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.

From KUNC

Laura Bush: ‘We Can’t Take Colorado for Granted’

If the Democratic and Republican National conventions are any indication, Colorado has cemented its status as a swing state in the November election. Last week Democrats said the road to the White House runs through the West - and Colorado delegates in St. Paul this week are hearing more of the same. In this radio piece, KUNC's state capital reporter Bente Birkeland talks to delegates who say energy, water and national security are the issues on Westerners minds in Minnesota.

The delegates also heard this week from First Lady Laura Bush, who says Colorado is going to be a battleground.

"I do think we're going to work really hard. We can't take Colorado for granted," she said.

Click here for the radio story from Colorado's KUNC.

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.

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."

One Delegate's Story

A Long Journey From Pine Ridge

Having finagled my way onto the floor of Invesco Field, I watched the address by Barack Obama with the South Dakota delegation, seated just to the right of the stage. There I met Cecelia Fire Thunder.

Chatting with Fire Thunder – an imposing woman of impressive bulk and a face that belongs on the side of a mountain – I didn't know her back story. She's a licensed nurse, she told me, with two sons and two granddaughters. She's from Kyle, S.D. and she was a Hillary supporter. Asked if she planned to vote for Obama, who was about to take the stage, she said "Of course. We're Democrats."

Above the Convention

A Flight Into Energy’s Future

Bumping along at 7000 feet in a Cessna Citation, we could see below us Colorado's dirtiest power source – and its cleanest.

Below us to the west, near the Colorado-Wyoming border in northern Weld County, stood the Rawhide coal generating station, which provides much of the electricity for the booming towns of Fort Collins, Longmont, and Loveland. To the east lay long rows of white turbines making up the Ponnequin Wind Farm, Colorado's first, built starting in 1998.

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.

Trick-or-Vote

Monsters on Denver’s Walking Mall, Groaning about Votes

Among the regular sights in the political zone around the Democratic National Convention in Denver this week are zombies, vampires and other ghoulish creatures.

They're part of a growing youth campaign to get you to vote.

Convention Coverage Roundup

Schweitzer, Steers, and Street Action

Brian Schweitzer: studmuffin. That was the conclusion of plenty of online commentators after last night's rousing speech at the DNC.

"I'd like to declare Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer the MVP of Tuesday night," eclipsing even Hillary Clinton's impassioned plea for party unity, writes Dayo Olapade on The New Republic's political blog, "The Plank." Wowing the assembled partisans, Schweitzer "could well be the Barack Obama of 2008," Olopade added.