Purple Populism Platform

In Missoula last night, I had the chance to meet with a terrific crowd of state legislators and activists from all over the region who were energized by the last election here in Montana. For details of the speech I gave, check out the coverage in today's Missoulian. As I have said and written before, the premise is pretty simple: if Democrats are willing to stand up for the middle class and use a populist economic message, they can and will be successful in the "red" states and start turning them into a new shade of blue. Not the east/west coast version of a blue agenda, mind you. A different color altogether. Call it the Purple Populism Platform.

The proof is in the pudding: Within his first days in office, our fearless Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D) aggressively pushed a serious middle-class, populist agenda through the legislature. He has been rewarded with terrific support from Montanans. As a new poll shows, he is one of the most popular governors in the United States right now.

I think/hope the crowd enjoyed the speech, and it was good to see so many different folks actively engaged in politics out here. Among others, I caught up with my friend Jim Elliott, the state senate leader on taxes; my blogging colleague Matt Singer, and Courtney Lowry from New West. And I was happy to see State House Democratic Leader Dave Wanzenried (D) in the crowd. It shows that many Democrats outside of the Washington, D.C. beltway are ready to move a populist progressive agenda forward.