August 28, 2008 10:19 PM UTC

Montana Gov Keeps Water Pressure On McCain

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• by: Colorado Pols

Democrats have found a resonant stick to continue beating GOP presidential candidate John McCain with in the Mountain West, as the Denver Post reports:

Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, hurt his chances in the West when he commented that a pact governing the use of the Colorado River water “obviously needs to be renegotiated” because of the realities of population growth and scarcer resources, Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer said today.

“He just stepped into it,” Schwietzer, a Democrat who backs Barack Obama, said at a panel discussion sponsored by the Denver Post, Politico and Yahoo! “It was fresh, it was wet and it smells funny.”

A spokesman later clarified that McCain was talking about ongoing negotiations from this year to 30 years from now. But Schweitzer said even raising the divisive issue hurt McCain.

The panel of elected Democrats from the region gathered today for the panel said the presidential election could turn on Western issues, from water to energy to land management,

With the party making a play for many formerly die-hard Republican states, concerns usually ignored by presidential contenders could get some air time, and voters will be paying attention to how the candidates talk about the West, they said…