against her — of any
candidate.
"Every national poll shows she's probably the most polarizing figure," he said.
"Her problem in Colorado, and in much of the West, is a liberal
image," he said. "At the moment, there is no evidence she will help
other Democrats here."
Online Read Millin's letter and excerpts from an interview with him PoliticsWest.com
PoliticsWest.com editor Stephen Keating contributed to this report.
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