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.

Convention Coverage: St. Paul

Washington Post Says Palin Not Vetted Until Day Before Announcement

The Washington Post's Dan Balz writes that John McCain knew next to nothing about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin before choosing her to be his running mate, despite the McCain campaign's claims to the contrary.

ST. PAUL, Minn., Sept. 2 -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was not subjected to a lengthy in-person background interview with the head of Sen. John McCain's vice presidential vetting team until last Wednesday in Arizona, the day before McCain asked her to be his running mate, and she did not disclose the fact that her 17-year-old daughter was pregnant until that meeting, two knowledgeable McCain officials acknowledged Tuesday.

So according to Balz, Palin was not subjected to a background check request or personal interview till Wednesday (the day before he chose her).

Before Balz' report was published, ABC's Jan Crawford Greenburg had written that McCain knew almost nothing about Palin until he finally rejected his top three choices and decided on Palin after Sen. Obama's acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention. The campaign announced his choice the next morning, Aug. 29.

Convention Coverage: St. Paul

Rowdy or Righteous? Police, Press and Protestors Clash

Democrats at their convention in Denver last week saw police shove and then arrest an ABC reporter for talking on his cell phone, as far as can be told from this video. Lawyers for ABC are trying to have the charges dropped.

Also in Denver, more than 100 protestors were arrested by police in riot gear trying to disperse a crowd of 300.

But the violent protests in St. Paul are in contrast with a relatively peaceful Democratic convention in Denver.

The Republican convention has seen almost 300 arrests so far, notably Associated Press photographer Matt Rourke and Democracy Now! Journalist Amy Goodman and two members of her production crew. According to LiveWire, two documentary filmmakers were also arrested.

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.

Convention Coverage: Reporter's Notebook

DemCon 08: What Was it Like?

These questions are from email received during the Democratic National Convention in Denver. Plus I made a few of them up.

Q. What was it like?
A. The whole town was a big party around the clock. Street music, hawkers with every kind of Obama product you can name, Denver “hosts” in official tee-shirts directing people everywhere. The 16th Street Mall is like a long Main Street with open space in the middle, which was occupied by vendors selling everything from political memorabilia to on-the-spot neck massages. You had to walk this mob scene every day to get to the Pepsi Center, but it was great fun.

Q. Did you meet anybody famous?
A. I shook Caroline Kennedy’s (who is very short) and Michelle Obama’s (who is very beautiful) hands, and got ten feet from Jimmy Carter (who is looking frail) who turned and smiled at me when I stupidly called out, “Mr. President!” (what was I going to say next? Come over here and talk to little old me? I was without a master plan.) I met Clinton's Secretary of Labor Robert Reich (who really is 4'5"). I sat next to either Judy Woodruff or Leslie Stahl on a press bus, but she was asleep so I’m not sure which one it was. And around the press halls it was hard to miss Diane Sawyer (who is tiny) Keith Olbermann (who wears very expensive clothes) Joe Scarborough (who is skinnier than he looks on TV) and Rush Limbaugh (whom it’s really hard to miss.) And I met quite a few Congresspeople, but I’ll be danged if I remember who.

convention Coverage: Reporter's Notebook

Obama’s Acceptance Speech - Catharsis for Desperate Dems

By now, billions of words have been written about Sen. Barack Obama’s acceptance of his party’s presidential nomination at Invesco Field in Denver, and TV news people will pick apart the performance and call it show business and Republicans will express their disdain.

Of course it was show business. The Republican convention will be, too. For the past twenty years both parties have held essentially pro forma conventions designed simply to bolster the faithful and hype their candidates. They are what they are.

Whichever convention comes first gets the brunt of the criticism, but it generally dies after the second convention.

But no matter how it looked on television tonight, I am here to tell you that being here on the floor of this huge stadium to feel the wildly inspired throng of 70,000 fired-up Democrats stomp and stamp and whistle and cheer and clap themselves into a near frenzy of hope and shared inspiration was profoundly sincere.

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.

Convention Coverage

Obama: Twenty Generals and the Grateful Dead

From the Idaho Democratic Party blog, with permission.

Thursday morning, the chief of Senator Barack Obama's staff, Jim Messina, gave the Idaho delegation insights on the candidate and the big night ahead.

You heard it here first: twenty generals will line up for Obama tonight in a show of support for bringing the troops home and shoring up the army.

"Barack writes his speeches himself. This one's had 4,000 drafts and he was toiling on it last night.”

It's no accident Obama was in Billings when Michelle spoke Monday. "He's been there six times and we've got a good chance in Montana," he said. "Barack told us from the first we were going to compete in every state. We believe we've got 168 safe electoral votes and 32 leaning our way-Oregon, Washington, Minnesota and New Hampshire. It's a lot harder for John McCain to make the numbers work. If we win Colorado, it gets very hard for him."

A graduate of Boise High School, Messina has been running campaigns or congressional staffs since graduating from the University of Montana. He's on leave as chief of staff for Montana Senator Max Baucus.

"I got a call from Barack asking if he could talk to me. We talked; he offered me the job if I would do two things. First, be completely loyal. No leaks. Second, treat staff like family. If I kicked anyone around I'd have Barack to deal with. "Around the campaign we have this saying ‘No drama in Obama.' We have no time for intrigue.