Once solid Republican south-west in play for election [View All]

[JoFerret]

http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/politics/8715613.htm

PHOENIX - Gail Browne and Cathy McCracken have never met. They live in different cities, work in different jobs and have very different political opinions.

Yet they have one thing in common that may make them pivotal to the 2004 presidential campaign and for years to come. They're part of the surge of newcomers to Arizona and the Southwest that's turning once solid Republican turf into a competitive political battleground.

The most dramatic example of how much the Southwestern political landscape is changing is Arizona, home of the late Barry Goldwater - senator, one-time presidential candidate and founder of the modern conservative movement. Arizona isn't Goldwater's state anymore, in size or in political temperament.

Bill Clinton carried it in 1996, the first Democrat to do so since Harry Truman in 1948. Democrat Al Gore came within 6 percentage points of carrying the state in 2000 without spending a day there. Democrat Janet Napolitano won the governor's office in 2002. Sensing the chance for an upset, Democrat John Kerry is spending time and money in the state. President Bush is fighting to defend it.

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