Coyote Gulch

Wednesday, July 28, 2004

2004 Presidential Election
Barack Obama stole the show yesterday at the DNC. Here's an article about his speech from the Denver Post [July 29, 2004, "Networks miss 'a bit of history' as a star is born"]. From the article, "Journalists, historians and political seers fell over each other Tuesday night proclaiming a star had been born, marveling at the fact that he was not a household name, not a national player, just a U.S. Senate candidate from Illinois. The hall gave Obama as big a reception as Bill Clinton got on the Democrats' opening night. Presidential historian Michael Bechloss instantly bet this was the start of an eventual presidential bid...Obama, the son of a white woman from Kansas and a black goat herder from Kenya, may have effectively used television to point the way to a new generation of Democrats. At the very least, he showed the power of buzz."
Lawrence Lessig: "If you missed Barack Obama tonight at the Democratic National Convention, you missed one of the greatest speeches of this campaign. Remember."
Update: 9News.com: "A new type of reporting is making its debut at this year's Democratic National Convention. For the first time ever, bloggers are being credentialed to cover it...Most internet users are pretty familiar with blogs. They're web logs; on-line journals of just about everything and anything, including politics."
They've linked to Coyote Gulch. Thanks!
Update: Here's a link to some convention weblogs from the Denver Post.
Update: Taegan Goddard: "New poll. New Jersey - Kerry 45%, Bush 43% (Fairleigh Dickinson).
Update: MakesMeRalph has been writing about Barack Obama since at least the spring. Here's his review of last night's speech.
6:38:33 AM

Denver November 2004 Election
It looks like proponents of a measure to require utilities to get part of their energy from renewable resources will be successful getting their measure on the fall ballot, according to the Denver Post [July 28, 2004, "Renewable-energy backers say issue will be on ballot"]. From the article, "Colorado appears likely to become the first in the country to hold a statewide vote on requiring utilities to get part of their supplies from renewable energy. Coloradans for Clean Energy will surpass the required 67,829 petition signatures to get the initiative on the Nov. 2 ballot, said Manolo Gonzalez- Estay, co-director of the coalition, which is pushing the measure...The measure will ask voters to decide whether utilities should be required to get at least 10 percent of their supply from renewable sources by 2015."
Peter Blake is chronicling the nastiness on the Republican side of the U.S. Senate race [July 28, 2004, "Blake: GOP Senate ad-versaries"]. I'm disappointed that William Armstrong is in the middle of all of this. I worked hard for him in his last campaign here in Colorado.
6:31:50 AM

Colorado Water
The drought is not over. The Denver Post has a short article about the continuing drought [July 28, 2004, "Summer rain hasn't ended state drought"]. From the article, "While steady rainfall in June and July has helped eastern Colorado turn green, other parts of the state have missed out, state water and weather experts said Tuesday...After six years of drought, aquifers, drained from years of heavy pumping because of the dry spell, still must refill. And overall soil moisture is still very low, experts said. Colorado has yet to refill reservoirs that were only 80 percent full on July 1, the normal peak of the runoff from the snowmelt...Denver Water's reservoirs are 85 percent full; they are normally 97 percent full in late July, Steger said. Customers, however, are using 27 percent less water than normal, aided by rainfall that often takes away the need to run sprinklers."
Here's the coverage from the Rocky Mountain News [July 28, 2004, "Experts see glass half-empty"].
Update: The Western Water Clearing House comments lightly and reports faithfully on water issues. They're pointing to an article from the Arizona Central about the Colorado River. From the article, "Five years into the worst drought to hit the Colorado River in 500 years, the picture appears bleakest at the headwaters, where the water is the most finite. This is where the West's 1,450-mile lifeline begins, in the Rocky Mountains northwest of Denver. This is also where a new front in the West's water wars is most likely to erupt."
Thanks to Adding Understanding for the link.
6:17:41 AM

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