[LMich]

Whenever this is brought up, it's always important to remind folks that the Midwest includes both the Great Lakes and the Great Plains; it spans both sides of the Mississippi. It includes a state as heavily industralized a Michigan, ot a state as heavily agricultural as Kansas. It spans the Old Northwest (Great Lakes) to the Old West (Great Plains); Ohio is just as "Midwest" as Nebraska and vice versa. Even then, not every part of these states are "Midwest" just as there are some "Midwest" portions of some states bordering the Midwest. The question of the definition of the Midwest is not an either/or proposition.

As for the examples of Pittsburgh, Denver, Cleveland, Omaha, Salt Lake City and Buffalo, I'd say that Pittsburgh is neither Midwestern in culture nor geography, Denver is practically at the foot of the Rockies, so geographically I'd give them to the Moutain West as I would culturally. Omaha is most definitely Midwestern in every since of the word. SLC, no way, and Buffalo is very similar in culture to every other city along the Great Lakes.