The American West, historically a stronghold for the Republican Party, became more of a battleground than anticipated during this year's competition for the presidency.
The inroads Democratic Sen. John Kerry made in Nevada, Oregon and Colorado caused Bush's campaign team to expend additional efforts to turn the region red. And though the outcome in Idaho and Montana - solid Republican areas - was never in doubt, Kerry still increased Democratic support from 2000.
Ted Jelen, a political science professor at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, said this shift in support is part of a long-term trend. "This has been building for about two decades."
In 2000, former Vice President Al Gore only won Oregon with 47.1 percent of the vote, but this year Kerry increased the Democratic hold with 51.5 percent.
Though Bush picked up Idaho, Colorado, Nevada and Montana, Kerry rallied Democratic supporters enough to make significant progress for the party.
He garnered 2.8 percent more support in Idaho than Gore in 2000 and increased the Democratic hold on Colorado by 3.9 percent; his share of the popular vote in Nevada was up 1.7 percent from four years ago.
The Democrats saw 5 percent more support in Montana than they did during the last battle for the White House.
Though land conservation is a key issue in the region, Jelen said, it is not been the motivating force for Republican voters. "What the conservatives care about here is taxes."
The Bush campaign, in stressing social issues and appealing to the moral values of strongly conservative voters, did not focus enough on taxes to satisfy voters in the mountain West, many of whom are Eastern immigrants, Jelen said.
"The West is probably the most secular part of the country," he said. "Most people by definition are not strongly rooted in their community."
Jelen said Bush's campaign tactics left room for these voters to shift to a more Democratic outlook.
"I think the Republican Party has shifted to a cultural conservative party, which helps them in the South, but has not in the West," he said. "Bush could have done a lot better with pushing taxes."
But Raymond Pratt, a political science professor at Montana State University, said he believes the shift was because of a change of Republican priorities.
"I have seen interviews with a lot of green Republicans who are concerned about the way the administration is pushing for drilling rigs in the Rocky Mountains," he said.
John Straayer, a political science professor at Colorado State University, said the West should remain a Republican base. "(They) have the edge, and I think they will retain the edge in the future."
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