From In These Times
By David Sirota

Drinking a pint in Butte, Montana’s M&M bar should be an entry in a “Things to Do Before You Die” book. Sitting in this historic watering hole that has been open 24/7 for most of the last century, you get to imbibe rich spirits — local beers and ghosts of ages past.

When I hit the M&M this week, though, the wood-paneled walls told fewer tales of copper kings like Marcus Daly and hometown heroes like Evel Knievel, and more stories of new political power. Plastered amid the ever-present St. Patrick’s Day trappings were Obama for President signs - artifacts from the senator’s recent visit.

While Butte’s Finlen Hotel brandishes faded photographs of John F. Kennedy’s 1959 stay, major presidential candidates don’t normally visit frontier mining towns. But a funny thing happened on the way to the Democratic convention in Denver: The Intermountain West — in its understated style — has become the most important political battleground in America.

Today, 22 Electoral College votes in the area are up for grabs, meaning this vast expanse is more pivotal than Ohio. And that’s only the beginning of the Rocky Mountain region’s burgeoning influence on energy, taxes, trade and health care.

For example, Senate Energy Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) — and thus the complex politics of his home state — will have an enormous impact on petroleum and climate policy. And whatever legislation he crafts will be shaped by four congressional races along a stretch of I-25 that cuts through a tri-state oil and gas boom.

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