Eagle, Colorado, looks and feels a lot different today than it did even eight years ago. As in other Boom Towns, the houses have sprung up, the new people have poured in and a new set of issues has emerged.

For decades Eagle was a sleepy town on the far side of Vail, a set of nice, moderately-priced homes two-plus hours from Denver. Then Eagle Ranch became the Eagle Ranch Development and brought with it massive homes and seven-figure price tags.

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As November rapidly approaches, places like Eagle are looking at the campaign and seeing issues such as housing affordability and government regulation as big issues. These are places trying to figure out basic questions like how much they want the government involved in their lives. And while those questions are often centered around local issues, such as whether to let in big box stores, the question filters through the communities in a more elemental way: How much do we want the government involved in our lives?

It’s a very real issue here in a lot of ways. Many of these Boom Towns are exburbs full of newcomers who wanted to get further away from the rat race, but they are worried their Shangri-La may lose its luster if the woods across the street becomes another subdivision of McMansions. But there are also old-timers who are worried about property tax bills and the simple affordability of housing. So do these places want more regulation or less? Well, it depends. Many communities are divided.

There is one other issue cycling through places like this in a unique way - illegal immigration. Hispanics are everywhere here, and nowhere. They work the service jobs, build the new housing and take care of the McEstates. And their children have started to fill the schools, forcing a new kind of white flight in some of the area’s public schools.

The presidential race is likely to be very close in these places in 2008.

– Dante Chinni

Read more about the Patchwork Nation communities at The Takeaway’s election Web site, vote2008.thetakeaway.org »