The United States is experiencing a period of rapid demographic change.  Nowhere is the speed of change more rapid than in the Mountain West,  including the states of Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, and New Mexico. As  this region has changed, its politics have changed as well. It should no  longer be considered a reliably conservative and Republican area but  rather a new swing region of the country. In the 2008 presidential  election, Colorado, Nevada, and New Mexico all went for Democratic  candidate, then-Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), and these states will surely  be hotly contested between the parties in upcoming 2012 election.
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