This is interesting: A group of prominent western Dems is about to unveil an ambitious new project designed to build on the party's midterm election victories in the west and solidify the Democratic Party's hold on western voters. According to the Associated Press, the "New West Project" is to be formally announced on Dec. 18, with the goal of identifying strategies for "reaching Western voters and the issues critical to them." The project will be co-chaired by Colorado Gov.-Elect Bill Ritter and a key adviser will be Senator Ken Salazar of Colorado:

"Six years ago, people would have looked at the Rocky Mountain West and said Democrats were about ready to be buried for generations to come, and yet somehow over the last several years, we've been able to get back into the saddles of our horses," said Salazar, who cited the party agenda on energy, health care and land preservation.

Democrats have long held governorships in Oregon and Washington state while Republicans maintained a grip elsewhere in the West. Since 2002, however, Democrats have won governorships in Montana, Kansas, Wyoming, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona and now Colorado.

"They governed as pragmatists, they were problem-solvers, they took on the issues that the people in their states wanted them to take on," Ritter said. "That's the point of the New West strategy."

The changing face of the West has made it a battleground for both parties.

Immigration from Latin America and Asia has affected the makeup and politics of the Rocky Mountains, Pacific Northwest and Southwest, said Margaret O'Mara, associate director of The Bill Lane Center for the Study of the North American West at Stanford University.

O'Mara said voters are mobilizing around social issues and foreign policy, and ballot measures, referenda and hefty voters guides are common. "The West is the home of the independent voter," she said.

Other measures being taken by Dems to further their gains in the west include granting Nevada an early presidential caucus and considering Denver for the 2008 convention.