Chris Elnicki, Cherry Creek Schools
On my Light Rail ride over to the DNC on Aug 28, I meet a volunteer driver who spent the week chauffeuring a Senator around the DNC. The volunteer driver, a retired gentleman from Arapahoe County, was asked about the security at the Pepsi Center. He explained each trip from the hotel to the Pepsi Center involved six security checks, all within a mile of the Pepsi Center. Five of the stops involved credential checks, like a student at school having their hall pass checked by school security or a principal. The sixth stop was much more involved, with the car being inspected for explosives by dogs, all the items in the vehicle being removed and scanned, and the car being screened electronically as well. Quite a process.
A good sign, cops at rest.
The back end of the Anti War Protest march
What have you heard about security and the police at the DNC? Based on what you have witnessed do you think you have enough information to decide whether protesters were dealt with fairly at the DNC? What kinds of information would you need to make your best judgment about DNC protesting and security issues?
I attended a panel discussion on Thursday morning titled The New Battleground: Politics of the West, featuring Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano, Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer, and Colorado Senator Ken Salazar. The panel was organized and sponsored by Yahoo!, the Denver Post, and Politico. The questions were asked by Jeanne Cummings of Politico and Susan Greene of the Denver Post.
One point of discussion concerned whether or not the Democrats, especially Obama, can win more Western States than Kerry or Gore did in the last two elections. During the past three presidential election cycles Democratic leaders have predicted gains, but little change has taken place.
However, the past two election cycles have resulted in a lot of change concerning Governors in the in the West. All of the following states have elected Democratic Governors recently: Wyoming, Colorado, Montana, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arizona. Here’s a short video clip from the panel discussion with Governor Schweitzer’s response. http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1155201977/bctid1759817277
Arizona, a traditionally conservative and Republican state, is seeing the gap between the number of Democrats and Republicans shrink. According to Governor Janet Napolitano, the difference is 4% now, and was 8% four years ago. Do you think John McCain might be in danger of not winning his home state?
And concerning Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer, some think he’s the next big rising star of the Democratic Party. Like Barack Obama four years ago, Governor Schweitzer received a lot of national attention following his speech this week at the DNC. Do you think Governor Schweitzer will someday be a national leader?
Governor Schweitzer made some interesting comments about Generation Y and how this age group (born roughly between 1982 – 1994) is distinctly different from Generation X, Baby Boomers, and the Greatest Generation. The Governor stated that Generation Y is very accepting and tolerant socially, and though they should be very angry about the state of the world they were born into (politically, socially, and environmentally), they are not. Instead Generation Y is recommending we need to all work together to clean up the mess.
Baby Boomer? Generation X? Generation Y? Generation Z?
Do you think this is an accurate portrayal of Generation Y? How does Generation Z (born after Gen Y) fit with Governor Schweitzer’s thoughts?
Schweitzer mentioned that Obama has been to Montana five times during this election cycle. That’s more visits by a Democratic nominee than the past four election cycles combined. Does Obama need to do more to connect with Western voters? If so, what do you think would work best?
Will this election result in major gains for Democrats in the West? What will be the big issue for Western voters, hair, dress, water, energy, the economy…?
According to Schweiter more money was spent on the DNC in four days than the United States Government spent on solar research all last year.
Do you think the US government should increase spending for solar energy reserach, let the market and business lead the way, or some combination of both?
Martin Luther King III stated Thursday night at Mile High that, “If we are to be a great democracy, we must all take an active role in our democracy. We must do democracy. That goes far beyond simply casting your vote. We must all actively champion the causes that ensure the common good.” As you think about doing democracy and school, is this aspect of citizenship strongly valued in education? How should doing democracy look in the classroom?
Did you sense an extra effort by the Democratic leadership to reach out to churches and people of faith? If so, how successful do you think this message has been?
Here’s an interesting two minute video comparing the 1908 and 2008 Democratic National Conventions in Denver http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1243705446/bclid1201016315/bctid1759817339
A big thank you to the Denver Newspaper Agency and When History Happens for the invitation to be a reporter this week. Oh, and by the way, I'm the guy with the tube. Jill Armstrong (Denver Newspaper Agency) in the background, and Ted Koppel (former ABC News Broadcaster, current Managing Editor of Discovery Channel, and BBC News Reporter at the DNC) is in the front.
