My Page: Matthew Frank
watching the polls
Obama Pulling Away in Colorado
Barack Obama now leads John McCain by nine points in Colorado, 52 percent to 43 percent, according to a poll released Tuesday. It's among the widest margins of any poll conducted in the state so far.
The Quinnipiac University poll also surveyed voters in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, all battlegrounds, and Obama leads by double digits in each.
"They key to winning elections in Colorado is independent voters and Sen. Obama has blown open the race there with his 11-point lead among them. These same voters say 3-1 that the Democrat won the last debate, which drives one more nail into McCain's coffin," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
[more]
From The New West Blog
Paws Up Closing Down for Winter, Drops 70 WorkersAt the Blackfoot Valley's Paws Up Resort, some 70 workers learned they will be out of winter jobs on or around Nov. 1, another sign that the high-end resort and real estate market in the West is deeply troubled. [more]
From The New West Blog
A Look at Montana’s Drug Use TrendsMethamphetamine use is down, cocaine is coming back and Montana continues to see a boom in prescription painkiller abuse, writes Zachary Franz in the Great Falls Tribune. [more]
The artifact landscape has changed. Hunting for arrowheads, Indian tools, and old-time treasures is not only politically incorrect but often illegal. Time was when a fairly casual stroll along a river or on a beach or through the forest could produce all kinds of finds which people didn't think twice about pocketing.
But now, relic hunting is pretty much a no-no. Many people are simply unaware of the laws. Others are fully aware, but artifact looting is their business. There's an active, legal trade in artifacts, but there is also a large illegal trade that is difficult to police. According to some law enforcement folks, one of the things that's been driving the thefts in recent years is methamphetamine.
[more]
From The New West Blog
10 Years Later, Wyoming Murder Haunts Reporters
It's been 10 years since Matthew Shepard, a gay college student at the University of Wyoming, ran into two young men at a bar in Laramie who robbed him, drove him to the edge of town, tied him to a wooden fence and struck him 18 times in the head with a .357-caliber Magnum handgun before leaving him to die.
This weekend National Public Radio looks back on how the murder turned Laramie into "the country's newest symbol of hate," and also how it deeply affected the journalists who covered it.
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Ralph Nader, independent presidential candidate and activist, will hold a rally in Missoula October 22.
According to the Great Falls Tribune, he will speak about the Wall Street bailout, single-payer health care, the Iraq War, the environment and the state of the presidential debates, from which he was excluded.
It'll take place at the University of Montana's North Ballroom in the University Center at 1:30.
[more]
From The New West Blog
Rural, Resource-Rich States Skirt Meltdown
As the national economic meltdown takes its toll, some out-of-the-way states are enjoying an economic boom, reports the AP's Daniel Wagner, because they're isolated from major urban centers and benefit from an abundance of in-demand commodities. [more]
watching the polls
McCain’s Lead in Montana Dwindling, Poll ShowsJohn McCain's lead over Barack Obama in Montana is shrinking, according to a poll released Thursday by American Research Group.
McCain is now up by five points -- 50 percent to 45 percent -- compared to last week's eight point advantage (in a Rasmussen Reports poll) and double-digit advantages two weeks ago (in polls conducted by Research 2000 and CNN/Time Opinion Research).
[more]
From The New West Blog
Montana GOP Abandons Voter ChallengeThe Montana Republican Party on Tuesday night announced it was abandoning its challenge of the legitimacy of thousands of Montana voter registrations, reports Jennifer McKee of Lee Newspapers.
In a letter to Vicki Zeier of the Missoula County elections office, Jacob Eaton, executive director of the Montana Republican Party, wrote that the group no longer wished to challenge thousands of Missoula county voters or any other voters statewide.
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the 2nd presidential debate
B- for McCain; B+ for Obama
We are living right now a big global shift which makes even presidential politics seem small.
Both Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain did creditable jobs in their Tuesday night, Oct. 7, nationally televised debate. Yet neither addressed convincingly the unfolding global financial/economic crisis. In fact, their principal answers on the issue could have been written several weeks ago and did not reflect genuine knowledgeability of what is in front of us.
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