Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer makes the most of the spotlight
DENVER -- Montana Democrats no doubt will revel in Barack Obama's appearance in Billings today, his last campaign stop before heading here. But they already had reason to be excited this morning -- their offbeat and folksy governor, Brain Schweitzer, was the surprise hit of the party's national convention Tuesday night, garnering rave reviews for a rousing speech. 
Schweitzer, who is 52, was sandwiched on the program between keynote speaker Mark Warner and the evening's much-anticipated climax, Hillary Clinton's speech.
The crowd was there to hear Clinton, and a parade of speakers preceding her had failed to grab its full attention (including Warner).
That is, until Schweitzer -- clad in blazer, blue jeans, bolo tie and cowboy boots (his signature look) -- strode unto the stage.
Jimmy Orr, blogging for the Christian Science Monitor, nicely captures Schweitzer's achievement, writing that he "did the equivalent of summiting Everest ... getting the crowd to roar while discussing renewable energy. Sir Edmund Hilary would be proud."
His success was sealed as he engaged his audience in a call-and-response moment.
“Can we afford four more years?” he asked. “No!” came the reply.
“Is it time for change?” “Yes!”
“When do we need it?” “Now!”
"Who's going to lead us there, as the next president of the United States?" "Barack Obama."
Schweitzer revved up the Pepsi Center, and Clinton took it from there.
[UPDATE: The governor may have done himself one better this morning. Appearing at a breakfast meeting of the Florida convention delegation, he got his listeners barking!].
We encountered Schweitzer earlier in the week and he's clearly enthused about Obama's chances of carrying ...
Montana and its three electoral votes (which normally would be all-but-conceded to the Republican ticket at this point--Bill Clinton in 1992 aside).
He noted that Obama's trip there today represents his fifth stop in a state not known for attracting presidential candidates.
His assessment of the status of the fight for Montana between Obama and John McCain? "It's a dead-danged tie!"
Yes, he relishes talking like that. But its also worth noting that Schweitzer -- who was first elected four years ago and appears headed for a second term in this November's vote -- holds a master's degree in soil science, spent several years working overseas on irrigation projects and speaks Arabic.
A rube, in short, he is not.
-- Don Frederick
Photo credit: Associated Press
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Andrew Malcolm's immigrant parents repeatedly stressed the importance of active participation in a democracy. Early lessons included learning the alphabetical list of states by watching televised roll calls of national political conventions. That childhood exposure led to a lifelong fascination with politics, including 40-plus years of covering them and a brief stint practicing them as press secretary to Laura Bush in 1999-2000. A veteran foreign and national correspondent, Malcolm served on the Times Editorial Board and was a Pulitzer finalist in 2004. He is the author of 10 nonfiction books and father of four.
Johanna Neuman is a veteran Washington correspondent for both The Los Angeles Times and USA Today, having covered presidents and politics as far back as Ronald Reagan. A former president of the White House Correspondents Assn., she authored a book on media and foreign policy, “Lights, Camera, Wars.” Most recently she was co-author of the 
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Schwaitzer was a thousand times better than Hillary.
Unlike her, he checked his ego at the door.
He is someone to watch. And I believe he will deliver Montan to Obama in November
Posted by: Alison McHenry | August 27, 2008 at 12:11 PM
It is too bad they do not do more picking of candidates after the conventions. This guy looked and sounded great. Who is going to want to be a McCain Potatoe? http://www.bop-o-rama.com/blog/2008/08/27/become-a-mccain-potato/
Posted by: acarponzo | August 27, 2008 at 01:53 PM
Wow, this guy was good. I enjoyed his speech very much. From the sounds of it i think we may hearing more from this fellow in the future
Posted by: CW | August 29, 2008 at 08:23 AM