Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. wants the West to flex its collective muscle by taking part in a regional presidential primary election in 2008.

The intent of a Western states primary would be to give the West more influence in selecting candidates for the 2008 presidential race. The proposed primary would occur after the New Hampshire primary and before Super Tuesday. If enough states jump on the bandwagon, Western interests would be front-burner issues, at least temporarily.

Huntsman, who is leading the charge for the Western primary, is running into some roadblocks. One is as old as the West itself: the rugged independence of the people who live in the region. Getting them all on the same page can be about maddening as herding cats.

Earlier this summer, Huntsman and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson suggested that at least six states were interested in participating: Arizona, Colorado, Montana, Wyoming as well as Utah and New Mexico. Now the total may be three or four states at the most.

That would be a good start, but it's doubtful a scant number of states would attract many presidential candidates. The region has two strikes against it — there are relatively few electoral votes for the asking and the region is predictably Republican. Without Arizona's and Colorado's participation, candidates may well forgo the West and concentrate their energies and resources in Super Tuesday states. Huntsman says Colorado and Wyoming, which joined Utah in a previous attempt to create a Western states primary, are both off the list of possible participants.

Huntsman is correct that Western states shouldn't forgo an opportunity to frame their own issues such as water, the environment, land use and immigration. Huntsman's attempts to pull the states together is commendable. But it's hard to fight the stubbornness of Westerners and, at the end of the day, the West probably doesn't have enough sway to make or break someone's political fortunes anyway. But it would be nice — for once — for presidential candidates to feel an obligation to visit here and become immersed in the issues that matter to the region.