Re: Should Montana be talked about as a swing state?
It's the most underestimated state with potential to be won by a prevailing Democrat.
Eh, it's not underestimated so much as no Democrat cares to try to win it. It has 3 measly electoral votes. Not worth it if you ask me, and it's trending R. I'd rather make a long term investment, rather than trying to wing a trending R state one time before it continues to trend R again (see: Indiana 2008, who in their right mind thought that was a worthwhile investment?).
Every state matters. It was winnable for Barack Obama in 2008. The problem is that the Democrats can leave too many states to the Republicans because they're not campaigning for them. In 2008 and 2012, respectively, Obama carried 28 and 26 states. Had he reached 30, with his first election, Montana would have carried. (Bill Clinton, with his first election in 1992, carried Montana with his 32 states.) And it would be foolish if the Democrats were to think that the 2012 map is their ceiling.
