Coyote Gulch

Tuesday, November 9, 2004

Denver November 2004 Election
Luis Toro, writes on the 5280 Weblog, "Speaker of the Colorado House Andrew Romanoff of Denver is making it clear he has no intention of being a one-term wonder in his new position. He is quickly moving to solidify Democratic control over the House by taking the unusual step of naming a freshman, Bernie Buescher of Grand Junction, to the powerful Joint Budget Committee. Romanoff understands that Grand Junction is traditionally Republican territory, and putting Buescher on the JBC will help Buescher when he has to run for re-election. The move also sends a message that the Democrats intend to develop a political presence west of the Continental Divide."
9:15:25 PM

Colorado Water
This is a surprise, experts warn that the drought may not be over, according to the Rocky Mountain News [November 8, 2004, "West warned of longer drought"]. From the article, "McCabe said drought in the West often is linked to periods when the northern Atlantic Ocean is warmer than normal. Tree-ring studies indicate that those warm- Atlantic periods tend to last nine to 23 years. During that time, drought is more likely in the West, McCabe said. The northern Atlantic switched into a warm phase nine years ago, and it shows no signs of fading, McCabe said Monday at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America. The current drought has eased in eastern Colorado but retains a stranglehold on much of the West. It began in 1999. Colorado River flows at Lee's Ferry were lower between 2000 and 2004 than in any other five-year period since record keeping began in 1931, McCabe said. Lee's Ferry is near the Arizona-Utah border, about 15 miles downstream from Glen Canyon Dam, which created Lake Powell. At the end of September, Lake Powell was at 38 percent capacity and still falling. It hasn't been this low since 1970, when the lake was first filling."
Here's the link to the U.S. Drought Monitor website.
Update: Here's an article from Wired dealing with the intersection of engineering and conservation. It deals with the Yuma (AZ) Desalting Plant, the largest desal facility of its kind in the world.
If you're in Denver, or north, look out your window and find Long's Peak. Just the other side is the headwaters of the Colorado River. Yuma is nearly it's last stop before the Pacific Ocean. I could be wrong there. It may no longer flow to the ocean.
6:43:29 AM

2004 Presidential Transition
President Bush has decided to retain Andrew Card as his Chief of Staff, according to the Denver Post [November 9, 2004, "Bush keeps chief of staff in molding 2nd-term team"]. From the article, "Card's first assignment: help the president reshape the administration for the term that begins in January, sorting through possible personnel changes in the Cabinet and elsewhere...A Treasury Department official in charge of keeping tabs on the nation's financial markets, including Wall Street, announced that he intends to leave his post at the end of December. Brian Roseboro, the department's undersecretary for domestic finance, revealed his intentions in a resignation letter to Bush. Roseboro, who has been at Treasury since 2001, was sworn in as undersecretary on April 16 of this year. Top White House officials are said to be leaning on many of their subordinates to stay in place, part of an effort to maintain stability. Card has the lead role, but Clay Johnson, deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, who led Bush's transition into the Oval Office in 2001, and Dina Powell, assistant to the president for personnel, are intimately involved in White House discussions on second-term personnel."
Click on the graphic for a 3D view of the election, county by county. Thanks to Eric for the link.
Update: John Ashcroft resigned today. Will wonders never cease. I'm pretty sure that he has a job lined up at Microsoft.
Update: Wonkette has the real map by state.
6:28:39 AM

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