West continues to drift into Democrats' column

DENVER (AP) — A political generation ago, America's Western states signaled the nation's rightward swing — from the emergence of Ronald Reagan to the success of tax-limitation ballot measures.

But now that expanse of peaks, deserts and emerald coastlines is trending in a different direction.

The West has become largely Democratic terrain, from Washington state — where voters have legalized marijuana and upheld the legality of gay marriage — to New Mexico, a state that Republicans ceded to Democrats in the presidential campaign.