View larger image South Dakota Total Number of Delegates: 23 Pledged: 15 Unpledged: 8 How to Recognize a South Dakota Delegate: Students at Sturgis High School are known as “Scoopers,” and their mascot is always pictured with a shovel. The nickname dates back to the 1880s and was coined by…
Christine Smith wanted to be the first female president of the United States, the first Coloradan and the first Libertarian in the Oval Office. And the 41-year-old Golden woman, who ran a principled if underdog-style campaign, thought she had a good chance of winning her party’s nomination at its national…
Still $15 million short of the $40 million they are contractually obligated to raise by June 16, organizers behind the Democratic National Convention are asking the Democratic National Convention Committee to lower the amount of money needed to host the event. Organizers say the $55 million in private cash and…
Choosing a Presidential running mate is always a tough thing. Choosing a running mate when you’re the oldest non-incumbent presidential candidate in American history? Well, that’s a whole other kettle of fish. Very old fish. Age is just one of the factors in play to determine who gets the nod…
Colorado hosts two graduations with major policy speeches today: one by a current president looking back and one by a (possible) future president looking forward. Barack Obama will host an invitation-only town hall meeting at 11:30 a.m. at Mapleton Expeditionary School of the Arts (MESA) in Thornton, where he is…
For all the talk about John McCain being too old to run for president, the guy sure seems to stay up awfully late. No four-thirty dinners at Furr’s Cafeteria for this guy—that is, unless he’s planning on supplementing that diet with a 1 a.m. “fourthmeal” from Taco Bell. This is…
A story in today’s New York Times — and previewed yesterday by Matt Drudge — details Denver’s problems raising money for the upcoming Democratic National Convention. “So far, the Denver host committee is about $15 million short of the $40.6 million it must raise by June 16,” the Times reports…
View Larger Image South Carolina Total Number of Delegates: 54 Pledged: 45 Unpledged: 9 How to Recognize a South Carolina Delegate: The tourism slogan of “Smiling Faces, Beautiful Places” is just a poetic figure of speech for this state’s ability to “grin and bear it.” South Carolinians have not had…
Move over, Ohio and Florida. As John McCain and Barack Obama plan stops in Colorado next week, it’s clear that nine little electoral votes out West will hold the keys to the door of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Long decreed a “purple” state by optimistic Democrats who’ve seen the area trending…
This has been a groundbreaking and altogether interesting election process, but the music, as per usual, is bland – do presidential candidates listen to music? Do we really want to elect someone without knowing their tastes? You could all win my vote if you switched some things up…
Gathered did a group of men in a hall like this one many years ago. And with simple words like these, launched did they America’s improbable experiment in democracy, yessss. Farmers and scholars, they were; statesmen and patriots! Traveled across an ocean they did, to escape tyranny and prosecution and…
It’s not often that you can mute an Obama victory speech and still get the full weight of the message. His fine oratory, sharpened and grounded by the five-month primary season, is still his best political weapon, one that will doubtless be called upon relentlessly to smother the woeful delivery…
Pass the lutefisk! Do those Minnesotans know how to party, or what? Last week, Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty signed a bill that will let local municipalities push back closing time from 2 a.m. until 4 a.m. at bars across the seven-county Twin Cities area — but just from August 31…
View larger image Rhode Island Total Number of Delegates: 33 Pledged: 21 Unpledged: 12 How to Recognize a Rhode Island Delegate: Rhode Islanders are the third-thinnest of all U.S. residents, which is a miracle, considering that there is a Dunkin’ Donuts shop on every corner in the state. It’s because…
If Chris Matthews has to ask someone “Why are you screaming?” then you know something interesting must be going on. And that it was, on Hardball this week. Conservative Los Angeles political commentator (and occasional talking head on CNN and CourtTV) Kevin James was on to address President Bush’s recent…
At 2 p.m. today, the Denver 2008 Convention Host Committee was scheduled to officially unveil its “Freewheelin” bike-sharing program, in which 1,000 bikes will be distributed around the streets of Denver to be freely used by visitors and the public during the Democratic National Convention, August 25-28. Local luminaries are…
With hindsight being 20/20, the minute after Barack Obama finished his keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston, Hillary Clinton should have been on the phone to party leaders in West Virginia, setting the wheels in motion to allow the state to move its primary up in…
As detailed in a More Messages blog, University of Colorado Boulder Chancellor G.P. “Bud” Peterson is spearheading a long-term project (estimated price tag: $9 million) to bring more conservative professors to the famously liberal institution. Well, at least one high-profile aspirant is ready, willing and able to share his rightward…
This afternoon, the office of Congresswoman Diana DeGette, vice-chair of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, sent out a release noting that she was supporting legislation to suspend the filling of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve through the end of the year, which the House will vote on tonight: “Congress is…
There’s a lot of wizardry at CNN these days. There’s Wolf Blitzer and his enchanted beard. There’s Andersen Cooper and the mystical way he made everyone forget that he was ever the host of a reality show. And then there’s John King and his magic board of election elucidation. The…
At the rise of a gently rolling hill in the Alleghenies on the road from Washington, D.C. to West Virginia, someone is building an arc. The skeletal wooden outline of a massive ship catches the sun as it dips below the horizon and reminds all passersby that the flood is…
View larger image Puerto Rico Total Number of Delegates: 63 Pledged: 55 Unpledged: 8 How to Recognize a Puerto Rico Delegate: Puerto Rico probably should have dumped America a long time ago, but like all sexy long-distance relationships, there have been “benefits” for both parties. Not that it has been…
