Westward ho! How Democrats are connecting in a rural, Republican region. (Gazette).

PAT WILLIAMS WAS HAPPY to get back to Montana. "It was like going to an island of victory to be in Helena," says the former nine-term member of Congress. A Democratic progressive, Williams witnessed the election-day desperation of his party in the nation's capital.

But in Montana, Democrats gained ground in the state legislature, re-elected U.S. Sen. Max Baucus and captured the important Public Service Commission (PSC). And they weren't alone in claiming victory in the interior West. Arizona, New Mexico and Wyoming voters picked Democratic governors, ending the ...