WASHINGTON – New Democratic Party head Tim Kaine wants to continue to win territory from Republicans, but he’s not ready to guarantee victory in George W. Bush’s home state.

As he took control of the Democratic National Committee from outgoing chairman Howard Dean on Wednesday, Kaine said he would continue Dean’s “50 State Strategy” to win votes in conservative places like Idaho and Utah.

“We will never again be a party that writes off states or regions or people,” Kaine said. “The 50 state strategy is now and forever what Democrats do.”

Kaine noted that was among the strategy’s first beneficiaries when he ran for Virginia governor in 2005.

But he declined to match Dean’s prediction that President Barack Obama will carry Texas when he runs for re-election in 2012. Obama lost Texas to Republican John McCain by 11 percentage points in the November election.

“I’m kind of more of the say-you’re-an-underdog-everywhere-and-sneak-up-on-people (school), rather than tell them you’re going to win, but I will say this: the trends in Texas are very positive,” Kaine told reporters.

Dean’s party-building in conservative areas helped Democrats win sweeping victories in 2006 and 2008, even though some Democrats – including Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel – viewed the strategy as a waste of money.

Both Dean and Emanuel are known to be prickly personalities. Dean was conspicuously out of the country when Obama announced two weeks ago that Kaine would succeed him as head of the Democratic National Committee, a move that some Dean supporters described as disrespectful.

But both Kaine and Dean had kind words to say about each other at the meeting on Wednesday.

“I feel like I’m taking over from someone who just won 3 Super Bowls in a row,” Kaine said.

Among Kaine’s first tests will be governor’s races in New Jersey and his home state this fall. State law prohibits Kaine from running for a second term as governor.

But he will remain in the governor’s mansion through next January – an arrangement that has stirred criticism from Republicans in the state. Kaine said he will mostly work on DNC matters on weekends until the state legislature adjourns at the end of February.

Republicans elect their new party chairman next week.

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Photo credit: REUTERS/Jim Young (Obama introduces Kaine at DNC headquarters, Jan.

WASHINGTON - The 2008 campaign is over and while President-elect Barack Obama shattered pretty much every fundraising record in the book, he’s still looking for a buck or two.

Obama’s campaign sent out an appeal on Monday, almost a week after the election, seeking to help retire debt incurred by the Democratic National Committee. As a thank you, the campaign offered to throw in a commemorative 2008 victory t-shirt for contributors who give $30 or more.

“The Democratic National Committee poured all of its resources into building our successful 50-state field program. And they played a crucial role in helping Barack win in unlikely states like North Carolina and Indiana. We even picked up an electoral vote in Nebraska,” said the e-mail appeal sent to millions of Obama supporters.

The DNC has about $15 million in debt to retire, according to a party official. Democrats ended up picking up 22 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, with three still too close to call. In the Senate, Democrats picked up six seats so far, with three races not yet decided.

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- Photo credit: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque (Obama on his flight to Washington to meet President George W. Bush.)

WASHINGTON - Howard Dean seems ready to move on as chairman of the Democratic party after a successful four-year stint that included twice helping his colleagues win Congress and recapture the White House.

Dean has said he doesn’t plan to seek another term as chairman and names of potential successors have begun to surface in anticipation of his January departure, a party source said on Monday.

President-elect Barack Obama, as the party’s new leader, is expected to soon name his choice for Democratic National Committee chairman. And the DNC is expected to formally go along with Obama’s selection at its January meeting.

Dean has been chairman since 2005, a year after his failed bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.

The former Vermont governor helped Democrats win control of Congress in 2006, ending 12 years of Republican rule. And last week, Dean helped Democrats expand their majorities in both chambers of Congress, and win the White House after eight years of President George W. Bush.

- Photo credit: Reuters/Brian Snyder (Dean at the DNC Convention in Denver in August.)

In the hours before Barack Obama’s acceptance speech at Invesco Field in Denver, Yoel Lefkowitz talks about what he wants to hear the candidate, and what it will take to win the support of Brooklyn’s Hasidic community.

Reuters 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. Adam Pasick is the U.S Consumer Media Editor for Reuters.com.

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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.

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– 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

The following video was made by Huffington Post’s Off the Bus, a partner in the Reuters Inside the Tent project.

The video was created by Hunter Weeks, who worked with Off The Bus reporters Dawn Teo, Nathaniel Bach, M.S. Bellows, Jr. and Kelly Nuxoll.

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. TK is not a Reuters employee and any opinions expressed are TK own.

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And the Obama campaign thought their biggest worry was getting the right mix of substance and style in tonight’s big speech. Not so much.

The task now seems to be either: a) recapturing the attention of 15,000 journalists busy Googling the difference between Doric and Ionic columns, or b) attacking McCain’s lack of global experience because his campaign is mixing up the Romans and Greeks.
Someone should have put a primer on Classical Architecture and History in the DNC convention guide.

The controversy of course is the unveiling of preparations for Obama’s speech at Denver’s massive football stadium, Invesco Field, which has been transformed into what the McCain campaign has called “The Temple of Obama.”

A stage featuring huge plywood columns painted off-white to look like marble has been set up at the 50-yard line of Invesco Field, and Obama is expected to stride out from between the columns to address some 75,000 supporters — all choreographed for a massive prime-time American television audience.

If the clean white columns were supposed to evoke Washington’s Capitol building or even the White House — some generic presidential-like setting — they have instead sparked a (Roman?) fountain of jokes about Greek Gods and Roman ruins.

A snarky memo from the McCain campaign betrayed the difficulty critics have when faced with such a juicy target — deciding on a single funny nickname for the venue seems as hard as picking a vice presidential nominee that won’t offend the Republican base.

“Today, workers at Invesco Field are putting the final touches on the newest wonder of the modern political world — The Temple of Obama (”The Barackopolis”),” Deputy Communications Director Brian Rogers noted in an e-mail to “interested parties”.

Rogers went on to advise a dress code for the event, complete with photos of various toga styles from “the Nobleman” to “The Senator”. Instructions on how to “wrap your toga” were included.

“Nothing says ‘out of touch with regular Americans’ like Greek columns,” lamented the Huffington Post, urging the Obama campaign to tear down the columns before it is too late.

With the speech just hours away, the columns will likely stay. Historically inaccurate jokes about togas, chariots and Icarus will flourish.

Meanwhile, the Democrats are scrambling to refocus reporter funnybones on the imminent celebration of John McCain’s 72nd birthday on Friday.

Invitations are out for a “More-of-the-Same Birthday Party” in Dayton and Youngstown, Ohio, to coincide with the expected announcement in that state on Friday of McCain’s vice presidential running mate.

The events will feature a “mobile billboard” of McCain, Bush and a birthday cake. And yes, they’re promising 72 candles. No word on the dress code, but flame-retardant clothing may be advised.

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- Photo credit: Reuters/Jim Bourg (Obama does a late-night walk through  at Invesco field where he will give his acceptance speech.)

DENVER - Democrat Barack Obama spent long hours crafting the speech in which he will make history by formally accepting his party’s presidential nomination.

The White House contender looked to past nominee acceptance speeches for ideas, including those of Bill Clinton in 1992, Ronald Reagan in 1980 and John F. Kennedy in 1960, according to Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod.

Obama worked largely by himself on the first draft, writing it out long-hand on legal pads and then typing it into a computer for review by his top aides.

Obama, the first black presidential nominee of a major U.S. party, will speak before 75,000 people at the huge Invesco football stadium in Denver. His speech coincides with the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

The Illinois senator, who is running neck-and-neck with Republican John McCain, will lay out his vision for change in his speech and also hopes to tie in his life story as the son of a single-mother to the struggles faced by ordinary Americans.

But Obama, known for his lofty rhetoric, may also show a scrappier side to himself in going after McCain more aggressively, in a nod to some Democrats who feel that up to now his attacks have been too tepid.

“I think he’s going to make a case about the choices people face. I mean he’s said he’ll make a respectful argument but I don’t think he’ll shy away from making those contrasts where there appropriate,” Axelrod told reporters as the candidate traveled to Denver on Wednesday.

Obama has said his upcoming speech may be more “workman-like” than the 2004 convention speech he gave in Boston that catapulted him to fame.

But it probably won’t lack the broad sweep that marks many of Obama’s speeches, including some he has delivered on topics from the war in Iraq to the U.S. financial crisis.

While many White House contenders — as well as U.S. presidents — rely on teams of speechwriters to prepare the early drafts of important address, Obama takes a much more hands-on approach.

As the author of two bestselling books, he is easily the best speechwriter on the campaign, Axelrod said.

“He knows what he wants to say and he generally says it better than anybody else would,” the Obama adviser said.

But Obama needs quiet to do his best work and during his time as an Illinois state senator, he sometimes had to resort to ducking into the men’s room to write. Over the past week, he worked late into the night at a Chicago hotel room.

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DENVER — Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden, 65, admits he’s getting a little touchy about the fact that he’s so much older than running mate Barack Obama , 47.

“If I hear one more time he was 11 years old when I went to the Senate, I’m going to smack somebody,” Biden joked, drawing laughter and applause at a breakfast meeting with convention delegates from Biden’s native state of Pennsylvania.

A smiling Biden, first elected to the Senate 35 years ago, noted there are just four senators in the 100-member chamber with more senority than him.

“But there are still 44 older than me,” Biden said, prompting more laughter.

On a serious note, Biden said he and Obama must capture Pennsylvania on Election Day to take the White House in their battle against Republican John McCain.

“We cannot win without winning Pennsylvania and it is that simple,” said Biden, who was born and raised in Scranton, Penn., and later moved to Delaware where he was elected to the Senate in 1972.

Promising to spend plenty of time campaigning in the state, Biden, affectionately known as “Pennsylvania’s third senator” for the work he has done for it in Congress, Biden said to sustained cheers and applause, “I’m coming home.”

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Pedicab driver Laura Caldwell shares her stories from the Democratic National Convention: Military helicopters, armored golf carts, and teenage anarchists with the utmost respect for traffic laws. This video was shot by fellow pedicab operator Teri Robnett, a contributor to Reuters Inside the Tent.

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. Robnett is not a Reuters employee and any opinions expressed are her 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.

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