The Salt Lake Tribune picks up an interesting trend out West:

After the Republican landslide of 1994, Democrats spent six years in a Western political wilderness. But since 2000, Democrats regionwide have hacked into the Republican majorities.

A Tribune analysis of U.S. House results shows that Democrats have narrowed a 20-point GOP edge in 2000 to a slim 48 percent to 47 percent deficit in 2006. In three states - Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico - Democrats have turned their red states blue, winning a majority in the House races.

In 1996, the eight states in the Rocky Mountain West sent 18 Republicans and four Democrats to the House. When Congress convenes next year, there will be 11 Democrats and 15 Republicans representing the Western districts.

Democrats now control five of the eight governorships and, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, picked up seats in five of the eight legislatures in 2006.

Where have we heard this all before?

The paper also offers this handy map (download as PDF here):

It might be a little tough to read unless you download it, but, essentially, red is Republican, blue is Democratic (sorry for insulting your intelligence). You see a solid Republican advantage in most states since 1994. The red over blue dominance reached its peak in most places in 2000. But that’s been followed by a steady uptick in the Democratic vote in all eight states of the interior West over the last three elections.

Republicans can choose to believe this is just a blip (or that it hasn’t been caused by the GOP’s abandonment of small-government principle in favor of a God-and-government coalition). But the numbers don’t lie. Especially that pull-out pie chart in the bottom right-hand corner.

(HT: Darcy)