Northern Plains

[Alcon]

Montana.

On the national level, of all these states, Montana and South Dakota are the most Dem-friendly.  Montana and South Dakota Democrats do, however, tend to be populists (the most liberal areas of both states are populist).  However, the Republicans tend to be libertarians, as do the independents.

I choose Montana over South Dakota because Montana is more solidly libertarian, although there would certainly be some loss in the Butte-Anaconda area, a Democratic stronghold, if we nominated a libertarian.

A good libertarian that could maintain the populist base, winning in a landslide, could take Montana, and maybe South Dakota.

North Dakota is a longshot even in a landslide, while Nebraska is pretty much an impossibility at this point.

[Alcon]

You are overestimating the "libertarianism" in this country. Most people in the plains are just conservative, sometimes with a lean on drug laws.

Good point.

Most people in this area are conservative - they just want the government out of their lives, which is what I mean by "libertarian."  They aren't exactly going to legalize civil unions, but it's a form of libertarianism.  Just a very GOP-friendly one.

There are a few more classic libertarians in Montana than South Dakota, while there are more conserva-libertarians relative to the number of overall conservatives in South Dakota than in Montana.

[Alcon]

Montana is more libertarian than it is populist.

Although it is libertarian, it is also moralistic, and thus could go for a populist.