It's not often that the weekly address by either party is meaningful to many Americans, but today's Democratic speech by Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer should hit home to many Americans. The AP has the story:

The Bush administration cites public safety in trying to block admission of cheaper prescription drugs from Canada, but has agreed to expand imports of Canadian beef and cattle despite cases of mad cow disease, Montana's Democratic governor complained Saturday.

"President Bush was recently here in Montana and we had just one question for him," Gov. Brian Schweitzer said in his party's weekly radio address. "Why allow bad beef to enter the U.S. from Canada and not allow safe medicine?"

Schweitzer, who was elected in November as the state's first Democratic governor in 16 years, has been a staunch proponent of allowing drug imports from Canada, saying they could dramatically cut costs for senior citizens and others on fixed incomes.

[...]

During an earlier, unsuccessful campaign for a Senate seat, Schweitzer became known for chartering buses to take older people to Canada to buy their prescription drugs.

He said he often gave those on board clipboards and asked them to make note of the number of Canadian trucks headed into the United States carrying cattle, hogs and lumber.

"Yet prescription drugs made in the U.S., shipped to Canada, aren't allowed back across the border. This makes no sense," Schweitzer said.

I agree with Gary Hart that much of the Democratic Party's strength in the coming years will come from the west. Schweitzer -- and his state Montana -- embody this. In his 2000 Senate bid, Schweitzer was relatively unknown but got 48% against an incumbent; this year, he won the governorship by four points. If he can use his popularity to boost the Democratic Senatorial candidate this year, there's a very good chance that incumbent Republican Conrad Burns will be defeated.