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The event Democrats tout as "the greenest convention ever" may be fading into brown. Last week's decision to move Barack Obama's acceptance speech from Denver's Pepsi Center to Invesco Field is expected to magnify the modest carbon footprint the party has boasted about for months. Don't get me wrong. I'm all for including up to 56,000 more people in Obama's Aug. 28 audience, especially if most of them are Coloradans. After all, some things, such as political participation, are more important than greenhouse emissions from one event on one evening in Denver. But it should be noted that the switch...

JOHNSON: Homeless say DNC diversions not for themBy Bill Johnson, Rocky Mountain News (Contact) Thursday, July 17, 2008 Debbie - and this is merely a hunch - will probably be going to jail next month. Unless they are giving away free booze and marijuana at the movies, the zoo or the Nature & Science museum - along with the free tickets to those venues they plan on giving the homeless during Democratic National Convention week - I can't see Debbie budging from the dirt beneath the Speer Boulevard bridge she has called home the past 26 years. She and scores...

"Hundreds of Denver's homeless could be cooling their heels in a movie theater or museum while the Democratic National Convention is in town next month. The Colorado Coalition for the Homeless plans to get 500 movie tickets as well as passes to the Denver Zoo, Denver Museum of Nature and Science and other cultural facilities for the people it helps. Bus tickets will be provided for events beyond walking distance, said John Parvensky, the non-profit's president."

There's apparently some grumbling from Hill Democrats about their lack of input into Obama's Democratic victory strategy -- such is par for the course at this quadrennial U.S. Open we call a presidential race. But the Obama campaign has found a smart way to keep the party's reigning elder statesman, Howard Dean, busy: they're sending him on a cross-country voter registration tour. He'll travel in style on a 45 foot long biodisel bus flagged in red, white and blue. The tour kicks off in Crawford, TX on Thursday, heads to Austin where Dean will say hi to peeps at the...

There was a fantastic article today in National Review Online by Kudlow praising Dubya for putting pressure on Congressional Demos to drop ban on offshore drilling. Kudlow writes: "Democrats keep saying that it will take 10 years or longer to produce oil from the offshore areas. And they say that oil prices won’t decline for at least that long. And they, along with Obama and McCain, bash so-called oil speculators. And today we had a real-world example as to why they are wrong. All of them. Reid, Pelosi, Obama, McCain — all of them." Kudlow adds: "Crude-oil futures for August...

This Friday the Howard Dean version of the Obama Love Fest Tour headed out to New Hampshire to help campaign for Obama in a State whose 4 electoral votes are up for grabs in November. Among Dean's stops was a semi-private meeting held at the home of New Hampshire Democrat Terie Norelli in Portsmouth on Friday. Speaking to a groups of 60 prominent local Dem. leaders and activists, Dean weighed in the unification efforts following the primaries. Howard Dean has some interesting comments concerning the primaries and especially...

Who will be the free concert warm up band for obama at Invesco Field?

Statement From DNC Chairman Dean and Convention CEO Daughtry on New York Times Sunday Story July 6, 2008 Email this Print this Blog this Digg this We are proud to stand at the helm of the finest Convention team we’ve known. As the arm of the national Party tasked with planning and organizing the Democratic National Convention in Denver, the Democratic National Convention Committee has been at this for more than a year. And we take great pride in our work. That's why we were astonished to read in Sunday’s New York Times such a gross misrepresentation of the groundwork...

From a description of coyotes surrounding our hero, Odd Thomas, and Annamaria in Dean Koontz' latest book, Odd Hours: ...Coyotes can sometime have a goofy charm. They are more closely related to wolves than dogs, lean and sinewy,efficient predators, but with feet too big for their bodies and ears too big for their heads, they can appear a little puppylike, at least as cute as Iran's homicidal dictator when he puts on a leisure suit and has his photo taken eating ice-cream cones with grade-school children whose parents have volunteered them to be suicide bombers.With narrow faces, bared fangs, and...

The host committee for the Democratic National Convention faces a possible shortfall of $15 million, complicating logistics for the August event and forcing it to abruptly postpone a media walkthrough of the site scheduled for next week. The Democratic National Committee has asked the cash-strapped panel to raise $40.6 million by tomorrow to finance the event. Last month, the committee said it had just $25 million in cash, and it has failed to meet each of several fund-raising deadlines since signing a contract with the DNC last year.

Dean delighted that Democrats are worried about ObamaJun 12, 2008 3:00 AM (1 day ago) by Bill Sammon, The Examiner WASHINGTON - Democratic Party chief Howard Dean said Wednesday that Democrats are “really worried” about Barack Obama’s chances in November, although Dean called such unease healthy. “I’m actually thrilled that they’re nervous,” Dean said at a breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor newspaper. “I think it’s about time. Last spring, there was this feeling of confidence, that we were just going to roll through everything. And that’s how you lose elections. “So I’m just delighted that Democrats are really...

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean says presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain is “running a campaign that is, frankly, pretty sleazy.” Dean has been hitting the McCain campaign particularly hard lately for its ties to lobbyists and blames the McCain camp for leaking the James Johnson story to a reporter at “The Washington Post.” In an interview on MSNBC, Dean says soon-to-be Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama’s image is no way tarnished for having selected Johnson, the former Fannie Mae CEO, to the team vetting the process of choosing vice presidential candidates for Obama.

In a major shakeup at the Democratic National Committee -- and a departure from tradition -- large parts of the committee's operations are relocating to Chicago to be fully integrated with the Obama campaign. The DNC's political department, housed in Washington, D.C., will be dramatically rebuilt, with staffers offered a choice of moving to Chicago, joining state operations, or staying in Washington, DNC spokeswoman Karen Finney said. But the power will clearly be shifting to a centralized Chicago hub. The DNC's key role in coordinating political operations with state parties is expected to largely be taken over and overseen by...

In previous posts we have written about major discrepancies within the Democratic Primary System, from voter fraud to Caucus misunderstanding and manipulation to the more despicable inequality in the proportional delegation system. In most Democratic primaries the vote has not been close enough for anyone to question whether the system was fair; but this primary process has been different. For years the Democratic Leadership has decried the Republican Party, accusing the party of voter manipulation, intimidation, and disenfranchisement; but those who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. For those few who take the time to research how the Democratic...

"The problem with the Republican Party is that they value ideology over what's good for the country," said Dean. "They haven't been willing to work with people to find reasonable middle ground. They've basically adopted a scorched earth policy." He said the GOP practice of ignoring Democrats has reached the White House, which has taken the same approach with foreign governments, a move he said has been "terrible for our national image." He also defended his previous "brain-dead" comments, joking that it was a "clinical diagnosis." Dean is a medical doctor. In assailing Republicans, especially conservatives, he said that there...

WASHINGTON (AP)- Barack Obama, now cast as the Democrats' standard-bearer, moved quickly to put his imprint on the national party Thursday, eager to reinforce its fundraising operation and pursue an aggressive general election campaign. Howard Dean will remain as chairman of the Democratic National Committee, an affirmation by Obama of Dean's bottoms-up rebuilding of the party across all 50 states. Still, Obama is installing one of his top strategists, Paul Tewes, to help expand the DNC staff and oversee party operations. The move puts Obama's ample fundraising machine at the party's disposal. In so doing, Obama imposed on the DNC...

As we move toward the general election, the Democratic Party has to be the Party of ordinary Americans, not Washington lobbyists and special interests. We've unilaterally agreed to shut lobbyists out of the process, and are we're relying on people just like you. We have a chance to change the way business is done in this country, and we're taking the lead. Will you join us and make a contribution right now to help us elect Barack Obama?

WASHINGTON - Barack Obama is keeping Howard Dean as the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, while bringing in one of his top strategists to oversee the party's operations. Obama made changes at the party headquarters his first order of business as the presumed presidential nominee. Campaign adviser Paul Tewes was dispatched to help lead the changes Thursday, with Dean still as the chairman. Obama spokesman Bill Burton said Obama appreciates Dean's hard work to grow the party. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below. WASHINGTON (AP) — Campaign officials...

With the final primary concluded barely hours before, top Democratic Party leaders in Washington early this morning ratcheted up the pressure to force all remaining uncommitted superdelegates to make their choice of candidate known by Friday The joint statement was obviously pre-planned and timed for issue shortly after Clinton refused to concede the presidential nomination's victory to Barack Obama, who's gained sufficient delegates to clinch the party's nomination. Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin, chairman of the Democratic Governors Assn., issued the brief...

Most conversations about the coming elections focus on the question of which candidate is most suited to lead the nation as it confronts the challenges and threats ahead. A better question would be to ask whether there is one party– the Democratic Party – which has demonstrated in word and deed that it is unfit to lead the nation in war at all. Criticism of government policy is essential to a democracy.