Brian Schweitzer featured in the lead on 'Montana Niracle' article

Governor Schweitzer is featured once more in an article not only about the change from Republican to Democratic governance in Montana but throughout the American west. Here goes:

Miracle in Montana
Ted S. McGregor Jr.
Pacific Northwest Inlander

Imagine the scene: The candidate strides into the capital rotunda, followed by dark-suited men carrying briefcases. The gathered reporters open their notebooks. Camera flashes go off. On cue, the cases are opened, and piles upon piles of cash are dumped all over the floor of the place where the people's business is done. The shocked silence is finally broken by that candidate's righteous, booming voice, decrying the corruption that lobbyists and their briefcases full of money bring.

No, you don't have to daydream it, or experience it in an old Frank Capra movie; it really happened, in the Montana capital in Helena back in 2004. That politician was Brian Schweitzer, a mint farmer from Whitefish who was well on his way to winning the governor's job.

Oh yeah, and Schweitzer's a Democrat.

From out-of-control spending to indictments to botched wars to cover-ups, it's pretty clear that Republicans are trying their best to hand over the reins of government to the Democrats. But will the Dems grab them? Since being pushed aside in the 1994 Republican Revolution and then landing on the wrong side of the Florida non-recount, Democrats have been lost in the wilderness.

But in Montana, of all places, Democrats have found themselves.

Go here to read the rest.