Hurricane Gustav blew the Republican Convention off course Monday, but party activists say it's been an opportunity for John McCain to show leadership under adversity. They're right. Instead of partisan rallies and rhetoric, there are sombre prayer breakfasts and fundraising for the victims. Florida's Republican Party chairman told delegates this morning that the convention was no longer about politics, it wasn't about "winning or losing" - it was all about helping those in need.  read more »

Republicans gathering here in St. Paul are all aflutter about winning diehard Hillary supporters in key battleground states. Not so fast.  read more »

No one expected Hillary Clinton to cut short the roll call vote she had demanded as part of a “catharsis” for her embittered supporters. But suddenly there she was, on the floor with New York Governor David Patterson and Senior Senator Chuck Schumer, calling for the vote to stop, and Barack Obama to be nominated by acclamation. Delegates were stunned. Many were weeping. Laughing. Hugging. Screaming. I caught up with DNC chairman Howard Dean and asked him just how spontaneous it had been.  read more »

'Internet for Everyone' launches today here in New York City to try to close what has become a gaping, yawning, "Grand Canyon' of a digital divide. FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein says it's a disgrace that the country that founded the Internet is falling so far behind the rest of the world when it comes to access to broadband. "I'm a frustrated policy maker: What we are doing in Washington is not working," Adelstein told the Personal Democracy Forum. "We have a shortsighted policy that has ensured the U.S. is way behind...in access, openness and speed."  read more »

Miss your flight? There's always skype! Elizabeth Edwards never quite made it to New York, but from the comfy confines of her living room in North Carolina she parried questions from citizen journalists, accountability activists and pollitical operatives. She says - wait for it - online journalism has been good. Some issues, she says, are just "too big" for the mainstream media: Whether Iraq or healthcare, the "mainstream media will shortchange it because the issue is too big for the package."  read more »

It's hard to drag us out of Washington, but here we are at Cisco Systems in San Jose, CA -- demonstrating Ask Your Lawmaker, and the exciting plans we have to improve this site and its widgets with enhanced customization options and social networking functionality.

We are one of 21 finalists in Tech Soup's third annual Netsquared Mashup Challenge Conference along with some great projects like www.Maplight.org, www.Metavid.org and www.OpenCongress.org - and today the leading lights of web 2.0 vote for the best. Competition is tough - and we are being judged on our chances of success and making the greatest impact. Winners get some cash and development support from the best of Drupal and open source coders and designers.  read more »

One of the best things about starting your own company is being able to choose the people you work with every day. At CNC we have been blessed with the best and the brightest, and you can hear that every day in the radio news reporting from Congress our talented team provides some 200 stations. But finding the money to hire everyone you need isn't easy for a nonprofit like CNC.  read more »

It's the issues, stupid! No seriously, what issues matter to you this November? This week we want you to tell Senators and Representatives - and as many as 2 million public radio listeners - what matters to you! Tell us if you want to ask your question on the air, and how we can contact you. Go to askyourlawmaker@cncnews.org - and check out Craig Newmark's blog on The Huffington Post and get connected!  read more »

It's a big leap of faith: that you and millions of other Americans will have enough faith in the power of a good question to keep Presidential candidates on their toes and lawmakers accountable. They need to know you are watching them, that you care! We are betting you do - that this election year you will ask questions you think journalists should be asking, that you will add your voice to questions others have asked, that you will use and share the audio answers our journalists track down for you.  read more »

How many people can call up Senator Hillary Clinton and get a sit-down interview? Or get their phone call to their Representative answered ahead of all those lobbyists lined up down the corridor of Rayburn or Cannon? Or just bump into a presidential candidate in the corridors of Capitol Hill or on the campaign trail and expect to get a question answered?

Not many. Till now, that is.  read more »