rally at msu
Barack Obama to Visit Billings, Bozeman Monday
Sen. Barack Obama will be in Billings for a townhall meeting Monday morning and in Bozeman for a rally at MSU Monday evening, the campaign announced today. The visit marks Obama's second stop in Montana in as many months in advance of the June 3 primary. Both events are free and open to the public.
Details after the jump.
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Dems Say Obama Can Rope Independents
Why Obama is Winning the West
The Barack Obama campaign held a conference call this morning to discuss Obama's electability and appeal to people in Montana and other Western states. On the call were former Colorado Governor and former Chair of the Democratic National Committee Roy Romer, DNC Committeewoman and superdelegate Jean Lemire Dahlman of Rosebud County, Montana, and Lewis and Clark County Commissioner and superdelegate Ed Tinsley of Helena, Montana.
Here are some choice quotes from the conversation, glimpses into why these particular Western political leaders -- and Colorado, Utah, Idaho and Wyoming -- have chosen Obama as their guy...
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California Supreme Court Decision
Gay Couples Can Marry in California
The California Supreme Court today ruled that gay couples may legally marry, saying that “domestic partnerships” are not equal to marriage, and the civil rights of gay couples are being violated.
The Republican-appointed California court ruled 4 – 3.
From the ruling opinion:
"In contrast to earlier times, our state now recognizes that an individual's capacity to establish a loving and long-term committed relationship with another person and responsibly to care for and raise children does not depend upon the individual's sexual orientation, and, more generally, that an individual's sexual orientation -- like a person's race or gender -- does not constitute a legitimate basis upon which to deny or withhold legal rights."
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Montana STays in the Spotlight
In Missoula, Bill Clinton Makes a Case for Hillary
The morning after Sen. Hillary Clinton clobbered Sen. Barack Obama in the West Virginia primary by 41 percentage points, her husband, former President Bill Clinton, came to the University of Montana in Missoula to make his case for her candidacy, despite what many political pundits and elected officials say is an insurmountable Obama lead in delegates, the popular vote and now superdelegates.
Mr. Clinton likened Hillary's campaign to the 1995 University of Montana Grizzlies football team that came back in the fourth quarter against Marshall to win the Division I-AA national championship -- a game played in West Virginia. "No Democrat has won the White House without West Virginia since 1916," he said.
That's the campaign's main argument at this stage in the game: that Hillary would be stronger than Obama versus the presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain in November in key swing states like Pennsylvania and Ohio.
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Diary of a Mad Voter: Joan McCarter
In Praise of an Extended Primary Season
The Democratic presidential primary feels like it's been going on forever, and it's making the people who spend far too much time and energy focusing on politics just a little bit cranky about the whole thing.
But with Oregon and Montana actually having a chance to make a difference in this race, what's the rush in having it end?
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Obama, Clinton Vie for Votes
A New Political Day in Montana: Can The State Matter?
The annual Truman Dinner, organized by the Yellowstone County Democratic Party in Billings, has long been a homegrown affair held in a low-ceilinged conference room in a downtown hotel. Local candidates would mutter for a few moments and then sit to scattered applause. Later, the small, overdressed crowd would browse tables of donated items in a silent auction. A staple of the event was a goofy performance by a retired high school teacher named Jack Johnson, who would dress like Harry Truman and deliver one of the former president's famous speeches.
It was a great forum, in a kitschy sort of way, for Montana's citizen-legislature-in-the-making, but not this year.
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new west news brief
Bill Clinton Campaigning in Kalispell, Missoula This Week
Update - The Clinton campaign has announced that Bill Clinton will visit Missoula Wednesday. He's speaking at the Adams Center, in the West Auxiliary Gym, and 9:15 a.m.
Bill Clinton will return to Montana Tuesday to stump for his wife and Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Hillary Clinton in Kalispell, the Clinton campaign announced today. Clinton will speak at Flathead Community College's Blake Hall Arboretum at 7:30 p.m. Additional details to be announced.
The former president was in Billings Saturday night for the Truman Day Dinner, a Yellowstone County Democratic fundraiser. He was also in Montana in early April visiting Havre, Great Falls, Helena and Butte.
Montana's primary is June 3, the last in this extended primary season. Clinton trails Sen. Barack Obama in delegates, the popular vote and, as of this weekend, superdelegates.
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Presidential Politics: Idaho
Idaho Superdelegates United for Obama
Idaho State Democratic Chair Keith Roark, who is a superdelegate to the Democratic convention, announced today he will vote for Senator Barack Obama.
Roark said, “The unprecedented enthusiasm Senator Obama has generated here in Idaho is unlike anything I have seen in my 31 years of active political participation in this State. He has captured the imagination and mint fresh optimism of young voters from Coeur d’Alene to Caldwell, from Murphy to Montpelier, from Twin Falls to Idaho Falls. I firmly believe that the critical process of rebuilding the Idaho Democratic Party will receive a once in a lifetime boost from Senator Obama’s candidacy.”
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Diary of a Mad Voter: Nathaniel Hoffman
Hey Pols: Change is For Diapers
My second daughter was born a few weeks ago.
I wanted her birth to ramp up my enthusiasm for this election season. My journalistic training and general disdain for groups along with an extreme cynicism bred by my involvement in both journalism and groups has kept me from becoming too engaged in elections.
Before my kid was born I was mad that there are only three choices left for president. Now the anger is gone.
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