1988 is not a very good year to compare anything with. Sorry.
As there's a good chance that 2008 won't be either, maybe they fit 
This may well be the case on both counts.
However this does demonstrate some longer term structural trends throughout the West....
Shift of suburban West Coast regions to the Democratic Party in Seattle, Portland, SF, and metro LA. Also, shifts around the urban centers of the SouthWest in CO, NV and NM, are likely to last. We'll see how Phoenix trends over the next few cycles, but obviously '08 was an anomoly.
Trends against the Dems in some of the natural resource counties of OR, WA, and CA shows, as well as the ranching and mining areas of the Mountain West. The jury is still out on some of the more urban areas in MT, and I think the Eastern Plains trend towards the Dems is likely temporary.... the map would look even redder if it wasn't '88, when Dukakis did exceptionally well in this region for reasons previously mentioned.
I think this map does have some validity, but it is important to point out trends that are real, versus trends that are more transitory.
