My Page: Robert Struckman
Western Politics
Montana GOP Director: McCain and Local Candidates Still Look GoodDespite the Barack Obama hoople and his frequent visits to the state, Montana's GOP director remains bullish for John McCain's chances in Montana, and his party is diligently and quietly advancing its in-state candidates.
"If you look at where this race has been and where it is now, you can see that Sen. Obama doesn't relate to the people in Montana," said state GOP director Jake Eaton. He pointed to Sen. McCain's six-point gain during July among a sampling of Montana voters, despite a more than quarter-million television buy by Obama's campaign that month.
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This year during one of the daily parades at Crow Fair, the annual powwow and rodeo held along the Little Big Horn River on the Crow Reservation in southern Montana, one of my mothers-in-law yelled combatively at a professional photographer who planted himself between her and one of her grandchildren on parade.
"Hey, get out of the way," she hollered. "We're taking pictures, too."
The guy knelt down and kept shooting film.
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A amateur Crow historian has completed a history of a pivotal -- and mystical -- all-Indian battle in which his tribe defended its homeland.
The historian is Elias Goes Ahead, a storyteller and lifelong historian.
"I was brought up among natural historians," Goes Ahead told me at a table amidst teepees and cottonwoods at an encampment at Crow Fair, his tribe's annual powwow near Crow Agency on the sprawling reservation of the same name south of Billings. "Ever since I was a little boy, they told me stories, passed on their knowledge to me because I was the one who listened."
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Slice-of-Life Department
Young Rock Climber Gets a Nice Win
Usually, the $100 lure at the top of the climbing wall at MontanaFair in Billings is safe, especially from the flocks of kids who bustle up and down the midway.
Not this year. Nine-year-old Colton Wayman of Billings scrambled up to the top, hit the buzzer and claimed the prize.
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Words on the National Economy
Fed President: Hard Knocks Help, Recovery Will Be Slow
The Federal Reserve Bank should allow banks to fail -- to teach managers the right tough lessons -- said Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank president Gary Stern in Three Forks this afternoon. He also suggested the U.S. economy today was similar in many ways to that of 1990 and 1991, although he noted a few significant differences.
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Convention Logistics
Denver Gets Ready For DemCon08
State and territory flags flapping in downtown Denver -- as well as steel trestles carrying Internet cables over streets and sidewalks -- signal the beginning of the end of the preparation for the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver.
"We're in the final execution stage," said Natalie Wyeth, a convention spokeswoman.
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Real Estate or Industrial Site
What Will Become of Stimson’s Land?Scott Cooney, a Missoula developer, says he has a months-old agreement with Stimson Lumber Co. to buy the company's defunct mill site in Bonner and wants it honored.
"We just want to buy it," Cooney said, adding that the old offer of $10 million for the entire site is immaterial. He would pay up to $16 million, which is what Stimson officials said would take the property and all its industrial equipment and structures off the Portland-based manufacturer's hands.
It's hard to know exactly how serious he is: Cooney said today that if Stimson doesn't honor its earlier agreement with him, he might seek legal action.
The bigger question remains what will happen on that expanse of land at the confluence of the Clark Fork and Blackfoot rivers.
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Forecast: No Bust Yet
Big Sky Economy Still Chugging AlongHigh transportation costs have pushed prices up across the board and made Montana consumers feel like losers, yet the state's economy -- and those all-important employment numbers -- will continue to grow, said Tobias Madden of the Federal Reserve Bank in Minneapolis in a mid-year sum-up.
When forming the core of his analysis, Madden considers the state's two main economic forces: natural resources and the natural amenities, which drives tourism, in-migration, cross-border trade and related industries.
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What-a-deal category
Buy the Stimson Property East of Missoula, and Get a Working Mill for Free
Stimson Lumber Co. officials in Missoula met with Craig Rawlings of TimberBuySell.Com, representatives of Montana's congressional delegation and others to spread the news about an offer: Buy the former Stimson plant in Bonner for $16 million and get all the equipment, including a working stud mill, for free.
The offer stands until Sept. 30.
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Those Paws Up Blues
Eddie Bauer Draws Ire for Tie to David Lipson’s Paws Up Ranch
Some of Eddie Bauer's Montana customers have taken umbrage at the retailer's recently unveiled co-branding with the Missoula-area Resort at Paws Up Ranch.
Over the past week, Eddie Bauer announced its new fall marketing plan, which is on the front page of the Seattle-based company's Web site. It says, "New for fall, inspired by the Last Best Place: Paws Up Montana. See Our Video."
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