Western Region of the United States.

We have divided the United States into four regions in order to more effectively go about our state-by-state analysis.

Our western region consists of Alaska, Hawaii, California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana. Thirteen states that account for 98 of the 435 members of congress.

Macro: Of the 98 House members that represent this region, 53 are Democrats and 45 are Republicans. However, this region's Senate delegation is made up of 15 Republicans and 11 Democrats. This region accounts for 22.5% of the US House and 26% of the United States Senate. This region voted 9-4 in favor of President Bush in 2004.

Micro: This region only has five competitive House races.

WA-8 Rep. Reichert (R) Freshman. 2004: % of vote 52% R 47% D CPI D+2
WA-2 Rep. Larson (D) 3rd Term 2004: % of vote 34% R 64% D CPI D+3 w/ nominal opp.
NM-1 Rep. Wilson (R) 4th Term 2004: % of vote 54% R 46% D CPI D+2
CO-3 Rep. Salazar (D) Freshman. 2004: % of vote 47% R 51% D CPI R+6
CO-7 OPEN 2004: % of vote 55% R 43% D CPI D+2

It also appears that there will be two competitive Senate elections, Montana and Washington.