Republican John McCain has history on his side in Montana; Democrat Barack Obama has 19 campaign offices.

Montana is typically safe territory for Republican presidential candidates—President Bush won the state by about 20 points in both 2000 and 2004, and only two Democratic presidential candidates have carried the state since 1948.

But Obama staked out Montana early as a potential battleground state and he's sticking with it to the end. McCain, confident of winning the state and its three electoral votes, is virtually ignoring it, although the Republican National Committee will begin airing ads in Montana for the first time Wednesday.

Obama's campaign didn't back off when the state appeared to be a shoo-in for John McCain in September. And now McCain's lead appears to be in doubt. A recent Montana State University-Billings poll showed the race within the margin of error, with Obama at 44 percent and McCain at 40 percent among likely voters, and 10 percent undecided.

Warner, who is running for Senate, carried the rural area for the Democrats when he ran for governor in 2001. And Warner persuaded CGI and Northrop Grumman Inc. in 2005 to locate in the coal-mining region.

The two companies moved to the region as a less expensive way to do business without sending jobs overseas. Amid the rolling farmland, Northrop Grumman operates a call center and backup data center for Virginia's state government across from Canada's CGI Group center, which employs software developers, analysts and consultants.

The town I grew up in is one of those places with two stoplights, one church, a McDonald’s and about 600 families who are proud to call it home. I first left when I joined the Air Force and served for eight years as a medic, much as my dad did in the Army and my grandfather before him during World War II.

During my time in the Air Force, I served with the 387th Air Expeditionary Group in northern Iraq, in Kirkuk, where we did our best to treat our comrades who’d been wounded by suicide bombs, IEDs and mortars. One night we got a call that a helicopter was bringing in a team of five guys who’d been hit by a suicide bomber. The guy I was working on, all he would ask me was, “Where are my other guys? Are they okay?” As a medic, you just look them in the eye and tell them, “Let’s get you taken care of first and we’ll talk about your buddies later.” We were able to save two of them. Three others died.

I’ve seen war up close—not as a political slogan or some think-tank theory. I support Barack Obama because America needs a president who has the strength, wisdom and courage to talk to our enemies and consult with our allies. A president who has the judgment to use war as a last resort, not a first resort. A president who can adapt to new situations as things change, instead of being stuck in the past. And a president who will respect our veterans when they get back home, instead of letting them languish without the medical care and services they deserve.

You know, there’s an old saying: “If you always do what you did, you’ll always get what you got.” America needs new leadership in the White House, and that leader is Barack Obama.

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s my distinct honor, as an Iraq war veteran, as a lifelong Republican, and as a proud citizen of this great democracy, to nominate the next President of the United States of America, Barack Obama!

My friends, it is time to take back the country we love.

Whether you voted for me, or voted for Barack, the time is now to unite as a single party with a single purpose. We are on the same team, and none of us can sit on the sidelines.

This is a fight for the future. And it’s a fight we must win.

I haven’t spent the past 35 years in the trenches advocating for children, campaigning for universal health care, helping parents balance work and family, and fighting for women’s rights at home and around the world . . . to see another Republican in the White House squander the promise of our country and the hopes of our people.

And you haven’t worked so hard over the last 18 months, or endured the last eight years, to suffer through more failed leadership.

No way. No how. No McCain.

Barack Obama is my candidate. And he must be our President.

Tonight we need to remember what a Presidential election is really about. When the polls have closed, and the ads are finally off the air, it comes down to you -- the American people, your lives, and your children’s futures.

For me, it’s been a privilege to meet you in your homes, your workplaces, and your communities. Your stories reminded me everyday that America’s greatness is bound up in the lives of the American people -- your hard work, your devotion to duty, your love for your children, and your determination to keep going, often in the face of enormous obstacles.

You taught me so much, you made me laugh, and . . . you even made me cry. You allowed me to become part of your lives. And you became part of mine.

I will always remember the single mom who had adopted two kids with autism, didn’t have health insurance and discovered she had cancer. But she greeted me with her bald head painted with my name on it and asked me to fight for health care.

I will always remember the young man in a Marine Corps t-shirt who waited months for medical care and said to me: “Take care of my buddies; a lot of them are still over there….and then will you please help take care of me?”

I will always remember the boy who told me his mom worked for the minimum wage and that her employer had cut her hours. He said he just didn’t know what his family was going to do.

I will always be grateful to everyone from all fifty states, Puerto Rico and the territories, who joined our campaign on behalf of all those people left out and left behind by the Bush Administrtation.

To my supporters, my champions -- my sisterhood of the traveling pantsuits – from the bottom of my heart: Thank you.

You never gave in. You never gave up. And together we made history.

Along the way, America lost two great Democratic champions who would have been here with us tonight. One of our finest young leaders, Arkansas Democratic Party Chair, Bill Gwatney, who believed with all his heart that America and the South could be and should be Democratic from top to bottom.

And Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones, a dear friend to many of us, a loving mother and courageous leader who never gave up her quest to make America fairer and smarter, stronger and better. Steadfast in her beliefs, a fighter of uncommon grace, she was an inspiration to me and to us all.

Our heart goes out to Stephanie’s son, Mervyn, Jr, and Bill’s wife, Rebecca, who traveled to Denver to join us at our convention.

Bill and Stephanie knew that after eight years of George Bush, people are hurting at home, and our standing has eroded around the world. We have a lot of work ahead.

Jobs lost, houses gone, falling wages, rising prices. The Supreme Court in a right-wing headlock and our government in partisan gridlock. The biggest deficit in our nation’s history. Money borrowed fr?m the Chinese to buy oil fr?m the Saudis.

Putin and Georgia, Iraq and Iran.

I ran for President to renew the promise of America. To rebuild the middle class and sustain the American Dream, to provide the opportunity to work hard and have that work rewarded, to save for college, a home and retirement, to afford the gas and groceries and still have a little left over each month.

To promote a clean energy economy that will create millions of green collar jobs.

To create a health care system that is universal, high quality, and affordable so that parents no longer have to choose between care for themselves or their children or be stuck in dead end jobs simply to keep their insurance.

To create a world class education system and make college affordable again.

To fight for an America defined by deep and meaningful equality - from civil rights to labor rights, from women's rights to gay rights, from ending discrimination to promoting unionization to providing help for the most important job there is: caring for our families. To help every child live up to his or her God-given potential.

To make America once again a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws.

To bring fiscal sanity back to Washington and make our government an instrument of the public good, not of private plunder.

To restore America's standing in the world, to end the war in Iraq, bring our troops home and honor their service by caring for our veterans.

And to join with our allies to confront our shared challenges, from poverty and genocide to terrorism and global warming.

Most of all, I ran to stand up for all those who have been invisible to their government for eight long years.

Those are the reasons I ran for President. Those are the reasons I support Barack Obama. And those are the reasons you should too.

I want you to ask yourselves: Were you in this campaign just for me? Or were you in it for that young Marine and others like him? Were you in it for that mom struggling with cancer while raising her kids? Were you in it for that boy and his mom surviving on the minimum wage? Were you in it for all the people in this country who feel invisible?

We need leaders once again who can tap in-to that special blend of American confidence and optimism that has enabled generations before us to meet our toughest challenges. Leaders who can help us show ourselves and the world that with our ingenuity, creativity, and innovative spirit, there are no limits to what is possible in America.

This won’t be easy. Progress never is. But it will be impossible if we don’t fight to put a Democrat in the White House.

We need to elect Barack Obama because we need a President who understands that America can’t compete in a global economy by padding the pockets of energy speculators, while ignoring the workers whose jobs have been shipped overseas. We need a President who understands that we can’t solve the problems of global warming by giving windfall profits to the oil companies while ignoring opportunities to invest in new technologies that will build a green economy.

We need a President who understands that the genius of America has always depended on the strength and vitality of the middle class.

Barack Obama began his career fighting for workers displaced by the global economy. He built his campaign on a fundamental belief that change in this country must start from the ground up, not the top down. He knows government must be about “We the people” not “We the favored few.”

And when Barack Obama is in the White House, he’ll revitalize our economy, defend the working people of America, and meet the global challenges of our time. Democrats know how to do this. As I recall, President Clinton and the Democrats did it before. And President Obama and the Democrats will do it again.

He’ll transform our energy agenda by creating millions of green jobs and building a new, clean energy future. He’ll make sure that middle class families get the tax relief they deserve. And I can’t wait to watch Barack Obama sign a health care plan in-to law that covers every single American.

Barack Obama will end the war in Iraq responsibly and bring our troops home – a first step to repairing our alliances around the world.

And he will have with him a terrific partner in Michelle Obama. Anyone who saw Michelle’s speech last night knows she will be a great First Lady for America.

Americans are also fortunate that Joe Biden will be at Barack Obama’s side. He is a strong leader and a good man. He understands both the economic stresses here at home and the strategic challenges abroad. He is pragmatic, tough, and wise. And, of course, Joe will be supported by his wonderful wife, Jill.

They will be a great team for our country.

Now, John McCain is my colleague and my friend.

He has served our country with honor and courage.

But we don’t need four more years . . . of the last eight years.

More economic stagnation …and less affordable health care.

More high gas prices …and less alternative energy.

More jobs getting shipped overseas …and fewer jobs created here.

More skyrocketing debt ...home foreclosures …and mounting bills that are crushing our middle class families.

More war . . . less diplomacy.

More of a government where the privileged come first …and everyone else comes last.

John McCain says the economy is fundamentally sound. John McCain doesn’t think that 47 million people without health insurance is a crisis. John McCain wants to privatize Social Security. And in 2008, he still thinks it’s okay when women don’t earn equal pay for equal work.

With an agenda like that, it makes sense that George Bush and John McCain will be together next week in the Twin Cities. Because these days they’re awfully hard to tell apart.

America is still around after 232 years because we have risen to the challenge of every new time, changing to be faithful to our values of equal opportunity for all and the common good.

And I know what that can mean for every man, woman, and child in America. I’m a United States Senator because in 1848 a group of courageous women and a few brave men gathered in Seneca Falls, New York, many traveling for days and nights, to participate in the first convention on women’s rights in our history.

And so dawned a struggle for the right to vote that would last 72 years, handed down by mother to daughter to granddaughter – and a few sons and grandsons along the way.

These women and men looked in-to their daughters’ eyes, imagined a fairer and freer world, and found the strength to fight. To rally and picket. To endure ridicule and harassment. To brave violence and jail.

And after so many decades – 88 years ago on this very day – the 19th amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote would be forever enshrined in our Constitution.

My mother was born before women could vote. But in this election my daughter got to vote for her mother for President.

This is the story of America. Of women and men who defy the odds and never give up.

How do we give this country back to them?

By following the example of a brave New Yorker , a woman who risked her life to shepherd slaves along the Underground Railroad.

And on that path to freedom, Harriett Tubman had one piece of advice.

If you hear the dogs, keep going.

If you see the torches in the woods, keep going.

If they're shouting after you, keep going.

Don't ever stop. Keep going.

If you want a taste of freedom, keep going.

Even in the darkest of moments, ordinary Americans have found the faith to keep going.

I’ve seen it in you. I’ve seen it in our teachers and firefighters, nurses and police officers, small business owners and union workers, the men and women of our military – you always keep going.

We are Americans. We're not big on quitting.

But remember, before we can keep going, we have to get going by electing Barack Obama president.

We don't have a moment to lose or a vote to spare.

Nothing less than the fate of our nation and the future of our children hang in the balance.

I want you to think about your children and grandchildren come election day. And think about the choices your parents and grandparents made that had such a big impact on your life and on the life of our nation.

We've got to ensure that the choice we make in this election honors the sacrifices of all who came before us, and will fill the lives of our children with possibility and hope.

That is our duty, to build that bright future, and to teach our children that in America there is no chasm too deep, no barrier too great – and no ceiling too high – for all who work hard, never back down, always keep going, have faith in God, in our country, and in each other.

Thank you so much. God bless America and Godspeed to you all.

For eight years, the people of Pennsylvania have been hit hard by the Bush-Cheney economy, an economy that favors the powerful and leaves everyone else to fend for themselves. We’ve seen our jobs disappear overseas, our wages go down and the price we pay at the pump skyrocket to record highs. We’ve been hit hard, but we’re ready to fight back, and we’re ready for a president who will fight for us. That’s why I am proud to support Barack Obama for President of the United States.

In a time of danger around the world and economic trouble here at home, I know that Barack Obama will lead us, heal us and help us rebuild the country we love. I know this because I know Barack Obama. I have seen how he inspires people, including my four daughters, to believe that the failures of the past will soon give way to the change we need. I have seen his leadership up close in the Senate, bridging partisan divides and finding common ground. And I have seen him carry those same leadership skills off the floor of the Senate and into cities and towns all across Pennsylvania.

I traveled with Barack by bus and train across our state, from Pittsburgh to Paoli, from Johnstown to Downingtown. He was equally at home talking football with Jerome Bettis and Franco Harris as he was with talking jobs with the folks on the shop floor of the Erie Bolt Company, or talking sports with the guys at the bar at Sharky’s in Latrobe.

Everywhere Barack went, people who may have been asking who this guy was ended up seeing what I saw: a husband, a father of two daughters and a man of deep faith. Everywhere we went, the people of Pennsylvania gave him the highest praise they give anyone: He’s one of us too.

And Pennsylvania couldn’t be prouder of our native son, Joe Biden from Scranton. No one knows us better than Joe.

After eight years of a president who lets the oil companies and the Washington lobbyists call the shots, I say it’s about time we had a president and vice president who really know us. We are joined tonight by another great champion of working people, someone with whom I’ve worked on early childhood education; someone who conducted her campaign with rare grace under real pressure; a senator who has worked to bring our party and our country together: Hillary Rodham Clinton. When she endorsed Barack, Senator Clinton called upon us to “do all we can to help elect Barack Obama the next President of the United States.”

Traveling around Pennsylvania, and looking around this room, I have no doubt that is exactly what we’re going to do. So now let us work together, with a leader who, as Lincoln said, appeals to the better angels of our nature. Barack Obama and I have an honest disagreement on the issue of abortion. But the fact that I’m speaking here tonight is testament to Barack’s ability to show respect for the views of people who may disagree with him.

I know Barack Obama. And I believe that as president, he’ll pursue the common good by seeking common ground, rather than trying to divide us. We are strongest when we are together. And there has never been a more important time to devote ourselves to common purpose.

The people of Pennsylvania can’t afford four more years of Bush-Cheney economics, and with John McCain, that’s exactly what we’d get. John McCain calls himself a maverick, but he votes with George Bush 90 percent of the time. That’s not a maverick. That’s a sidekick.

The Bush-McCain Republicans inherited the strongest economy in history and drove it into a ditch. They cut taxes on the wealthiest of us and passed on the pain to the least of us. They ran up the debt, gave huge subsidies to big oil companies, and now they’re asking for four more years.

How ‘bout four more months? We can’t afford four more years of deficit and debt, drift and desperation. Not four more years. Four more months. And we can’t afford another president who will veto children’s health insurance for 10 million children, or who will keep senior citizens from seeing the doctors they trust. Not four more years. Four more months.

Governor Casey used to say that the ultimate question for those in public office is this: what did you do when you had the power? Barack Obama and Joe Biden will use that power to help the folks on the shop floor of the Erie Bolt Company, the guys at Sharky’s, and the millions of Americans just like them, struggling but ready to fight back. We know they will because as Pennsylvanians know, Joe Biden is one of us. And Barack Obama is one of us too.

Finally, after eight years of failed policies and misplaced priorities, we can turn the page. Rural America can’t afford more of the same. Rural America needs the change Barack Obama offers. Our communities have suffered a 10 percent drop in household income, three times the national average. As jobs continue to disappear, 8 million rural Americans now live in poverty.

Through it all, George Bush and Dick Cheney have sided with big business and big oil and left the rest of us to fend for ourselves. As much as John McCain would like us to believe he’s different, his economic plan offers not a single new idea, just more of the same.

Barack Obama will give us the change we need. He will lift our economy immediately by taking some of big oil’s windfall profits and returning $1,000 to the pockets of working families. He will invest in what rural America needs most of all, good new jobs, with a clean energy initiative that will move us away from oil and put 5 million Americans to work. And unlike John McCain, for whom the internet is a mystery, Barack Obama understands that rural communities can’t be competitive until we have high-speed internet access across the heartland.

Now, as a former prosecutor, I know rural Americans value safe homes and secure communities. That’s why the rural spike in violent crimes is so disturbing to us. George Bush wants to cut funding from local law enforcement. Joe Biden and I worked together on the COPS Program that put 100,000 officers on the beat. Now, Barack Obama and Joe Biden have a plan to hire even more.

No one in America escapes the burden of gas prices that have nearly tripled during the Bush administration, but no one feels it worse than rural communities, where we travel the furthest distances to commute to work, take our children to school and buy groceries. Instead of helping us, George Bush heaps billion-dollar tax breaks on top of big oil’s multi-billion-dollar profits and, now, the very same oil companies that have called the shots in the Bush White House are doubling down on McCain.

Big oil knows McCain’s a sure bet to look out for them. We know Barack Obama will look out for us. Unlike Senator McCain, Senator Obama has a comprehensive and balanced energy plan to lower prices. He will stop speculators from bidding up prices; responsibly produce more oil here at home; and, most importantly, he’ll move us away from oil and towards clean, renewable fuels.

So, for rural America, this choice could not be clearer. John McCain offers four more years of the same Bush-Cheney policies that have failed us. Barack Obama is on our side and he’ll deliver the change we desperately need. After eight long years, now is our chance to get our country back on the right track. When Barack Obama is president, we can once again look with hope to a prosperous new day for our rural communities, from the Rocky Mountains of Colorado to the Green Mountains of Vermont.

Joe Logan, whose family barn is featured in the video above:

"We wanted to show our support for the candidate that supports Ohio’s rural communities. Senator Obama has a long history of championing the issues that are most important to Ohio’s family farmers."

Doug O'Brien, Ohio Campaign for Change Rural Vote Director:

"Sen. Obama has a strong track record of standing up for rural values, and we are reaching out to every corner of the state to make sure that message is heard. We’ve opened offices in towns across rural Ohio— from Findlay to New Lexington to Marietta— to let Ohioans know which presidential candidate supports America’s rural communities and family farms."

Gramm told the Washington Times an interview published last week that the economy has "never been more dominant" and said we have become a "nation of whiners" constantly "whining and complaining." The McCain campaign may be quick to throw a top economic adviser under the bus but that does not hide the fact that John McCain offers four more years of George W. Bush on the economy.

We released this web video highlighting the shared belief of John McCain and Phil Gramm that these troubling economic times are "psychological" and a figment of your imagination.

Rising gas prices are hurting community colleges in rural America. "Sensitive to their enrollment numbers and the plight of their fuel-cost-fatigued students, administrators at rural community colleges are looking for ways to help students stay on track with their studies even as their monthly transportation bills rise, in some cases approaching the several-hundred-dollar range," Libby Sander writes for The Chronicle of Higher Education.

"In large swaths of rural America, where a journey of 50 to 100 miles to reach a destination is the norm, some community-college officials say students are being forced to make tough decisions about what they can afford, given the added expense of fuel," Sander reports. "Some are dropping out. Others are turning to online classes for relief from the pump."

Senator Barack Obama is committed to bringing a college education within reach of any American who seeks it. Read more about his plans to ">make college affordable and move the U.S. towards energy independence from oil once and for all.

Senator McCain's talk on sugar is a sign that McCain just doesn't understand the economic situation in the state. After seven years of a president who has ignored the Gulf Coast, Louisianans don't want four more years of inaction with John McCain.

McCain Ripped Into Sugar Subsidies During His First Economic Speech Of The 2008 Campaign. During McCain's "first major economic speech since announcing his run for the presidency," "McCain ticked off the most egregious violations of pork-barrel spending as he ripped the Democrats' attempt to lard the emergency war-spending bill still deadlocked in Congress. 'They took the lid off the pork barrel and said to wavering members 'help yourself, there's plenty more where that came from.' They gave $7 million to research water quality on pig farms in Missouri, $24 million to sugar-beet farmers, $74 million for peanut storage, $95 million to dairy producers and nearly $400 million for highway projects, two years after we passed a $244 billion highway bill,' he said." [Washington Times, 4/17/07]

McCain Wanted To End Sugar Subsidies. Asked, "The federal government spent a record $ 22.7 billion last year in direct payments to farmers. Is Washington spending too much money on farm subsidies?," McCain responded, "'Yes. The 1996 Farm Act was intended to decouple farmers from bureaucratic crop controls and implement groundbreaking, cost-effective reform. Instead, the bill catered to special interests and did little to reform the system. . . I believe we need fiscally responsible reform of our farm policies to provide assistance to farmers who truly need it and promote efficient, free-market policies. We must end inequitable special-interest subsidies, such as sugar, peanut and ethanol industries, that cost American taxpayers billions of dollars every year, and help farmers manage risk as cost-effectively as possible." [Dayton Daily News (Ohio), 3/7/00]

McCain Attempted To "Kill All Funding" For The Federal Sugar Support Program. The Advocate reported, "Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz, asked the Senate to kill all funding for the [federal sugar support] program. The Senate tabled McCain's amendment, by a vote of 62-35, which in effect kills it. McCain said the government program is a subsidy for rich corporate farmers and drives up the price of sugar for U.S. consumers." The Palm Beach reported that McCain's amendment "would have ended federal subsidies for sugar farmers in Florida and 15 other states" and that Florida sugar growers argued "that preserving the program is essential to keeping sugar farmers from failing." [The Advocate (Baton Rouge, Louisiana), 7/21/00; Palm Beach Post, 7/21/00]

McCain Assaulted Sugar, Attempting To "Uproot" Government Support For Sugar Farmers. "Senators from sugar-producing states, including Louisiana, on Wednesday beat back another in a series of efforts to uproot the government system of price supports for sugar farmers. The assault this time came in the form of an amendment to the Agricultural Appropriations bill by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who called for a one-year suspension of the federal government's sugar program. His amendment was defeated 66-33, a margin only slightly more lopsided than a similar vote in the Senate two years ago….The program offers annual, low-interest loans to sugar farmers and sets strict import quotas. McCain and other opponents claim the program amounts to a generous subsidy for a small group of politically connected 'sugar barons' in South Florida and artificially keeps prices high." [Times Picayune, 8/5/99]

After casting himself as a "Maverick" in 2000, the new John McCain is walking in lockstep with President Bush, pandering to the right wing of the Republican Party, and embracing the ideology he once denounced. On the campaign trail McCain has callously abandoned many of his previously held positions, even contradicted himself, in a blatant attempt to remake himself into a candidate Republicans can accept in 2008. So just who is the real John McCain? The Democratic National Committee will present a daily fact aimed at exposing the man behind the myth.

For the candidate who wants to have it both ways, this is just politics as usual. But how can McCain say he would help America's working families when he also said he would veto funding to give them things like hospitals? It's time for McCain to fess up. No more doubletalk--which is it?

Youngstown Earmarks Included Funding for Education…

• In 2003, Youngstown State University received $500,000 for expenses to expand a materials engineering/science program (Institute of Museum and Library Services - Department of Education). [Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW.org) Pigbooks, FY95-FY07]

And Health Care…

• In 2005, Forum Health in Youngstown received $200,000 for facilities and equipment (Health Resources and Services Administration - Department of Health and Human Services). [Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW.org) Pigbooks, FY95-FY07]
• In 2004, the Ursuline Sisters HIV/AIDS Ministry in Youngstown received $50,000 to expand their health care and counseling services (Health Resources & Services Administration - Health & Human Services). [Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW.org) Pigbooks, FY95-FY07]
• In 2004, the Saint Elizabeth Health Center in Youngstown received $400,000 for construction, renovation, and equipment (Health Resources & Services Administration - Health & Human Services). [Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW.org) Pigbooks, FY95-FY07]
• In 2001, Forum Health of Youngstown received $921,000 pediatric and adolescent asthma school program (Disease Control, Research & Training - Centers for Disease Control). [Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW.org) Pigbooks, FY95-FY07]
• In 2000, Forum Health of Youngstown received $1.2 million for a hospital conversion project (Community Development Block Grants). [Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW.org) Pigbooks, FY95-FY07]
• In 1999, the City of Youngstown received $1 million for the Southside Medical Center [Community Development Block Grants]. (HUD) [Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW.org) Pigbooks, FY95-FY07]
  

And for the Air Reserve Center…

• In 2006, the Youngstown Air Reserve Station received $7.5 million for a Joint service logistics facility (Phase I), (Air Force Reserve). [Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW.org) Pigbooks, FY95-FY07]
• In 2000, the Air Force Reserve, Youngstown Air Reserve Station, received $3.4 million for the Apron Runoff/Storm Water/Deicing Collection System. [Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW.org) Pigbooks, FY95-FY07]
  

After casting himself as a "Maverick" in 2000, the new John McCain is walking in lockstep with President Bush, pandering to the right wing of the Republican Party, and embracing the ideology he once denounced. On the campaign trail McCain has callously abandoned many of his previously held positions, even contradicted himself, in a blatant attempt to remake himself into a candidate Republicans can accept in 2008. So just who is the real John McCain? The Democratic National Committee will present a daily fact aimed at exposing the man behind the myth.

The study indicates that negative views about the Bush administration, the war in Iraq, and the economy are eroding the Republican party's rural base.

Surprised? You shouldn’t be. Even traditionally Republican voters are becoming disillusioned with the Bush administration’s failed policies. Iraq remains a particular sore spot:

While a narrow majority [of rural voters] oppose the war, nearly 60 percent are close to someone serving or who has served in the fighting. This is not a "television war" for rural families.

Unlike Republicans, Democrats continue to fight for real issues affecting average Americans, including a sensible conclusion to the war in Iraq, which makes rural America "as politically competitive as any region in the country right now." Democrats are on the right track as we approach 2008.

(Ramzi Takla is an intern in the DNC Internet Department)

With Iowa an important primary state, it's no wonder his website doesn't feature his position on agricultural issues.

How big of a deal is this? Well, here's the giant headline treatment Matt Drudge gave to this story with Kerry back in 2004 (via the old Caucus Cooler).

46% of the respondents indicated they'd vote for an un-named Democratic candidate for president; 43 % favored a Republican -- a. statistical dead heat given the poll's 3.4% margin of error – but a deep plunge given rural voters past support of Republicans. 2000 exit polls showed Bush beating Al Gore by 22% in rural areas. In 2004, the vote tally showed Bush outpolling Sen. John Kerry, by 19 percent among rural voters.

60% of those surveyed know someone who is serving or has served in Iraq or Afghanistan. 45% of respondents said the country should "stay the course" in Iraq, down from 51% in 2004. Bush's job performance ratings has dropped to 44%, down 10% since the 2004 election.

Rural folks are now part of the Democratic majority, but it's going to take some work to keep it that way. And it's going to be even more work to keep making inroads. It's why the 50-state strategy is so important. We can't make these gains unless we campaign everywhere and talk to every voter.

Farming, seemingly out of nowhere, has been receiving a lot more attention in the blogosphere -- with discussion of the rewriting of the farm bill and Congressman Earl Blumenauer stopping by TPM Cafe discussing the Food & Farm Bill of Rights.

While I know that Michelle Malkin is probably "skeptical" on this one, based on the title, the rest of us who value a safe food supply need to start paying attention to this one. Here are the key points, via the TPM Cafe post:

1. Americans have a right to a policy free of special interest giveaways.
2. American taxpayers have a right to a fiscally responsible policy.
3. Americans have a right to a policy that serves all farmers.
4. Americans have a right to a safe and healthful food supply.
5. American children have a right to good nutrition.
6. Americans have a right to local supplies of fresh food.
7. Americans have a right to a policy that promotes energy independence.
8. Americans have a right to a policy that protects the environment.
9. Americans have a right to preserve farmland from sprawl.
10. Americans have a right to a policy that fosters sustainable farming practices.

Democrats have been leading the fight for rural communities, energizing their economies and eliminating health and other discrepancies. It's why the Bush budget gets an 'F' on the "Rural Report Card" and Speaker Pelosi is a hit in the community.