The woman who wanted to be president stepped up to a podium too tall, turned the microphones down and began by addressing the man who defeated her: ‘‘Mr. President-elect.’’

With her words on Monday, Hillary Rodham Clinton, who in the Senate emerged from the long shadow of her husband, stepped into a supporting role for another man, this one her former rival.

And while it’s hard to see the position of secretary of state as anything but the highest honor, Clinton appeared somber as Obama introduced her and the rest of his foreign policy team.

‘‘Her face was very set, she looked very serious,’’ said Maxine Fiel, a behavioral analyst and body language expert in New York. ‘‘She didn’t look extremely relaxed or happy or appreciative. In fact, she looked very grim.’’

Wow. A sexist dig and a body language expert in the opening paragraphs. Hard to imagine why papers are dumping the AP, isn’t it?

Coleman claims the small dot shows intent to for him

Coleman claims the dot shows an intent to vote for Barkley

Coleman knows the recount gives Franken a decent, if not better than 50-50 chance of winning the election. That explains his behavior in the days since the election and the behavior of his campaign during this process. If these ballots are any indication, this is going to be one long process, with Coleman desperate to hold on to his Senate gig and subsidized housing.

A woman in one of Palin’s crowds praised her for being “a mom like me … who thinks the way I do” and added, for ill measure, “That’s what I want in the White House.” Fine, but in what capacity?

Could the willingness to crown one who seems to have no first language have anything to do with the oft-lamented fact that we seem to be alone among nations in having made the word “intellectual” an insult?

I do not wish her ill. But I also don’t wish us ill. I hope she continues to find happiness in Alaska.
May I confess that upon first seeing her, I liked her looks? With the sound off, she presents a not uncomely frontal appearance.
But now, as the Brits say, “I’ll be glad to see the back of her.”

Republican Roy Brown says he lost by a 2-1 margin to Gov. Brian Schweitzer because the Democrats had more money to spend and used it on false attacks.

His own campaign’s money was primarily used for television spots that built his own image.

I must have missed those ads. Instead, Brown seemed to spend most of his time claiming that Montana’s economy, energy development, and future were much worse than reality. Hard to imagine that message didn’t catch on better.

Congratulations on your recent election. While it was clear to those of us who care about education in Montana that you were by far the best choice for the position, the Montana electorate occasionally shows a troubling lack of judgment or attention in down ticket races. In this case, though, it was evident that the public, after studying you and your opponent, made the right choice. I’m excited to see that someone with your qualifications and demonstrated interest in all of Montana’s schoolchildren will be leading our schools for the next four years.

I’m especially gratified that Montana voters chose you because Montana schools are facing some significant challenges. As you prepare to move into your new role, I hope you’ll consider a few thoughts from one Montana teacher.

Criticism of No Child Left Behind should not obscure the fact that there are some real deficiencies we need to address. While no one at this blog would argue that the punitive, anti-school agenda that drove President Bush’s adoption of No Child Left Behind should be embraced, we must avoid the temptation to dismiss the fact that our schools have demonstrated some real weaknesses in the results from standardized testing. One of the great frustrations I experienced with your predecessor was her willingness to dismiss the results of tests that demonstrated low achievement, while she simultaneously trumpeted the results of tests like the ACT and SAT that demonstrated Montana’s students were doing well.

The truth is more complex, of course. For all the criticisms of “high stakes” testing, the standardized measurements demanded by NCLB have shown that we are failing to educate our students who live in poverty as well as we could be, and that we are doing an outstanding job with our top-performing students. We should embrace the results of both sets of tests, the former to illustrate the areas in which we need work, and the latter as a path by which we might succeed for all students.

I have no doubt that you will be a powerful advocate for Montana’s students, arguing against punitive implementation of federal law and funding, but I hope that you will also be a powerful advocate for the simple idea that we can do better. No matter the flaws of the law, NCLB has illustrated the critical need to better educate all of our students in the critical math and writing literacy they will need in the emerging information economy.

We can do better. Pretending that test results don’t matter because we disagree with the agenda behind them won’t help us do that.

Montana needs to make real progress in developing meaningful content standards. Conservative and liberal critics have noted the real weakness of the Montana Content Standards, a glaring problem that is evident to any teacher who has looked to them for guidelines in the development of curriculum and classroom goals. The state needs to provide much more clear guidance about expectations for our students.

The current standards, in many areas, are vague, repetitive, and unclear. They need to demonstrate a clear sense of academic progression, allowing educators to have a more clear sense of what students need to know.

Specific, clear expectations are critical for teachers, if they hope to reach students. Specific, clear expectations from the state are critical, if the state hopes to reach teachers.

We need to begin looking at school finance in specific terms, not just the number of dollars being spent. It’s not enough to advocate for increased funding for schools, as I am sure you will. OPI needs to lead the way in demanding accountability for the way that funds are spent by local school districts. Parents and taxpayers should have easy access to summaries of budgeting documents, explaining how their district compares to others across the state in terms of expenditures for administration, direct classroom instruction, supplies, and other expenditures. While the OPI web site contains a wealth of information, it is very challenging to make comparisons or see long-term trends in expenditures. A little sunshine on some musty budgets could do a world of good.

We need to ensure that districts are spending as much money as possible on direct classroom instruction. It’s no secret that, in many districts, when cuts are made, central administration is the last line item to face the chopping block. Stakeholders in the educational system deserve to make informed choices about expenditures, and OPI should lead the way in encouraging districts to put as much money as possible into the classrooms, where learning takes place.

We should absolutely fight for additional funding for our schools. The Montana constitution requires adequate funding for an excellent education system. Taxpayers and other stakeholders deserve a full reporting of those expenditures, to ensure that we are making the most of their dollars.

Best of luck in your new position at the Office of Public Instruction. Your historic election, in an historic year, is tremendously exciting to many of us involved in the work of public education. We look forward to seeing what you (and we) can achieve.

Sincerely,

Don Pogreba

come on US. the enemy of my enemy is my friend. iran does not like the taliban or al-qaeda. they can help us with stabilizing both iraq and afghanistan!!! 

yes we can. open dialogue. thank ahedinejad… i want to be a tourist in iran. come on.

Alaska? Really? Ted Stevens leads by 2%, with 81% of the vote in. Unreal. Look out for Sarah Palin to appoint herself or the Todd  to the seat if this race doesn’t turn around in the last quarter of the precincts.

Oregon is a lot close than predicted. Gordon Smith has a 3,000 vote lead with 70% of the votes in.

We could sure use these three seats.

‘Night.

M-O-N-T-A-N-A,
Montana, I love you.

I think it’s time to start painting Montana a different color on national maps. Anyone who thinks this is a red state just isn’t paying attention. With 91% of the precincts in, it looks like Democrats are going to have won the races for governor, Superintendent of Public Instruction, Attorney General, and Auditor. While we didn’t choose Barack Obama, there was an enormous swing to the Democratic candidate.

Governor Schweitzer likes to say that Montana is on the move. It’s not just our economy. It’s our politics as well. We are moving  back to our political heritage, a state that elects strong, progressive  leaders who put the interests of working Montana families first:

• Governor Schweitzer will win tonight with well over 60% of the vote. A landslide.
• Both of our U.S. Senators are Democrats, one a progressive champion.
• Our attorney general, our state auditor, our Superintendent of Public Instruction? All Democrats, all exceptional leaders.
• We supported children’s healthcare and the university system overwhelmingly.

Look out, Representative Rehberg. You’re next.

(12:57) Did John Driscoll really almost out-poll Roy Brown tonight? That bully.

(12:48) The Secretary of State race is getting closer with each posting. Currently, McCulloch leads by just under 1,000 votes with 84% of precincts in. Still no votes from Beaverhead, Judith Basin, or Meagher, so look for this to get tighter as the night goes on, or more likely, as the morning rolls around.

(12:39) Is there a reason that the good people in Meagher County don’t count ballots on election night?

(12:30) With 94% of the vote in, Norm Coleman has a less than 100 vote lead in Minnesota. Go Al, Go!

(12: 24) I was right about Indiana. The AP is calling it for Obama. It looks like North Carolina will go for Obama, and Missouri and Montana (sigh) for McCain.

(12:06) If the Gazette is reporting the same precincts as the Secretary of State, I feel good about the statewide races. It looks like the missing votes are from strong Republican and Democratic counties. With 75% of the votes in:

• McCulloch 50, Johnson 48
• Bullock 53, Fox 47I
• Juneau 52, Herman 43
• Lindeen 54, Grimes 46
• Schweitzer 66, Brown 32 (How amazing is it that we haven’t even had to worry about this?)