Guest Column

In the Prism of the Farm Bill, Obama Looks Right

U.S. agriculture provides the safest and most abundant food supplies at the lowest prices in the world. As consumers, we are all affected by the farm bills passed by the U.S. Congress every three to five years and signed by the president. They set the policies for production, health, safety, and distribution -- including exports -- of the nation's food supplies.

Farm bills do not just happen. Each takes months of study, discussion, debate and compromise. For the complicated, tiring passage of a farm bill, there are grandstanders like Sen. John McCain and farm policy advocates like Sen. Barack Obama.

Struckman’s Pick: Get the National Journal Online

By far the most comprehensive and insightful political convention coverage this year has come from the National Journal, usually considered a thorough but boring insider's record of Beltway politics.

Now is the time to shine, though, for those reporters and editors who have been at the politics game long enough to know the ins and outs but still fresh enough to approach the coverage with energy and to do so broadly. OK. My point is this: If you're interested in what it's really like at the Republican National Convention this week -- beyond the tabloid-driven revelations about Sen. John McCain's running mate's daughter -- or if you want an honest account of what impact the news has made at the convention, go to the National Journal.

Democratic National Convention in Denver

Obama Accepts Nomination, Pays Service to Western Issues

Sen. Barack Obama accepted the nomination for Democratic candidate for the presidency of the United States before a packed stadium at the Invesco Field in Denver on the final day of his party's national convention. (Click the link to see the whole speech.)

He told Americans not to be afraid of ambitious dreams. His grandfather, after taking him to see the astronauts after their splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, told him: "Americans, we can do everything, if we put our minds to it."

Analysis: This Year’s Election a Win-Win for Montana

The presidential election this year is a win-win for Montana, said Bob Brown of the Center for the Rocky Mountain West in Missoula.

Both candidates will enter the presidency with some knowledge of western issues, and maybe with Montana on their minds, said Brown, a Republican and former Montana Secretary of State, early Thursday.

Trick-or-Vote

Monsters on Denver’s Walking Mall, Groaning about Votes

Among the regular sights in the political zone around the Democratic National Convention in Denver this week are zombies, vampires and other ghoulish creatures.

They're part of a growing youth campaign to get you to vote.

"Get off your hind end!"

Montana’s Schweitzer Talks Energy, Brings Energy to DNC

In a speech that started slow, Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer got the packed house at the Democratic National Convention in Denver on its feet and screaming during the prime-time speeches Tuesday night.

"We need all of you to stand up," Schweitzer hollered. "Colorado, stand up! Florida, stand up! Pennsylvania, get off your hind end! In the cheap seats, stand up!"

Montana at the Democratic National Convention

For Natives, It Feels Good to be Change-Makers

Wolf Point is a long way from anywhere, but the small Montana town on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation far on the windy flats of eastern Montana has a field office for Barack Obama.

When the Obama campaign telephoned Ryan Rusche, an Obama delegate and the county attorney there, asking how long it would take him to find office space, he replied, "About 15 minutes."

At noon Monday, Rusche and Jason Smith, of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes from the Flathead Indian Reservation, gathered with most of the rest of the 134 delegates from across Indian Country in a room in the Colorado Convention Center in Denver on the first day of the Democratic National Convention.

The Media on the Media... (It can get tiresome)

The Headline is, Where’s That Film Crew From?

At one point along the walking mall on 16th Street in downtown Denver early Sunday evening on the eve of the Democratic National Convention, the men and women with media passes seemed to outnumber what looked like locals and regular tourists.

Then a CNN bus -- plastered with its campaign coverage logos -- roared past on its way to the front of the big convention center.

The Road to the Convention, By Bus, With Activists

Young and Excited, This Crew Converges on Denver

A journey by bus to a political convention with activists becomes a world in itself.

I'm tired. It's been a long journey from Missoula to Denver with Missoula bloggers and the Oregon Bus Project, a studiously bipartisan crew of progressives who have a slow, slow bus.