DENVER - Michelle Obama speaks tonight at the opening of the Democratic National Convention at the Pepsi Center. The Denver Post asked her several questions in an e-mail.

These are her responses:

Q. In your speech at the convention, what are some of the issues you plan to touch on?

A. I love my husband, and I'm probably the person who knows him best, so I'll share some stories about him -- the values that drive him, experiences that shaped him, and why I believe he will be an extraordinary president. I'll also share stories about my life and my background with the country.

Q. To you, what is the job of a First Lady? How would you bring you experience as a career woman to that?

A. Every First Lady has to decide for herself what kind of role she'd like to play in the White House, and how she can best serve her country given her particular strengths, talents and interests.

Should I have the honor of being our country's next First Lady, my first responsibility, of course, would be to my girls. As their mom, my most important job is to make sure they have a happy and healthy transition from Chicago to Washington.

Michelle Obama and her two daughters are greeted as they arrive at Denver International Airport on Sunday.

Once they're settled, I would continue doing the work that's closest to my heart--in particular, finding ways to support working women and families. To me, policies that support families aren't just political. They're personal. They're the issues that I carry with me every single day, whether I'm at home or out on the campaign trail.

I'd also continue to advocate for national service. I started my career as a lawyer, but eventually I realized that my heart just wasn't in it. I really wanted to do something that would directly improve people's lives. So I became the founding executive director of an organization called Public Allies, an AmeriCorps program that prepares young people for careers in public service.    ….continue reading

By Katherine Q. Seelye

DENVER -- Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. has said he first saw pictures of Jill Jacobs in March 1975 in an advertisement for a local park in Wilmington, Del. The young blonde caught his eye. She was beautiful -- you might call her drop-dead gorgeous.

That night, his brother, Frank, told him he had the number of a young woman that the senator would like, mainly because she did not like politics. Mr. Biden called her the next day and asked her out, for that very night. She was busy. Mr. Biden persisted. He was in town for only one night. Couldn't she change her plans?

She did, finally. And when Mr. Biden arrived to pick her up, she turned out to be the woman in the advertisement.

After Senator Barack Obama tapped him on Saturday to be his vice-presidential running mate, Mr. Biden introduced Jill Biden to the world this way:

Jill and Joe Biden wave to the crowd in Springfield, Illinois on Saturday.

"My wife, Jill, who you'll meet soon, who's drop-dead gorgeous. My wife, Jill, she also has a doctorate degree, which is a problem."

That was classic Biden. He's still said to be head-over-heels in love with her after more than 30 years of marriage, and proud, if slightly intimidated, by her multiple degrees.

Jill Tracy Jacobs Biden, 57, has a bachelor's degree from the University of Delaware, two master's degrees, from West Chester University and Villanova University, and a doctorate in education from the University of Delaware. She has been a teacher for more than two decades, including time teaching history to emotionally disturbed teenagers. She is now a professor of English at Delaware Technical and Community College.   ...continue reading

By Michael McCord

It's an ugly political reality but many Republicans in New Hampshire's 1st Congressional District have not forgiven former incumbent Jeb Bradley for losing in 2006 to Carol Shea-Porter, a relative unknown Democrat from Rochester.

"He lost to Shea-Porter," said one GOP activist supporting Bradley's rival John Stephen. "She was a nobody and a novice who didn't even have support from her party. There was no excuse for him to lose to her."

Well, actually there was and GOP bitterness aside, they are caught in a cycle of denial about what happened in 2006. Shea-Porter may have been a novice but she was hard-working, determined and developed an organic grassroots movement of supporters who came out in droves. The former social worker ran a frugal campaign against establishment favorites in her own party in the primary and then against Bradley, a two-term incumbent who at the beginning of the 2006 election cycle had one of the safer seats in the House. She's a populist who promised to work for the 99 percent of those ignored by the Bush administration.

Bradley may have misjudged what he was up against but he certainly wasn't alone, as the Republicans everywhere believed too much of their own propaganda. They were too smug and secure in their belief there was no way Democrats could take over Congress. Most of all, Shea-Porter understood the depth of anti-Iraq war sentiment and the bubbling economic frustration that voters were feeling -- it was an outright electoral revolution against President Bush whose mind-boggling incompetence was becoming crystal clear to a growing bipartisan majority of voters. Shea-Porter's upset victory was considered the most improbable in a mid-term election of improbable outcomes.    ….continue reading

By David P. Greisman

STODDARD -- They are a former governor, a current state representative, a sitting state senator, all three running for office, trying to rally their party to their cause.

Before them sat 80 prospective voters, residents of the Monadnock Region, local politicians representing their respective delegations, all of whom had assembled Saturday afternoon at Stoddard's Lake Fall Lodge to hear what the trio of Democratic speakers had to say.

Jeanne Shaheen, who served as New Hampshire's governor from 1997 to 2003, is challenging Republican John E. Sununu this November for Sununu's seat in the U.S. Senate.

Molly M. Kelly, a state senator from Keene, is seeking a second term in office. Her opponent is Thomas R. Eaton, a Republican from Keene, the man she unseated two years ago.

James G. Phinizy, a state representative from Acworth, is challenging Republican incumbent state Sen. Robert Odell of Lempster.

Each laid out their key concerns, attempting to show to those who might go to the polls in November just what they would be getting with their votes.    ….continue reading

By Seth Lovell

On July 7, at a town hall meeting in Denver, a Vietnam veteran confronted John McCain about his support of veterans' issues.

"I have a perfect voting record from organizations like the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion and all the other veterans service organizations," responded McCain.

Although this sounds good, it is inaccurate and misleading. The VFW and American Legion do not compile congressional voting records, and other veterans' organizations that do compile records aren't favorable.

By Tim Arango

When your husband dies at war, the things he carried show up in six black boxes.

Each pair of socks, each T-shirt, each love letter is inventoried on 20 sheets of paper. Everything has been washed, so when you breathe in the scent of a shirt, it doesn't smell like him.

When a soldier dies, grief is followed by immersion in the somber routines and protocols of a military death.

These, at least, were the experiences that Taryn Davis -- who became a 21-year-old widow on May 21, 2007, when her husband, Cpl. Michael W. Davis of the Army, was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq --  ….continue reading

Disabled American Veterans is an organization that was founded following World War I, and today has 1.4 million members.

It not only tracks this legislation, but tracks how politicians vote. John McCain is documented as having voted with DAV-supported legislation 34 percent of the time. Barack Obama has voted with the DAV 89 percent of the time.

Another organization that tracks legislation important to veterans is Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, the first and largest organization dedicated to those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.    ….continue reading   (Note: This column was first published on Aug. 24 by The News Leader of Staunton, Va.)

DENVER - More than a thousand protesters marched to the gates of the Pepsi Center today, temporarily closing down access to the site of the Democratic National Convention. Protesters from the Recreate 68 anti-war rally and march briefly sat down, but dispersed peacefully when police asked them to disband. There were no arrests.

Police officers, some on mountain bikes, some on horses, escorted the marchers from the steps of the Capitol down Colfax Avenue and Speer Boulevard to the Pepsi Center.

"No cops, no KKK, no fascist USA," some marchers chanted as they walked in the bright, noonday sun.

Organizers reconsidered at the last moment not to march across Civic Center, which had filled with conventioneers, marketers and opportunists with booths and tents.    ….continue reading