People here in the states of the Rocky Mountain West are on the cusp of significant renewed national attention and influence. The public policy ideas of the West are reclaiming national recognition.For too long ­ perhaps more than 25 years ­ the West was fly-over country.

Quite frankly, the nation¹s political parties, opinion leaders, and national candidates virtually ignored the Rocky Mountain West, most particularly these Northern Rockies.

The past two presidential campaigns are indicative: one of the nation¹s political parties apparently believed if they tipped their new Stetson hat just so, it would impress us westerners to vote for them. And the other party seemed to think that stopping here once in the campaign to ski at Sun Valley would do the trick.Not!

The West is, after all, the region referred to by the author Wallace Stegner as ³The native home of hope.² It has also been a native home of solutions and ideas.

For many decades Americans looked here for public policy innovations. And good, workable, aggressive-progressive ideas were provided by policy leaders such as the West¹s Mike Mansfield, Frank Church, and Morris Udall, as well as unelected leaders such as Arnie Bolle, Thurman Trosper, and LaDonna Harris ­ progressives all.

For too long, our states have until recently been frozen in the ice of political resentment. We seemed angry and isolated, rejecting the legitimate partnership of government and the value of progressive ideas. Now the West is once again poised to offer the creativity necessary to restore our region as a progressive American force.

That change is under way. In just the past three election cycles, up and down the Rockies in election after election, progressives are replacing hard-line conservatives. Ten years ago, every single governor in the Rockies was a conservative. Today five of those eight governors are progressives.

One of the national political parties ­ the Democrats ­ will be holding their national convention in Denver.Outside of political partisanship, progressives are making long strides in the creation of new policy organizations. One of those is a group which I helped found ­ Western Progress.

It is dedicated to the goal of making progressive western ideas a staple in public policy here and across the country. With offices in Denver, Phoenix and Missoula, Western Progress will provide solutions with that light western accent ‹ that Rocky Mountain twang that once flavored America¹s public policy and, now, will again.