McCain 48%Hillary Clinton loses handily:
Obama 43%
McCain 54%That 36% is probably Clinton's ceiling. Remember...this is a state where about 60% of voters said they would never, ever vote for Hillary Clinton. And while the state carries only 3 Electoral College votes, in a close election those electors could make the difference (had Al Gore prevailed in just one small 3-vote state in 2000 he'd be finishing his second term right now). But more than that, moving such a state to the Democratic column would be a small step in the direction of a nationwide mandate.
Clinton 36%
Montana last went Democratic in 1992, voting for Bill Clinton as Ross Perot siphoned a huge percentage of the vote away from the first President Bush. Clinton would lose the state four years later, and it has been one of the more reliable Republican states in presidential elections since then.
They do have a blue streak though, having elected a very popular Democratic governor (Brian Schweitzer) and two U.S. Senators (Max Baucus and Jon Tester). And now it seems Obama has a fighting chance in the Treasure State. A victory there on election night could well spill over into other Mountain West and High Plains states like South Dakota, Nevada, Colorado, and perhaps an electoral vote or two in Nebraska.
For Democrats in the remaining primary and caucus states the task is easy: Do you go with the candidate who has the better chance at picking up some normally Republican states? Or do we shoot ourselves in the foot yet again by nominating a candidate who has little chance of doing so - and could possibly move a couple of Democratic states (Oregon, Washington) into the Republican column?
