This undated photo provided by the Heath family shows Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and one of her daughters with the salmon they caught in Wasilla, Alaska. (AP photo)

By Randall Rasmussen

I don’t know whether this belongs here or on Kevin W.’s Take It Outside blog, but the Heath family has released a bunch of photos of Gov. Sarah Palin hunting and fishing in the wilds of Alaska.

I’m not sure what demographic she’s going to appeal to, but the left is going to go nuts.

She’s a hunter, fisherwoman, beauty pageant contestant, mother of five, married to an oil worker/commercial fisherman/snowmobile racer, Christian, pro-life, pro-energy exploration, anti-environmentalist, believer in creationism, non-believer in human-caused global warming, slasher of government waste and candidate for the second-highest elected position in the land.

Every adjective that describes Palin is a slap in the face of liberals everywhere.

And I love it. You go, girl!

She answers every conservative criticism of John McCain. Republicans who weren’t all that enthusiastic about McCain have found the answer to all their prayers.

As to the experience factor, the fact that Palin’s not from Washington, D.C., is a huge plus in her favor. Too many people think that experience in Washington is a resume-enhancer. What politicians learn in Congress is partisanship, blaming the other party, spending taxpayers money to get re-elected, doing everything to help themselves and nothing to help the country.

Someone from Wasilla, Alaska, knows more about the real America than anyone from Washington, D.C.

Sarah Palin is a huge gamble for John McCain. The question that has yet to be answered is whether Palin can translate into an Electoral College win.

By Kevin Woster

Smart-aleck comments about carbon dating the Republican presidential nominee will not be accepted on this thread.

At least, not by Anton.

What we’re really looking for, though, are some thoughts on Gov. Sarah Palin’s views of evolution and creationism. I’m not exactly sure what they are, but I know - because I read it on that there INTERNET - that she is open to teaching both evolution and creationism in schools.

And that she is also the daughter of a science teacher.

So, does being open to creationism as part of a school curriculum make Palin open minded, or intellectually backward?

I couldn’t find anything online on how old Palin thinks the earth is. But then, I only looked here, over on Take It Outside and at Sibby Online.

I suppose we could expand the search a bit?

Anyway, I love that evolution-creation discussion.

Whatdya say we have it?

Especially as it applies to presidential politics.

By Randall Rasmussen

I watched Barack Obama’s acceptance speech last night.

I’m not a huge fan of Obama, of course, but I thought it was a little flat.

Was that because he had to tone down his far-left views to appeal to middle America?

Blogmorites can decide for themselves. If I were working today, I’d put his photo, but here’s his speech from the New York Times:

http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/president/conventions/videos/transcripts/20080828_OBAMA_SPEECH.html

By Kevin Woster

OK, forget about that call from Hildebrand. He and the rest of the Obama staff will be a bit preoccupied today with the news that John McCain has selected Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate.

I thought Obama was wise in selecting Joe Biden, with his experience and foreign affairs savvy - as well as his political boxing skills.

McCain took a much different approach today in announcing that he had selected Palin. She brings good and not so good to the ticket.

Woman: good.
Young: good.
Experience: not so good.
Conservative: good.
Potential to excite reporters: good.
Ready to debate Biden: not so good.
Far outside the Washington establishment: good.
Journalism degree (for you, brother T): Questionable.
Former beauty queen:Good
Moose hunter: Good
Former point guard for state-champ BB team: Wonderful.
Under legislative-approved investigation for alleged power abuses: Not so good.

All told, she brings more good than not so good to the ticket, based on what I know at this point.

But she might have cost me that morning call back from Hildebrand.

By Kevin Woster

I came in early today, feeling wrung out from my trip to Philip and just a little hung-over from celebrating democracy with a dozen Wall Drug donuts (or at least my share of a dozen), in the hopes that I would be first on Steve Hildebrand’s Friday morning call list.

I mean, come on, Barack is in, the convention rush is over, I finally have to pay up on my lost Botticellis bet to Denise Ross, and it’s time for world-class political strategists to kick back, sip a Starbucks and touch base with old pals.

So I was at my desk (which is beginning to resemble the mosh pit that Dave Kranz maintains, in violation of several city environmental ordinances, down at the Sioux Falls Argus Leader) here at nerve central for the Rapid City Journal at 6:15 a.m., waiting for the phone (394-8413) to ring.

Waiting, oh waiting, for the phone (394-8413) to ring.

Tick…tick….tick…

I stare at the phone (394-8413).

Tick…tick…tick…

I look at the clock.

Tick…tick…tick…

I make some tea, go across the street and get a bagel, come back and delete a submitted response from Doug Wiken because it includes one of the banned words here on Blogmore.

Tick…tick…tick…

Surely he’ll call. (Hildebrand, I mean, not Wiken)

Tick…tick…tick…

Surely.

(394-8413)

Tick…tick…tick…

Hilde…Hilde….Where are you Hilde?

By Kevin Woster

Unless my eyes deceived (an ever-increasing possibility), the last handshake offered to Bill Clinton on the Pepsi Center stage in Denver earlier this evening was from Steve Hildebrand.

Which led me, cool and collected as ever, to jump from my imitation-Naugahyde recliner and shout: “Hey, it’s Hildebraaaaand!”

Mary wondered, as she often does, why I suddenly took to dancing and pointing in the living room. (I’m an interactive TV viewer.)

“It’s Hildebrand,” I repeated. “He just shook Clinton’s hand. Steve Hildebrand! From Mitchell. The guy who used to give us garden vegetables. You know, he used to like us. Well, you, anyway.”

I’m not sure why I was so worked up. Hildebrand is a senior advisor to Barack Obama, responsible for a good share of the campaign’s success. So it’s not like he’s unaccustomed to hanging out with political rock stars.

Still, it was Bill Clinton, seconds after delivering a sizzling “I-still-got-it” speech to the Democratic convention. (Good luck topping that one tomorrow, BO). I was caught up in the moment (Although I still haven’t made up my mind on the election, should I get giddy with the campaign season and actually vote.). And there was just something about the kid from Mitchell up there with the former prez that got me goofy.

But a couple of questions remain: Did Bill’s performance, which followed so nicely Hillary’s well-crafted speech on Tuesday night, swing all those not-ready-for-Obama-time players who were still clinging to Hillary coming into the convention (Yeah, OK, I’m still crazy for pant suits. What about it?)?

Aaaaaaand, when will Hildebrand ring me up (394-8413) to give me a South Dakota exclusive? (Kranz, this is none of your business…Go back to the Braves game.)

From the Associated Press:
Remarks as prepared for delivery to the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday by former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota:

Thank you. I want to join with others in welcoming all those who are new to politics and to our democratic process. In part because of you, not only will our party win, but our country will win, too.
In 2002, I had a chance to visit Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan. In the presidential palace, President Karzai sat with a small group of us and confided that all he had in the entire national treasury was $2 million. He couldn’t pay the salaries of staff. They couldn’t even pay for the lights. But he said, “In spite of all the adversity and in spite of all the many challenges we face, we are optimistic.” And then he said something I have always remembered, “We want to be like you.”
Yet, in the six years since, we don’t hear other countries expressing that aspiration. In less than a decade we have gone from being perceived as the beacon for democracy and justice all over the globe, to a country whose government has little respect for even the most basic tenets of human rights. We know that’s not us. We’re better than that.
Our next president is going to inherit the most daunting set of foreign policy challenges since Harry Truman. He had to build a new international order from the rubble of the Second World War. And in this new world, we cannot afford four more years of failure and decline. We need to set a new course.
And this week, we are here to do just that, to replace the poor judgment and mis-leadership of George W. Bush with the judgment and leadership of Barack Obama. If the Bush administration has proven anything, it’s that length of service is no substitute for good judgment and strong leadership.
Together, Vice President Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and John McCain brought more than a century of experience to our foreign policy challenges. And what did that get us? One international debacle after another.
We deserve better than John McCain’s jokes about bombing Iran or his denials that Iraq has distracted us from Afghanistan. We deserve better than a foreign policy that’s more confrontational than George W. Bush, and fails to address the complex challenges of a changing world. We need leaders who recognize both our national interest and our shared challenges, who will pay attention to both allies and enemies, and who will truly make America safer and stronger. I can think of none better than Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
Across the world, there are enough stockpiles of uranium and plutonium to build 40,000 nuclear weapons. Senator Obama worked with a Republican, Dick Lugar, to keep weapons of mass destruction out of the hands of terrorists. Barack Obama believes it is inexcusable that Osama bin Laden is still on the loose. And he understands that we’ve got a job to finish there.
Republicans, Democrats and Independents know that it is long past time we have a foreign policy that deals with the threats of the future, not the past, and is as smart as it is strong.
We need Barack Obama and Joe Biden to give us renewed standing, new direction and new hope. As Americans, our strength is our great blessing, and our freedom is our great inheritance. As the 44th president, Barack Obama will secure once more that strength and freedom. And together, we will reclaim America’s rightful role as a beacon of hope and possibility.
Thank you.

By Randall Rasmussen

When Barack Obama named Sen. Joe Biden to be his running mate, he hoped the choice would appeal to white Catholic voters.

However, Biden’s pro-choice views on abortion has him in hot water with the Catholic hierarchy.

Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput told the Associated Press Sunday that Biden should refrain from taking communion because of his stance on abortion.

From the AP: “Biden ‘has admirable qualities to his public service,’ Chaput said in his statement. ‘But his record of support for so-called abortion ‘rights,’ while mixed at times, is seriously wrong. I certainly presume his good will and integrity — and I presume that his integrity will lead him to refrain from presenting himself for Communion, if he supports a false ‘right’ to abortion.’”

Chaput, who formerly was Bishop for the Rapid City diocese, began anew the controversy over high-profile Catholic politicians who publicly support pro-choice policies. Four years ago, Chaput and other bishops said Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry also should avoid the Catholic sacrament.

Will the choice of Biden resurrect the “wafer war” of four years ago? Will Biden help or hurt Obama’s bid for the all-important Catholic vote?

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., watches Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., speak at the Democratic National Convention from Billings, Mont., Tuesday. (AP Photo)

By Randall Rasmussen

Hillary Clinton ended all suspense Tuesday night by urging her supporters to support Barack Obama.

While it may have been a foregone conclusion that she would, at long last, endorse her rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, we are talking about the Clintons.

I must admit to being a little disappointed that there won’t be floor fight for the bitterly fought nomination.

Oh, well. Hillary’s well-positioned now for a 2012 campaign if Obama falls flat on his face this year. Call it the “I told you so” campaign.

On Tuesday night, however, Hillary Clinton threw her full support for Obama. She told delegates that the most important thing America must do this year - in her view - is elect Obama as the next president. “We don’t need four more years … of the last eight years,” she said.

What do Blogmorites think? Has Hillary healed the party’s rift? Will Obama get a boost in the polls from her support?

Here’s her speech:

http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/08/26/raw-data-transcript-of-hillary-clintons-speech-at-democratic-convention/

Russell Means shares the good company of a child as he fishes - apparently illegally, depending on your reading of the law, and treaty rights - at Sheridan Lake Monday. (Photo Courtesy of the world’s greatest TV station and most wonderful and cooperative news director, KEVN and Jack Caudill.)

By Kevin Woster

And as he walked by those at the Lake of Sheridan, Russell said to them, “Come ye, after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.”

And, indeed, they did, casting their nets into a the sea of media, hoping to catch some lawmen.

OK, so it wasn’t quite a sea of media. And the fishers used rods and reels instead of nets. But there were a few cameras around, some belonging to reporters and some to undercover lawmen. They all documented Means and some companions engaging in illegal recreation at Sheridan Lake Monday.

Well, the state calls it illegal. Means calls it exercising his treaty rights.

OK, OK, so he wasn’t exactly subsistence fishing. And if you check out the picture - courtesy of the world’s greatest TV station and the world’s greatest news director - of the well-known Native American activist with his spinning outfit (Sorry, Russ, it’s upside down, buddy), you’ll join me in hoping that he never has to fish for survival.

But accomplished angler or not, Means is never dull. And he’s consistent in his push for all that he believes is rightfully Lakota under treaty rights.

Of course, Means was angling for attention, too, and hoping to reel in a bit of controversy. That’s why he notified the state Game, Fish & Parks Department and the South Dakota Attorney General’s Office by e-mail prior to the trip to Sheridan.

There’ wasn’t a confrontation. But Means and maybe a few others in his group are likely to get some citations for fishing without a state license. Since I’m not sure where the fishing was, I can’t say for sure if he was in a Forest Service fee area, which could raise the potential for a federal citation. (Update there: Word from BHNF officials is that the fee station was closed for the day. Convenient, wouldn’t you say?)

State and federal officers were there in plain clothes, with cameras and notebooks, recording the activities. But they didn’t press the issue then, which was by design, Attorney General Larry Long said.

“The idea was to observe the activity and to avoid a confrontation, yet get the information necessary to enforce the law,” Long said.

Long said that “at a time and a place selected by us,” officials will bring whatever charges they consider appropriate.

GF&P Wildlife Division Director Tony Leif said the agency intends to ticket those who fished without a license.

“Our goal was to avoid a confrontation and not play into what they wanted,” Leif said. “There was really no need to play into all that. We chose to document and follow up with an investigation.”

Means is unlikely to be charged with any limit violations. He didn’t hook anything, except some limited media attention.

Protesters with the ironically named Riot 4 Peace group march in Denver before the start of the Democratic National Convention on Sunday. (AP Photo)

By Randall Rasmussen

I like political conventions.

I like the pageantry, the balloons, the confetti, the bands playing, placards waving, the complete joy of thousands of like-minded people coming together as one harmonic soul. And that’s just the Beijing Olympics.

Wait until the Democratic convention opens today in Denver and the Republicans take their turn next week in Minneapolis. Somewhere inbetween, John McCain will name his vice presidential running mate to counter Barack Obama’s choice of Joseph Biden.

It’s the Super Bowl week of politics followed by another Super Bowl week of politics.

Does it get any better than this?

I don’t care if the conventions are as carefully choreographed as synchronized swimming. The conventions are where you get to hear the message the candidates and parties want to present to the American people.

It’s the speeches that I like the most. Finally, we’ll get to hear Barack Obama and John McCain present their best arguments for why they’d make a good president, in their own words (or their speechwriters), unfiltered by the media.

Everything up to now has been preseason. It’s time to suit up and take the field. Are you ready for some politics?

By Kevin Woster

I suppose you can say that about any vice presidential candidate pick.

To me, Joe Biden helps strengthen the Barack Obama ticket on experience and leadership. I was partial to Sam Nunn myself. But as a seasoned, smart 36-year Senate veteran who now chairs the Foreign Relations Committee, Biden brings standing on those two key questions - experience and leadership - that the Obama campaign needs to answer.

But it must hurt a bit for a candidate that based his primary run in large part on being the change agent to pick a 36-year veteran of the Senate system. At least it must hurt with some of those young voters that Obama energized with his primary message of change. They’ve already been slipping in their support for Obama, according to the polling, as he moves toward the middle on issues.

And doesn’t it also hurt a little that Biden voted the same way Hillary Clinton and John McCain did on the Iraq War authorization, even though the Delaware senator later said it was a mistake?

Doesn’t it also hurt that Biden strongly opposed the surge, which now seems to have been successful?

Maybe. But Biden brings a lot to the ticket in areas that Obama needs strengthening. Of course, Biden’s primary comments about Obama needing experience, which McCain’s ads are already exploiting, don’t sound very good right now.

But just about any VP candidate who’s been in a primary - or has any real experience on the national political stage and had to make real decisions that leave a paper trail, or video clip trail - has said or done something that the other side can exploit.

McCain is likely to find that out when he makes his VP choice.

(P.S. Has anyone noticed that I still haven’t bought Denise Ross her Botticelli’s dinner? I’m waiting until the Democratic convention is over, just to make sure I have to ….)

GOP candidates Joel Dykstra (Senate) and Chris Lien (House) take time to answer a reporter’s questions Friday afternoon at the Central States Fair, or fete. No word on whether Dykstra and Lien will also attend the Fete De La Chataigne. But if they do, I’m covering.

By Kevin Woster

This one’s for you, Karl Marx.

Well, you and Jean Baudrillard.

One of our busiest posters these days, KM has us thinking French philosphy and mixing it with good old fashioned South Dakota politics, a little cotton candy and maybe a carnival ride or two.

Karl, how do you say “nauseous” in French?

It’s OK, I’m feeling better now.

But I had a small case of fair fever this afternoon, wandering around among the crafts and cows and, I’m pretty sure, a couple members of Sherwin Linton’s Cotton Kings.

Ah, superbe, yes?

My wife thinks so. She has a crush on Sherwin that goes back to her first-ever teenage dance at the Hyde County Auditorium. But that’s another story. And I think there might be pictures.

But back to the fair, and the politics. (I know, clumsy transition, but I think you’ll agree that we need to pick up the pace.) Fairs are as much about politics as they are about blue-ribbon hogs and Tilt-A-Whirl bellyaches.

Pols love fairs. If you hold one, they will come. They always do, followed fairly closely by reporters.

That’s how I came to be shuffling through the exhibit hall at the Central States Fair Friday afternoon, along with other milling humans and a few creatures which may not have been. The humans included state Rep. Joel Dykstra and Rapid City businessman Chris Lien, GOP candidates for the U.S. Senate and U.S. House who face uphill runs in their respective challenges against Democratic incumbents, Sen. Tim Johnson and Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin.

Soon it’ll be time to take a closer look at those races, with stories in the “paper news product,” as they call newspapers in today’s, uh, newspaper business. Of course, the stories will then run online.

And there will be all those legislative races, too.

And soon it’ll be time to take a look at ballot issues, including that boomeranging proposal to ban most abortions in South Dakota and an open-government initiative that I don’t yet understand.

But for now, how about a gander at the people pitching politics?

This time of year, it seems only fair.

Or fete.

Bob Wilson and David Nickel hold down the political fort at the Democratic Party booth at the Central States Fair on Friday.

Over on the GOP side of town, Betty Larson and Jacqueline Sly offer a different perspective on fair politics.

Melissa Krause, of the South Dakota Campaign For Healthy Families, has plenty of reasons that fair visitors should vote “no” on Initiatied Measure 11. And she offers them with a smile.

Smiles times three were waiting at the VoteYesForLife booth, as Hanna Finbraaten, Lan Oliver and Sara Reynolds encourage passersby to support Initiated Measure 11.

And just around the corner, Tracy Bayne and Christine French of offer a similarly pleasant pro-11 message at the Rapid City Chapter of Right To Life booth.

A pleasant-but-camera-shy booth tender for Yes on 10 evaporated at the sight of a Nikon….

T. Boone Pickens makes his Pickens Plan pitch Wednesday afternoon at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center in Rapid City.

By Kevin Woster

If you haven’t been to pickensplan.com, you should go. We’ll be talking about this plan in the weeks and months ahead.

By “we,” I mean the nation, especially those of us who live in the “wind corridor,” from Texas up through the Dakotas, give or take a state or two.

No question about that. But talk is cheap. It takes money to by wind turbines. It also takes tax incentives, an extensive transmission grid and a system designed to use the power of the enduring breeze.

Then there’s the bus-by-bus, truck-by-truck, car-by-car reconfiguring of the U.S. road fleet, to add more and more vehicles that run on natural gas.

It takes resolve to change a set-in-oil system. It takes politicians will to take some chances to get things done.

And maybe it takes an 80-year-old millionaire oil and gas man who’s willing to toss $58 million into a campaign for change. Maybe.

Pickens wants to use wind power in the wind corridor to replace 20 percent of the electricity now produced by natural gas, then use that natural gas to power buses, trucks and cars. Done right, the U.S. could cut consumption of foreign oil by a third, saving $230 billion or so a year, Pickens says.

We’re not talking next year. The change would take a while. But Pickens wants politicians and the new president to get going on the plan in 2009.

It’s fun to write about, and think about, and talk about.

But is it at all likely, at all feasible, in a national transportation system that now gulps foreign oil like bottled water? Especially since oil prices have declined, bringing down the gas price at the pump?

I wonder.

Sen. John Thune and T. Boone talk energy with reporters following Pickens’ civic center meeting.

Black Hills National Forest Supervisor Craig Bobzien talks woody biomass at the cellulosic energy hearing called by Sen. John Thune. Timber industry spokesman Tom Troxel, next to Bobzien, Sen. Tim Johnson and Thune listen up.

By Kevin Woster

There’s energy in them there hills.

That was the theme of the U.S. Senate subcommittee hearing Monday at South Dakota Mines. As ranking member of Energy, Science and Technology Subcommittee of the Senate Agriculture Committee, Sen. John Thune called and ran the meeting.

Sen. Tim Johnson was there, too, at Thune’s invitation. Well, he was also at the direction of Sen. Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin of Iowa, who told Thune that he’d grant a subcommittee hearing IF Johnson were invited, which seemed to be fine with Thune.

With representatives of the Black Hills National Forest, the Black Hills Forest Resource Association (the timber industry), KL Process Design Group (the local cellulosic ethanol industry) and a private rancher with forest acres that he’d like to fully utilize, the testimony was worthwhile.

The turnout was good, and the audience members interesting.

Heck, it’s one of those events that makes a news weasel think he’s got a pretty good job.

As Bobzien discusses forest energy potential Johnson interrupts to make a media suggestion: “Tell Woster that if he’s had about enough of that Lyman County mullet, I can hook him up with a decent barber.”

As State Sen. Tom Obi-Wan Ke-Katus and Princess Barbara Johnson discuss the fate of The Federation, the ever-evil Darth Jarding tries to remember where he put his campaign light saber.

Thune tries to get his arms around the woody biomass puzzle as Rapid City’s own Jeremiah Murphy - a lobbyist, consultant, composting expert, freelance humor columnist and soccer photographer - calculates the potential BTUs.

Katus beams as he hugs Barb Johnson and thinks: “If I can get this picture on my yard signs, I’m golden in District 32!”

By Todd Williams
I’m not a regular on the Mount, mostly a fill in when Kevin is on vacation and/or we’re very light on staff, so I mean it doubly when I say, “Pardon the interruption.”
A few months ago, the Journal agreed to take part in a study of political blogs during the Election 2008 cycle. As part of that, the group from Black Hills State University asked whether they would be able to survey the bloggers here at Mount Blogmore. It was discussed whether we should e-mail the survey or simply post it to the site to try to gather info.
The overwhelming response was to simply post it so as not to become an unwitting member of the legions of spammers worldwide.
So here it goes. If you want, simply respond on this post anonymously. And thanks in advance for anyone wishing to respond to parts or all of the survey.
-TW

Blog Survey Questions (anonymous)

1. How long have you been blogging?
2. Why do you blog?
3. What kinds of issues do you blog on the most?
4. How often do you visit the political blog at this news site?
5. Have you learned anything from your participation in blogging? Yes/No
6. If you have learned by blogging, what? If not, why not?
7. Do you blog at other news sites, too?
8. If you blog at other news sites, how many do you blog at regularly?
9. What are the names of these other blog sites?
10. Do you find yourself blogging more on political topics in the past few weeks/months (in 2008) than ever before?

By Kevin Woster

As I sit here sipping Coke in support of the Beijing Olympics, I wonder if the presidential forums last night at the Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., will have any substantive impact on the election outcome.

I also wonder if the IRS was watching, and wondering about that whole tax-exempt question.

As I recall, the secret of churches engaging in political activities without jeopardizing their tax exempt status is to avoid endorsing specific candidates. And Pastor Rick Warren certainly avoided that last night, although we’re all pretty sure how he’ll vote in the election.

I didn’t get to watch the Saddleback forums, but caught some portions on subsequent newscasts. Pretty interesting. And based on the glimpses I saw of Warren, I thought he handled the interviews with John McCain and Barack Obama quite well.

I thought McCainn scored with the Republican base on the abortion question, with a definitive answer on where he believes life begins, where Obama’s response was more elusive. I did admire Obama for embracing the “pro-choice” label, and thought he made a compelling argument for that position in front of an audience that surely disagreed.

I thought Obama won on Supreme Court nominations, while McCain unconvincingly sought a conservative stance that he never showed in Senate votes.

It was an interesting mix on national defense, with McCain showing a predictable tendency to smack our enemies in the nose and Obama offering a more introspective approach. Both seemed honest.

And I thought each candidate conducted himself with an important degree of humility and candor when asked about his greatest moral failure.

I wish McCain could have named his implied imperfection in the disintegration of his first marriage. But as one commentator pointed out, that’s probably a generational thing.

“I cheated on her” isn’t something an almost 72-year-old man is likely to say on national TV, even to an audience with a substantial degree of been-there, done-that understanding.

And, presidential politics aside, McCain’s description of turning down an offer to get out of the North Vietnamese prison early because of his father’s admiral status was at first chilling and then inspirational. It left me thinking about much more than the campaign.

Over all, Pastor Warren did a nice job of providing a glimpse of the personal from both candidates, something we might not have otherwise seen. I wouldn’t mind seeing more of him along the campaign trail, either, if it’s OK with the IRS.

By Kevin Woster

Did you know he hasn’t missed a vote?

If you didn’t know that, you haven’t been paying much attention. Sen. Tim Johnson’s 100-percent vote-attendance record since returning to the U.S. Senate last September is mantra for both his campaign press releases and the thinly disguised campaign ads sent out less frequently by his Senate office.

(It’s one of the many incumbent advantages: regular campaign promotions masked as vital congressional updates to the folks back home…)

The Johnson staff - campaign and Senate - is hammering at that perfect-voting-record theme through multiple news releases detailing Johnson’s every move during the August congressional recess.

He was at barbecues in Brookings and Sioux Falls last week. He announced the endorsements by the South Dakota Education Association and the NEA. He promoted a TV commercial that features words of praise by Sioux Falls Mayor Dave Munson, a former Republican state legislator.

Johnson announced his attendance at a round-table discussion on gas prices in Sioux Falls and an upcoming farm bill forum at the State Fair. And he released plans for a 19-city tour across South Dakota before the Senate is called back into session in September.

Debates, shemates.

Who cares about public debates when the senator has a perfect voting record and is making all these public stops? Do you? Do most South Dakota voters. We’ll see.

But the plan is pretty clear: Stress the voting record; give the senator plenty of face time at easily managed events through August; then get him back to work in D.C. in September and ride out the rest of the race with plenty of advertising and occasional visits home.

The intent by Johnson and campaign manager Steve Jarding - derisively referred to these days as “Sen. Jarding” by Republican critics who argue that he’s too often speaking for and acting in place of Johnson - is to diminish fallout over their decision not to agree to any debates with Republican challenger Joel Dykstra.

And the barrage of news releases was nicely planned to follow fast on that announcement.

Johnson addressed the debate issue indirectly in a news release (I’ll resist the impulse to label it otherwise) sent out by his Senate staff last week:

“I’ve have always believed that the best solutions come from talking to the people,” Johnson said. “I’m looking forward to meeting with South Dakotans in nearly every corner of the state.”

Well, most South Dakotans, anyway. He’s already decided that he won’t meet with one.

By Kevin Woster

The hearts of Mount Blogmore go out tonight to the family of Bill Gwatney.

The 49-year-old chairman of the Arkansas Democratic Party died Wednesday of multiple gunshot wounds when a recently fired department store worker opened fire on Gwatney in the state party office in Little Rock.

The news accounts I’ve read so far give little insight into the motivations - beyond the obvious: that they were deranged - of the gunman, Timothy Dale Johnson, who died later in a shootout with law-enforcement officers.

The tragedy had liberal AM talk show host Ed Schultz calling earlier this evening for some serious dialogue among AM hosts over the potential public impacts of angry radio tirades. Schultz was implying a connection between radio rants and deadly acts, and the need to discuss whether hotheads on the radio inspire hotheaded listeners to do more than simply vent on the air.

Schultz is presuming too much, I think, in tying the rancorous behavior of AM hosts to the acts of an armed madman. But he raises a worthwhile issue for discussion among those who can do something about it: What impact does all that bellicose bellowing have on the attitudes and impulses of AM listeners - particularly the small percentage on the verge of coming unhinged?

Maybe the larger question is what it all does to the rest of us>

I listen to a fair amount of AM. And I find plenty of useful information and perspective wrapped up in all the rigid, self-indulgent rants. I also wonder if a regular diet of angry absolutism isn’t bad for listeners, and possibly bad for America.

Schultz could lead the campaign by backing off on the ranting a bit himself, and asking others, conservative and liberal, to do the same.

I don’t know if it would save any lives. But it might improve the tone of political speech and thought in ways that could strengthen our nation.

For now, though, we note that they held a prayer vigil in Little Rock this evening for Bill Gwatney. And we surely add our prayers to the many.

By Kevin Woster

OK, here’s what GWB had to say - according to Reuters reporter Matt Robinson - Monday about the Russian invasion of Georgia:

“Russia has invaded a sovereign neighboring state and threatens a democratic government elected by its people. Such an action is unacceptable in the 21st century.”

So, when the president makes such comments to the Russians, do you suppose the word “Iraq” comes up in response? And how does he condemn Russia’s war with Georgia without implicitly condemning our invasion of Iraq?

That must make already difficult points of diplomacy even more challenging. Does the “democratic government elected by its people” make a real difference in comparing invasions?

Remember in the Wizard of Oz, when it becomes clear to Dorothy and the gang that the great wizard is actually an illusion being operated by the small man behind the screen?

And as the Oz images smokes and blares, the caught-in-the-act controller says: “Pay no attention to the man behind the screen. I am the great and powerful Oz.”

It must be increasingly difficult to convince nations like Russia to pay no attention to the U.S. invasion of Iraq - the war behind the screen of diplomacy - as we chide them for their invasions.