Kane Farabaugh's Kanestergram

Kane Farabaugh Special to The Times When our hotel shuttle bus brought us to the Pepsi Center Thursday morning, the line of people waiting to get into nearby Invesco Field at Mile High Stadium was a sign of things to come. We all knew this day was meant to be big, historic and busy. But moving a convention from a heavily fortified and secure area to an open-air arena with tens of thousands of people is something just shy of a miracle to execute. I made my way to Invesco field the day before Illinois Sen. Barack Obama's big moment to gather footage and interviews of the work under way to set the stage for one of the biggest political acceptance speeches in history. When I arrived, crews were busy putting the final touches on the podium where Obama would speak. I gathered footage, and when I finally stopped filming, I realized I was standing at a place that would soon become a moment in history people might remember. As I stood behind the podium, I looked out at all the empty seats t...

Kane Farabaugh Special to The Times In 1976, energy security and gas prices were a growing concern for Americans. Inflation was rising, and many Americans were disenfranchised with the Republican administration then in power. Sound familiar? Former President Jimmy Carter might agree. In 1976 he ran for president against Gerald Ford. He was a relatively young and promising Democrat from the South. Some 32 years later, the issues that drove voters to the ballot then are similar to the themes of the campaign between Barack Obama and John McCain. "I ran on a platform of change. Of course, that's what America was ready for," Carter said, smiling at the similarity to the current Obama campaign message of "Change You Can Believe In." "The difference between me and Obama is I didn't have any money." I talked one-on-one with Carter in a wide-ranging interview for Voice of America in the Pepsi Center studios of the Democratic N...

A smile and handshake after the interview Carter believes that Obama can change foreign perceptions of America "in the first ten minutes" if his presidency. President Carter thinks that a resurgent Russia will dominate future U.S. foreign policy. These are just pics to post up immediately. A print story and blog will follow tomorrow. Cheers! Kane

Kane Farabaugh Special to The Times DENVER - Overwhelming. That's the best way to describe my initial impression of the Democratic National Convention in Denver. Overwhelming because of the number of people packed into the Pepsi Center. Overwhelming because of the number of events, news stories and protests going on around the city. I've had a few conversations with colleagues at Voice of America who agree it is easy to lose focus covering a political convention because of everything that is packed into a four-day period. It's understood we won't be able to cover it all. But there are key stories to follow, key people to interview and key events that lead up to Sen. Barack Obama's nomination for president by the Democratic Party. One such event was Monday night's main speaker, Michelle Obama. She already is a popular figure on the campaign trail. Her handshake or autograph is just as sought after as her husband's. She has an appeal that Democrats hope will w...

Kane Farabaugh Special to The Times 8/25/2008 SPRINGFIELD - I began the week preparing for an extended stay away from home covering both the Democratic National Convention in Denver and the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn. Before the week was out, I was preparing for a detour at the beginning of my political odyssey, and I hadn't arrived at the first convention. When word came down earlier in the week that Sen. Barack Obama was planning a rally at the Old Capitol building in Springfield, most reporters knew it could mean only one thing. There was no specific indication in the initial e-mail from the campaign this would be the introduction of Obama's running mate and the unveiling of the ticket that will take his campaign into the November elections. By the time I arrived in Springfield Friday night to prepare for the Saturday rally, that choice was still a mystery to the media speculating on television about who it might be and those who were beginning to set u...

I'm sure that by now most of you have tuned in at some point to watch the Olympics. I'm in the spirit as well... and had a chance to catch up with two of the bigger stars this year... Misty May Treanor and Kerri Walsh. Here is the VOA News Story on YouTube: