By Lea Radick and Ashley Sears

ST. PAUL - Take a walk through downtown St. Paul, Minnesota, while the Republican National Convention is in town and you can expect to see roving bands of policemen with riot gear, keeping the peace.

What you might not expect to see is a dozen or so police posing with two fuzzy pink pigs.

The police and the pork were all smiles for a camera-wielding crowd Wednesday morning - the third day of the GOP convention - after one of the passing cops suggested they pose with the pigs for a photo.

No, the fuzzy pink pigs were not real, but were two people in costumes, campaigning for the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, a nonprofit organization that advocates for animal rights. The PETA pigs held signs that read “Cut the Pork: Tax Meat!”

“PETA’s pigs are at the (Republican National Convention) to let people know about PETA’s tax meat campaign,” said Ashley Byrne, PETA campaign coordinator and spokeswoman for the pigs.

PETA is calling on Congress to impose an excise or “sin” tax on meat and is encouraging Americans to curb their meat consumption. The excise tax currently applies to products like alcohol and cigarettes.

PETA’s pigs have been popular at both the Democratic convention in Denver last week and this week’s Republican convention.

“We seriously just got a great reaction from everyone from police to the delegates to people protesting,” she said.

“Everybody loved the pigs.”

Photo credit REUTERS/Ashley Sears  PETA pigs Manuel Burgel (left) and Jessi Chang pose with policemen in downtown St. Paul, on Sept. 3, 2008

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage

Sarah Palin touted her small-town roots and lashed out at Democrat Barack Obama during a highly anticipated speech to the Republican convention on Wednesday, ridiculing her critics as out-of-touch elitists who do not understand everyday life in America.

Here are some reactions from inside the convention center in St. Paul:

Liz Tait and Molly White, Texas

“Soccer moms are gonna put her in the White House!”

Bob McAfee, Pennsylvania

“She’s a winner and we need a winner.”

Anne Conrad, Tennessee

“She’s a woman who has dealt with real issues in her family, her state, and her job, and she’s addressed them with strength, out of courage, and really following her convictions.”

Tony Manheim, New York

“I thought she gave a great speech and I’m rethinking my initial reactions.”

Christine Dwyer, Ohio

“She’s rocking, she’s rolling, she’s bold, she’s courageous and we love her.”

Tobias Buck, Indiana

“Sarah Palin looked into the liberal heart and made it bleed.”

Audrey (last name not known), Minnesota

“I really belive this will pull in Hillary voters.”

The videos were shot by Ed Stoddard, Corbett B. Daly and Leslie Rutledge.

Inside the Tent has more than 40 delegates and other attendees in Denver and St. Paul, equipped with video cameras to capture the conventions from the ground up. Rutledge is not a Reuters employee and any opinions expressed are her own.

Click here for a full list of contributors at the Republican National Convention.

Click here for more Inside the Tent contributions.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 election coverage.

DENVER - The English-language channel of the Arabic news network Al Jazeera is getting a Colorado reception as frosty as a cold Coors Light.

Al Jazeera English is broadcasting from Golden, Colo., home of the Coors Brewing Company , as part of its coverage of the Democratic National Convention, as well as from the Pepsi Center and Invesco Field.

The broadcasts from small-town Colorado are intended to show their international audience a slice of Americana, according to political program editor Julian Ingle. Only one satellite provider and a handful of cable companies carry Al Jazeera English in the United States, but the network is available in 120 million homes in 80 countries.

“We’re doing something that no international network has done before,” Ingle said.

But residents of Golden weren’t quite as happy with their visitors. A handful said welcoming the station, known for airing Osama bin Laden’s video messages, was offensive to U.S. veterans.

“It’s a wrong association, it’s a misconception,” Ingle said, pointing out that many major media outlets broadcast bin Laden’s messages.

A recent Golden city council meeting drew about twenty people who discussed Al Jazeera English’s coverage.

“It was pretty fairly balanced across the board, people in favor of them coming and people who weren’t,” said Golden communications manager Sabrina D’Agosta.

In the end, the council did not ask the station to change its plans. “It is not for government to tell them that they can’t come, for us to deny them of their constitutional rights,” D’Agosta said.

But critics did win another battle: Golden City Manager Mike Bestor withdrew an invitation for the network to broadcast from his backyard barbecue.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.

– Reporting by Shannon Bond and Beth Marlowe, recent graduates of the Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, who are interning for Reuters at the Democratic National Convetion.

Photo: A tourist listens to a tour guide speak about beer at the Coors brewery in Golden, Colorado October 16, 2007. REUTERS/Rick Wilking

Barack Obama supporter and activist musician Moby talks to Inside the Tent contributors Shai Goller and Patti Moon about his predictions for the Republican National Convention.

Goller is an undergraduate at the University of Maryland, and Moon is a TV producer and graduate of Northwestern University. Both are working as interns for Reuters during the the Democratic National Convention.

Inside the Tent has more than 40 delegates and other attendees in Denver and St. Paul, equipped with video cameras to capture the conventions from the ground up.

Click here for a full list of contributors at the Democratic National Convention. We’ll be moving to St. Paul for the Republican National Convention next week.

Click here for more Inside the Tent contributions.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 election coverage.

Richard Schiff, the actor best known for playing Toby Ziegler on “The West Wing,” talks about vice presidential candidate Joe Biden. This video was shot by Reuters Inside the Tent contributor Mike Smith.

Inside the Tent has more than 40 delegates and other attendees in Denver and St. Paul, equipped with video cameras to capture the conventions from the ground up. Smith is not a Reuters employee and any opinions expressed are his own.

Click here for a full list of contributors at the Democratic National Convention. We’ll be moving to St. Paul for the Republican National Convention next week.

Click here for more Inside the Tent contributions.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 election coverage.

LOS ANGELES - Holy politicking, Batman.

U.S. presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama have unmasked their favorite pop culture icons, including superheroes, with McCain favoring Batman and Obama choosing Spider-Man and Batman.

In interviews with Entertainment Weekly magazine posted on its Web site Thursday, McCain, 71, and Obama, 47, also gave their picks for best on-screen president, top singers and most-liked television shows.

Obama, the Democratic senator from Illinois, said he chose Spider-Man and Batman because “they have some inner turmoil.” McCain, a Republican senator from Arizona, said Batman is a quiet hero who pursues justice “against insurmountable odds.”

In the world of music, McCain revealed a weakness for the Swedish disco-era band ABBA, late singer Roy Orbison and 1970s star Linda Ronstadt.

“But I like Usher too,” McCain said, explaining he appeared on the TV comedy show “Saturday Night Live” with the 29-year-old rhythm and blues singer.

Obama favored an eclectic group of musicians, including Frank Sinatra, Bob Dylan, Sheryl Crow and John Coltrane.

For favorite actor in the role of president, McCain picked Dennis Haysbert from the Fox network hit “24.” Obama chose Jeff Bridges from the 2000 movie “The Contender.”

“He was charming and essentially an honorable person, but there was a rogue about him,” Obama said.

Obama said his first movie memory was “Born Free,” the 1966 film about African lions. McCain remembered the 1942 Disney animated feature “Bambi.”

“When his mother was killed. Oh, yeah, I cried,” McCain said.

 Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.

Photo credit: Reuters/Rebecca Cook (McCain at campaign stop July 18, Obama at campaign stop Aug. 4)

Sort of like Walter Mondale's 1984 political slogan, "Where's the Beef?," the 2008 political campaign is all about pork- pork barrelling, that is.

John McCain's campaign last week launched a video game on Facebook called "Pork Invaders," a spoof on the 1978 arcade favorite "Space Invaders" that takes aim at pork barrelling, or government spending that aims to satisfy a group of voters in exchange for their political support. 

In the game, players use arrow keys to shift a McCain logo across the screen to shoot red "vetoes" at a herd of pigs looming above.  But watch out, the pigs are ready to aim at and, well, soil, the Arizona Senator's logo.  The more pigs players "veto," the larger the amount of dollars saved in the budget. 

The low-tech game is a "unique way to get the Senator's message out there about pork barrelling and earmarks," according to Rick Gorka, a spokesman for the McCain campaign.  

Facebook users can add the video game application to their profiles.  This is one of the first online strategies McCain's campaign has used on Facebook, a social online network popular with the young voters who have flocked to support McCain's rival, Democrat Barack Obama.

"Folks on Facebook tend to get news in non-traditional means, whereas our grandparents would sit down and watch the news with Tom Brokaw," said Gorka.  "Facebook is yet one avenue we can use to target voters in this election."  

But will the game really be popular with young voters?  The majority of high school and college-aged Facebook users weren't even born back when "Space Invaders" was popular and could miss the humor of the campaign's spoof. 

McCain's campaign describes the game as "very popular" with users, yet it's only drawn 433 daily active users out of the 80 million on Facebook.  Obama doesn't have his own video game (for now), but he still overwhelmingly leads McCain in terms of pledged Facebook supporters.  Over a million Facebook users list themselves as Obama fans, easily trumping McCain's tally of 152, 619 supporters. 

-- Posted by Jennifer Martinez

NEW YORK - Michelle Obama wrote a thank-you note to Laura Bush after the first lady spoke up in defense of the wife of the Democratic presidential candidate, Obama said on Wednesday.

Obama, who is married to Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, created a controversy on the campaign trail in February when she said, “For the first time in my adult lifetime I am really proud of my country.”

After critics questioned her patriotism because of the remark, Obama has frequently said she is proud of her country.

During an appearance on ABC Television’s “The View” on Wednesday, she re-stated her pride in the United States and said her controversial comment was referring to being proud of the political process this year.

Laura Bush came to Obama’s defense earlier this month, telling ABC’s “Good Morning America”: “I think she probably meant, ‘I’m more proud.’ You have to be very careful in what you say. Everything you say is looked at and in many cases misconstrued.”

Obama said she appreciated Bush’s comments and concern.

“I was touched by it and actually I sent her a note,” Obama said on “The View.” “It took me a while to write it. Like, how do I address her? I sent it to ‘Madam First Lady.’ I don’t want to talk about it because she might not have it yet.

“That’s what I like about Laura Bush, her whole rational approach to these issues. I am taking some cues. There’s a reason why people like her, because she doesn’t sort of fuel the fire.”

- Reporting by Daniel Trotta

- Photo credit: Reuters/ Rick Wilking (Michelle Obama, wife of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama campaigning in Las Vegas in January 2008)

TOKYO - Mike Huckabee is not running — or maybe he is.

The marathon man, who lost 110 pounds (50 kg) by hitting the road and advocating healthy living after he was diagnosed with diabetes in 2003, has a painful inflammation of the heel known as plantar fasciitis, and he is walking around the Imperial Palace in the Japanese capital gingerly.
    
Whether he will take a walk with presumptive Republican Presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain, as vice presidential nominee is another question requiring equally careful footwork.
  
Speaking with Reuters less than five months before the U.S. presidential election and three months ahead of the Republican convention, the former Arkansas governor was interested but self-deprecating when asked if he would be the party’s No. 2.
    
“I don’t truly believe that’s probably going to happen and I’ve moved on to doing other things.”
    
Those projects include the trip to Japan and lectures at Tohoku University in northern Miyagi Prefecture, as well as Fox News, which hired the former Republican presidential hopeful as a political commentator leading up to the national election.
    
But Huckabee quickly noted that did not preclude being on the other side of the camera in November.
     
“I’m very happy and proud to be able to do some commentary and develop a programme with the Fox News Channel,” he said.
    
“But that doesn’t mean if there was an opportunity to run somewhere out in the future, if not this year some other time — I’m not going to take myself completely off the stage.”

Huckabee has called the vice presidential spot an offer no one could refuse, but says he doesn’t expect to be running to the phone anytime soon.
    
“It would be a real surprise if I got that call.”

- Reporting by Dan Sloan    

- Photo credit: Reuters/John Gress (Huckabee pauses during a news conference in Appleton, Wisconsin in February, 2008)

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.   

Former White House political adviser Karl Rove defended the Iraq war and sparred verbally with hecklers during a contentious appearance before a crowd of about 1,200 people on Sunday at the University of Iowa.

“You’ve got a chance to ask your questions later and make your stupid statements. … Let me make mine,” said Rove, who was interrupted frequently by about 200 protesters at the event.

Rove, who resigned last year as President George W. Bush’s political adviser, said he knew the Iraq war was “a controversial war and I’ll defend it.” He said he had been impressed by the passion and commitment of U.S. soldiers involved in the conflict.

“Have you shed a single tear?” shouted one heckler in the crowd. Rove replied: “I’ve shed a lot of tears.”

Rove received support from some in attendance and was questioned about his new book and his relationship with Bush.

University of Iowa journalism professor Frank Durham moderated the lecture and asked his own question, telling Rove, to applause and cheers from the crowd, that cable television host Keith Olbermann had named him “the worst person ever.”

“Ever?” Rove asked, wondering aloud how he could have trumped Hitler, Stalin and Mao. “Worse than the person who introduced aluminum baseball bats?”

-Reporting by Kay Henderson inIowa

-Photo credit: Reuters/Jim Bourg (Rove after announcing resignation)

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.