UPDATED: Dem leaders think McCain is beatable in Western states

Leaders of the Democratic parties of several Western states held a conference call today to discuss what they see as Sen. John McCain's vulnerability in the traditionally Republican Rocky Mountain region, including Arizona. 

"The winds of political change are definitely blowing across the inner mountain West," said Todd Taylor, Executive Director of the Utah Democratic Party.

"59 percent of Western voters think the country is on the wrong track," claimed Pat Waak, Chair of Colorado's Democratic Party. "[McCain's] promise of a third Bush term... is not resonating with Western voters."

McCain is touring this part of the country over the next few days, and was joined by former Mass. Governor Mitt Romney to raise money in Utah and Colorado today. He is scheduled to swing through Nevada tomorrow and try to build on the $3 million he reaped from California contributors earlier in the week.

"Utah doesn't trust John McCain," said Taylor. He said that while Utahns are excited about the visit of Romney, who was instrumental in salvaging the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics in 2002, significantly less enthusiasm exists for McCain. He is "not considered a great asset for local [GOP] candidates in Utah," according to Taylor.

He also pointed out that McCain is only tracking at 54 percent among Utah voters, in contrast to the 70 percent Republicans have garnered in the past several presidential elections.

"He's doing the worst of any Republican candidate since the last senator from Arizona," said Taylor in reference to Sen. Barry Goldwater's loss to Lyndon Johnson in Utah in 1964.   

The Democrats also hit McCain over having largely ignored the West, both by spending little time there during his campaign and by taking unpopular stances on the issues important to voters in those states.  

They pointed to his support for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump in Nevada, coziness with drilling companies in Colorado and flip-flopping on immigration reform as signs that he is "out of touch."

Maria Weeg, Executive Director of the Arizona Democratic Party, singled out McCain's recent repudiation of an immigration reform bill that he had sponsored to show he has "changed his stamp on almost everything to pander to the most extreme elements of his party." However, she claims the strategy isn't working.

"The Arizona Republican Party feels betrayed by John McCain," said Weeg. "McCain in his home state got less than half of the vote in the primary," she said. "If [Democratic] Gov. Janet Napolitano ran a primary she would get well over 48 percent."

Weeg is hopeful that even in Arizona, which McCain has represented in the Senate for 21 years, Democrats might be able to beat him.

"You know I think Arizona is winnable for a number of reasons," said Weeg, who said the large margins Napolitano and Attorney General Terry Goddard put up during the 2006 election, and anecdotal evidence that indicates a "seven-to-one" voter registration advantage for Democrats over Republicans this year, points to a landscape that is moving toward the Democratic Party.

However, several reporters on the call pointed out that many poll numbers are not in line with the Democrats' optimistic assertions.

For example, today's Rasmussen tracking results show that of all Rocky Mountain states, only Colorado and Nevada are currently in play, listed as "toss-ups". The rest are in the "safely Republican" column.

"Polls have been all over the map," said Weeg. She claimed that part of that is due to not knowing "who McCain really is" and the ongoing and increasingly bitter nomination fight between Sens. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.).

"The longer we get into this cycle, and the more people get to know who John McCain is, we're going to see poll numbers change dramatically," Weeg said.