Dick Cheney's Hometown Paper Endorses Obama Today, Cites Palin

Oh my dear lord this is too precious. Hey- go click on Greg's book over to the right, he's the brilliant guy who brought us this nugget.

NEW YORK For the past six weeks, we have chronicled the landslide in newspaper endorsements for Barack Obama (our new daily will be ready in a short bit here). Included in this have been well over 50 daily papers that have switched from backing Bush in 2004 to supporting Obama this year. Then there are the embarrassments such as the largest paper in Alaska, The Anchorage Daily Times, also endorsing Obama.

Now comes another signal: This morning, Dick Cheney's hometown paper in Wyoming, the Casper Star-Tribune, switched to Obama.

(snip)

Once again, a key factor in the GOP defections: McCain showing "poor judgement" in picking Sarah Palin.

Polls- Illinois, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Wyoming

I'm really loving that PA poll and McCain can bite me with his 3 Wyoming electorals. Via Jake.

Illinois -- 56-32 Obama, 10/18,
Chicago Tribune

New Jersey -- 59-36 Obama, 10/19, Quinnipiac University

Pennsylvania -- 52-42 Obama, 10/20, Muhlenberg College/Morning Call

Wyoming -- 58-32 McCain, 10/14,
Mason-Dixon/The Casper Star-Tribune

Electoral map via 538

Governor Ritter On 'Meet The Press' Says Obama Can Win Colorado

By Paddy


It was refreshing to see Gov's Ritter and Freudenthal this morning. Two very bright and sensible sounding Democrats.

DENVER -- While appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday, Gov. Bill Ritter said Sen. Barack Obama has a "great opportunity to win in Colorado."

Ritter appeared on the program with Wyoming Gov. Dave Freundenthal. Both discussed the upcoming presidential race and a number of other issues facing the west.

When asked about Obama's chances in Colorado, Ritter said, "The people of Colorado are independent thinkers, they're future looking and they're also optimistic and I think he's captured that language in his campaign."

U.S. Interior Department sued over Wyoming drilling

By GottaLaff

Keep shoving ANWR, coastlines, and other potential drilling sites down our throats, BushCo/McCainCo, because it's obvious that the fragile environment will be preserved, just as it has in Wyoming. Ooops:

As President Bush called for increased oil and gas drilling in the Rocky Mountain West and offshore, an environmental group launched a legal battle Wednesday against the Interior Department, saying the agency broke its promise to limit environmental damage from natural gas and oil development on the Pinedale Anticline, one of the country's top reserves. [...] The suit alleges the [Bureau of Land Management], a division of the Interior Department, "failed unequivocally" to comply with its plans to monitor and mitigate the effects of gas and oil drilling on wildlife across the Anticline and violated the National Environmental Policy Act and Federal Land Policy and Management Act.

See how carefully those Tiptoey Drillers tread on pristine land? Those tiny little footprints of Big Oil couldn't hurt a fly! But mule deer and antelope? That's another story:

The Bush administration has highlighted the Anticline, a scrub-land mesa south of Jackson, as a model for oil and gas exploration in the Rocky Mountain West. But massive development of oil and gas fields there has pushed up ozone levels and broken up the habitat of mule deer, pronghorn antelope and sage grouse, according to a study by the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality and the environmental group that filed suit.

Promises, promises:

"They haven't been following the processes that they put in place that would address impacts to the natural resources of the area and would comply with their obligations under federal law," said Katie McKalip, a spokeswoman for the conservation group.

Here's a thought: Alternative energy sources. I'm sure if BushCo looks hard enough, they could find someone, anyone, with enough expertise on the subjectformerVicePresidentandglobalwarming expertAlGore.

"We really minimize the amount of habitat fragmentation and surface disturbance due to the drilling . . ." Matheny said. "Since then, the deer population stabilized and has started to rebound when we operate this way."

A 2006 report showed the deer population declined 46% since 2000, the suit said. The study was industry-funded and performed by Western EcoSystems Technology Inc.

Al has a few ideas. All BushCo/McCainCo has to do is look him up.