From The New West Blog

Eastern Montanan to be Backstage with Obama at DNC

By Matthew Frank, 8-19-08

A teacher from Eastern Montana, Barb Sackman, is among 10 supporters who will be joining presidential candidate Barack Obama backstage before he accepts the nomination at this month’s Democratic National Convention in Denver, the Billings Gazette reports.

In applying for the opportunity, Sackman said she wrote a short essay about living in rural Montana and how rising fuel prices are making it hard for people to get by. She wrote that she hoped Obama’s plan for alternative biofuels would help her area’s struggling economy.

In Sackman’s community, “if agriculture doesn’t do well, we don’t do well.” Alternative biofuels would be a “great opportunity for our tiny county that has no other resources,” she said.

The nine others are all from competitive states, of course, including a man from Boulder, Colorado. His bio from the Obama campaign:

John Volkmar of Boulder, Colorado
John served in the U.S. Army for 10 years. He says his two tours in Iraq with the 10th Special Forces Group opened his eyes to “the link between our country’s lack of an effective energy policy and our flawed foreign policy.” John believes changing this relationship is an essential step towards ensuring that our government works for the interest of the American people instead of special interest groups. He is now pursuing an MBA and hopes to work in the alternative energy industry. He is coming to Denver with his wife.

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