If recent polling is accurate, Barack Obama and John McCain are running even in Colorado
, a key battleground state with nine electoral votes. It’s odd, then, that McCain would risk infuriating the state by threatening to take its water.
At issue is the 1922 Colorado River compact, which helps direct water from upper-basin states, such as Colorado, to lower-basin states, such as Arizona. McCain raised a few eyebrows last Thursday when he said the compact will “obviously” need to be “renegotiated
,” in order to “adjust to the new realities of high growth.” In other words, more people are moving to Arizona, so Colorado should expect to give up more of its water.
The Denver Post’s Bob Ewegen responded with a “memo” to McCain in the form of a column, explaining that he can “forget about winning our nine electoral votes next November.”
The problem, from Colorado’s perspective, is that in the 76 years since the compact was signed, California, Nevada and Arizona have grown much more rapidly in population — and political power — than the upper basin states. So when the lower basin states talk about “renegotiating” the compact, that’s their code for a process of give and take — in which Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Wyoming give and California
, Arizona and Nevada take. […]
Here’s some free advice, wrinkly guy: When campaigning in Colorado, you might survive advocating atheism, taking our guns away or outlawing apple pie. But never, ever, mess with our water.
Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colo.), who’s usually pretty mild-mannered , responded to McCain’s talk about this with four words: “Over my dead body.” Bob Schaffer, the conservative Republican Senate candidate in Colorado, went slightly further, saying, “Over my cold, dead, political carcass.”
And Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter (D) wondered what on earth McCain was talking about, since the compact was just renegotiated nine months ago, the agreement is working, and it would be “sheer folly to re-open the compact at a time like this when all of the states are working cooperatively on this issue.”
As one might imagine, McCain’s odd remarks are likely to have political consequences.
The Denver Post editorial board blasted McCain this morning.
McCain’s comments were thus not only political poison in Colorado, they displayed a disturbing ignorance of the realities of the West’s scarce water resources.
To say Westerners are disappointed in McCain would be an understatement. For the first time since Barry Goldwater’s and George McGovern’s 1964 and 1972 disasters, we finally get a son of the Rocky Mountain states running for president. And on the region’s most vital issue – water – McCain unthinkingly mumbles the same parochial tripe he doubtless delivered dozens of times to rave reviews at luncheons of the Phoenix Rotary Club.
Today, mcjoan noted that the McCain campaign is backpedaling, and trying to spin the senator’s odd remarks from last week.
Tom Kise, the McCain campaign’s Colorado spokesman, said McCain was not proposing that the 2007 agreement be reopened or any immediate talks on the compact.
“He’s talking about ongoing conversations, conversations that happen this year, next year, 10, 20, 30 years down the road,” Kise said.
Kise said McCain knows global warming is changing water conditions in the West, and that means the states need to talk. “As long as water is going to be an issue in the West, there should be an open conversation among all parties,” Kise said.
That’s not a bad spin, I suppose, but it’s oddly detached from the fact that the states have been talking. They even reached an agreement in December.
I’m curious, does McCain know this? He represents Arizona, so presumably he’d have some clue about these developments, but if he is aware of this, why would he risk offending Coloradoans with talk of another renegotiation?
If we start to see a shift in Colorado’s polls, now we’ll know why.