The only thing I took away from this is that Alaska and its residents are more socialist than any other state in the nation. And yet, the authors seem to think the most important point is -- what -- how blue collar the state is? How this could help Palin? I'm truly stumped at their point and at their methodology for proving that point.

Alaska is very unique, but a lot of western states are similar.They have low taxes because of federal subsidies and still get mad when congress tries to preserve wilderness for the rest of us.They act like the federal land within their state boundaries is there for personal exploitation regardless of who pays for it.

Westerners in the low population states are some of the happiest of Americans living off of government programs,, or exploiting National resources, yet they say they hate the government and almost always vote republican.

They are part of the big circus tent that has been trying to ruin this country since 1994.

They are socialists, indeed. As Smelly observed, Alaskans and most westerners would have little of the rugged, independent lifestyle they believe makes them Real Americans if they had to stop sucking at the federal teat. Mining, grazing, irrigation, oil and gas, timber, etc. are all done with the help of huge federal programs.

But why is all that land still in government hands instead of having been sold off to people who would use it commercially? Looked at from the local perspective, the federal government is a tremendous absentee landlord who controls the means of their livelihood.

Traditional Westerners made their living digging stuff up, cutting it down, or feeding animals. When the absentee landlord allowed or helped them to do it, they were supporters of the New Deal. Look at the 1948 electoral map. <link> The sponsor of the Taylor Grazing Act, which allows the lease of federally owned rangeland to private ranchers, was a senator from Wyoming who ran for Vice President on the Wallace ticket in '48.

There used to be a clutch of liberal Democratic senators from the Rocky Mountain and prairie states -- Mansfield, McGee, Church, Moss and McGovern come to mind. They disappeared, and the GOP became the dominant party out there, when the Democrats changed their policy so that the absentee landlord restricted extraction, in the name of environmentalism, instead of supporting it.

The turning point is symbolized by Wyoming Republican Malcolm Wallop's "OSHA Cowboy" ad in '76, 78 or 80. The ad showed a cowboy riding along -- the camera then pulled back to reveal his horse towing a port-a-john. Message was that the Democrats were trying to stop Westerners from being themselves, and it worked.

That the Democrats are making a comeback in the West is a sign that the old extractive economy is being swamped by a combination of techno-industry, suburbanization and tourism. The traditional Westerners are being outnumbered and bought out, and the future looks something like Vermont.