Today's Opinions

Hannah Hayes

Spending several nights in a Roy Rogers themed hotel room recently took me back to the childhood room my brother and I shared. Just think turquoise and brown. I loved all the ’50s Western TV shows, so, to further indulge nostalgia and my interest in politics, I watched a few episodes of “Maverick” when I got back home. Bret Maverick was an entirely different legend of the West than Roy was. Bret was always scheming, gambling and being run out of town. Roy Rogers knew it’s how you ride the trail that counts.

When witnesses testified about being in untenable situations before legislative committees on which Cliff Bryan served in the mid-’80s, the folksy appliance salesman-turned-state representative from Loveland often said, “It seems like we’ve put these people between the fire hydrant and the dog.”

Immediately following the Democratic National Convention, a USA Today/Gallup poll showed Barack Obama leading John McCain by a comfortable 50-43 margin. USA Today/Gallup’s prior poll, released before the convention, showed Obama leading 48-45. The net difference of four points was the “bounce” provided by the convention.