Montana Liberaltarians vs. REAL ID

David Weigel | April 17, 2007

Last week Montana's legislature passed legislation pulling the state out of the REAL ID lineup. The liberal Montana blog Left in the West reports:

The Governor signed a bill opting out of REAL ID today -- meaning Montana is not going to be part of the de facto national ID system. The bill passed unanimously. Jon Tester is already on it -- calling on the U.S. Senate to listen to the people of Montana. Similar bills are moving elsewhere in the country.

Gov. Brian Schweitzer is a Democrat, and Tester was the burly* Democrat who called for PATRIOT Act repeal in his Senate race last year. I'm genuinely curious about what would happen in the West if the Democrats put up a 2008 candidate who's decent on civil liberties, like Obama or Richardson, and the GOP puts up a war-on-terror-forever candidate like Rudy.

*meaning "fat" he has a big gut.