By John K. Hartman
Morning Sun Special Correspondent

DENVER -- I arrived in Sunday afternoon intending to get to the root of
the Democratic National Convention. I did not expect to be dealing with
another root, but after having a sore tooth for 48 hours, my dentist
informed me by phone Saturday morning that the root in one of my lower
molars was going bad. There was no time to begin work on it, so he
prescribed a powerful antibiotic and some pain pills. He will get to the
diseased root and remove it the day after Labor Day.
I am here to provide some "nuggets" (apologies to the NBA team
headquartered here and to gold miners everythere) of information and
commentary to readers of the print and online Morning Sun. My reporting
will be supplementing the coverage provided by the Associated Press, not
replacing it. I will emphasize the local angles of interest to folks in
the Sun's coverage area.
***
I am a professor of journalism at Central Michigan University, trying to
practice what I preach. I will be holding my classes online Tuesday,
Wednesday and Thursday ... if the wireless laptop computer I borrowed is
up to the challenge. I have asked my students to give me questions they
would like asked of convention delegates and dignitaries. They get bonus
points if it works out.
One student wants me to ask Gov. Jennifer Granholm her stance on an
alleged proposal by the Bush Administration to declare the use of birth
control pills as abortion. Another wants to know from Sen. Barack Obama
what Sen. Hillary Clinton will have to say in her speech Wednesday night
to win her supporters over to his bid for the presidency. A third
student wants to know when the American public is going to become more
important than foreign countries. And a fourth wants U.S. Rep. John
Conyers to tell him how to advance the Democratic Party's fortunes in
Detroit.
Sun readers are invited to email me their questions at
hartm1jk@cmich.edu
***
Visitors arriving at Denver International Airport such as I were whisked
into motorized carts for their trip from the landing gate to the baggage
area by friendly folks wearing carnation lapel pins. They took our names
and promised good seats on our return flights.
At the 16th Street Mall in downtown Denver, security around the
headquarters Denver Sheraton Hotel was tight with dozens of police clad
in black riot gear in sight.
The Michigan delegation is staying 20 minutes away from the Pepsi Center
in the Renaissance and Omni hotels in Broomfield. I will attend their
breakfast meetings Monday through Thursday.
Job No. 1 will be helping the presumed nominee for president, Sen.
Obama, win Michigan. A Detroit Free Press poll Sunday gave Obama a
7-point lead over presumed Republican nominee Sen. John McCain, but
two-thirds of the voters said they were "not sure" about Obama.
Jobs No. 1, 2 and 3 for Obama are winning over Sen. Clinton's diehard
supporters, helping unsure folks to feel comfortable with him, and
overcoming the reluctance of some voters to support an African-American
for president.
I will keep you posted. Let me hear from you.
***
By way of disclosure, my wife Kay and I were delegates from Ohio to the
2004 Democratic National Convention, pledged to Sen. John Edwards. He
won't be speaking at the 2008 convention after his recent personal
scandal. I wish his wife Elizabeth Edwards would be here and speaking.
Now there is someone to admire.