Senator Barack Obama asks, "Do you think Dick Cheney is delighted to support John McCain because he thinks John McCain's going to bring change? Do you think John McCain and Dick Cheney have been talking about how to shake things up, and get rid of the lobbyists and the old boys club in Washington?"

Watch Senator Obama's response to Dick Cheney's endorsement of John McCain:

Watch a clip of Senator Obama's remarks:

Watch:

For more information on voting by mail in Colorado, visit www.VoteForChange.com. The folks at the Obama campaign put together this video on voting by mail:

Watch this video of Senator Obama's remarks:

"But now suddenly, John McCain says he is about change, too. He even started using some of my lines. Suddenly he says he wants 'to turn the page.' He had an ad today that he started running that he and Gov. Palin would bring the change that we need. He had this in an advertisement. Sound familiar? Let me tell you something, instead of borrowing my lines he needs to borrow our ideas," Obama said.

He followed up with a dig on lobbyists, saying "if you think those lobbyists are working day and night for John McCain just to put themselves out of business, well then I've got a bridge to sell you up in Alaska." [emphasis added]

"Over the last few weeks, I was back home on our ranch and traveling through most of Colorado. Everywhere I went, you see the effects of the last eight years. Jobs are disappearing. Health care is costing too much. And the cost of energy is through the roof. For farmers, diesel is costing more than four dollars a gallon. We simply can't afford it any more. Enough is enough.

"Democrats are working for change, and it starts with being honest about our energy future. We consume 25 percent of the world's oil, but we have less than 3 percent of the world's oil reserves. We simply can't drill our way to energy independence.

"In Colorado, we're doing our part on drilling. We have more than 34,000 active gas wells. And we're going to drill a whole lot more in the coming years.

"But we also know that drilling alone is not sufficient. Yet that was the only idea that John McCain and his friends at the Republican National Convention offered. ‘Drill, baby, drill' – that's not enough. We need it all.

"We need to replace the oil we import from countries that don't like us with alternative energy sources that we produce right here at home. Biofuels. Wind. Solar. Hydrogen. Geothermal. Clean Coal. American energy, American jobs. That's what we need.

"With the help of our farmers and ranchers and with Americans' hard work and ingenuity, we can grow our way to energy independence. To do it, though, we have to pass the tax incentives for renewable energy that Senator McCain and Republicans in the Senate have been blocking and opposing for months and years. We need an Apollo project that retools Detroit so that we can run our cars on the alternative fuels that we develop. And we need to give consumers a choice at the pump. Why not fill up with biofuels, if they're cheaper than gas? Why not have cars that get 100 miles to a gallon?

"Democrats are trying to solve these problems because we believe and know we can. President Bush and John McCain do not. All they want is more of the same.

"This week in the Senate, that choice will be clear as day. Democrats will be offering comprehensive energy solutions.

"I'm part of a small group of Senators from both parties who are working together to find bipartisan solutions to energy that we can all agree upon. But the thing is this: it's going to take more than a handful of Republicans who agree that we need a comprehensive energy plan. President Bush and Senator McCain have failed to show any leadership on this issue for the last eight years.

"Republicans have to decide whether they just want to talk about our energy problems on the campaign trail, or whether they will work with Democrats to actually solve them. If you're tired of $4 gasoline, if you're tired of a whole lot of talk without any action, if you're saying enough is enough, I hope you will tell President Bush, Senator McCain, and Members of Congress that it is time for honest solutions to our energy problems.

"This is United States Senator Ken Salazar from Colorado. Have a wonderful weekend."

It will be a star-studded event. Among those set to speak before thousands:

Colorado Governor Bill Ritter, members of the family of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, DNC Chairman Howard Dean, former Vice President Al Gore and Senator Dick Durbin will introduce his colleague, Senator Barack Obama.

Catch live streaming high-definition video here.

McCain has bragged about supporting President Bush's failed policies 90 percent of the time, most recently chronicled in a video distributed by the Democratic National Committee earlier this week. For example, in 2005, McCain said on Meet the Press that "The fact is, that I have agreed with President Bush far more than I have disagreed" and that he agreed with President Bush on the "transcendent issues" of the day. View the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4DrL8-UA4U.

The following is a summary of events around the country:

Arlington, VA
Democratic Activists will deliver a More of the Same birthday cake to John McCain's campaign headquarters.

Denver, CO
Democrats will hold a John McCain's More of the Same birthday party at the Rialto Café on 16th Street.

Dayton, OH
Ohio Democrats will bring a hold a rally at John McCain's announcement of his running mate in Dayton. The event will feature the DNC's "more of the same" mobile billboard and a birthday cake for Senator McCain.

Youngstown, OH
Local democrats will join the county Democratic Party chair, the county treasurer, and labor leaders for a birthday party for John McCain. The event will feature the DNC's "more of the same" mobile billboard and a birthday cake for Senator McCain.

Pittsburgh, PA
The Allegheny County Executive and the chair of the county Democratic Party will host a birthday party that will feature the DNC's "more of the same" mobile billboard and a birthday cake for Senator McCain.

Washington, PA
Local labor leaders will host a More of the Same McCain birthday party that will feature the DNC's "more of the same" mobile billboard and a birthday cake for Senator McCain.

Erie, PA
Local Democratic activists will host a More of the Same McCain birthday party that will feature the DNC's "more of the same" mobile billboard and a birthday cake for Senator McCain.

Harrisburg, PA
Local Democratic activists will host a More of the Same McCain birthday party that will feature the DNC's "more of the same" mobile billboard and a birthday cake for Senator McCain.

In an effort to give back to the community that has been such a gracious host, the Democratic National Convention Committee (DNCC) held a Community Open House at the Pepsi Center today, allowing Denver residents and students to be among the first to see the unveiling of the innovative Convention podium up close and in person.

"When we arrived in Denver more than a year ago, we promised to make this Convention more open and accessible and to 'bring down the walls' of the Pepsi Center -- and today we delivered on that commitment in a big way," said DNCC CEO Leah D. Daughtry. "We're inviting community members to be the first to see the transformation of the Pepsi Center from sports arena to Convention hall and to see where the opening gavel will drop to kick-off this historic Convention. Taking steps to open both of our incredible Convention venues is our way of saying thank you for all that Denver has done to help make this Convention special."

Learn more about the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado here.

DNC Chairman Howard Dean said the sum is unprecedented for a presidential campaign and represents a show of Democratic confidence that Latino voters could prove pivotal in states including New Mexico and Michigan. [...]

Targets will include Florida; Western states such as Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico; and Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan, industrial battlegrounds with sizable Hispanic populations. The money will be spent on niche advertising and other outreach, along with mobilization efforts aimed at identifying, registering and turning out new Democratic voters.

Over the weekend, the campaign held a training session in Las Vegas to teach local organizers how to canvass Hispanic communities. A similar forum will be held soon in Florida, Dean said, and sessions in other states are in the planning stages.

These efforts do not bode well for John McCain. His team says "we've already been doing all that." Whatever it is they are doing, it is not working at all.

Although Republican rival John McCain represents Arizona, a state with a strong Hispanic presence, Dean cited a poll last week by the Pew Hispanic Center showing Obama's approval rating with registered Latino voters at 66 percent nationwide, compared with 23 percent for McCain.

The bus tour also builds on the success of the DNC's 50-state strategy and Senator Obama's commitment to running a 50 state campaign, and the belief that if Democrats show up and ask for people's votes, we can win everywhere. Throughout the tour Governor Dean will engage local leaders and grassroots activists in the effort to register new voters and talk about Barack Obama's strong message of change.

Starting Thursday, you can register to vote, find more information on how to register others to vote and follow the bus tour state-by-state at registerforchange.com.

"After eight years of George Bush and with John McCain promising more of the same on everything from the economy to Iraq to Social Security to health care, America is ready to join Barack Obama and Democrats to Register for Change," said Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean. "People are really struggling. They want different leadership, not more of the same failed Bush policies that John McCain will continue. So we'll be going neighborhood by neighborhood, door by door to bring more people into the process to elect Barack Obama and Democrats up-and-down the ticket to bring change that all Americans can believe in."

The Register for Change tour kick-offs of Thursday, July 17, in George W. Bush's backyard in Crawford, Texas - a clear reminder of John McCain's promise of a third Bush term on everything from the economy to Iraq to health care. The tour then heads to Austin, Texas for a Register for Change rally at noon before Dean speaks to the Netroots Nation Convention that night.

From Texas, the tour heads to New Orleans - a city that experienced the failings of Republican leadership in Washington firsthand - and then to Shreveport and Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Hattiesburg and Jackson, Mississippi. The second swing, July 25-26, will make stops in North Carolina and Georgia - two untraditional battleground states where voter registration efforts will help lead Barack Obama to victory in November. The tour will hit states in every part of the country, culminating in a swing through the Midwest on its way to the Democratic Convention in Denver.

He pointed to the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. protectorate that imports tens of thousands of foreign textile workers, as a successful model for a guest-worker program that could be adapted nationally.

"The concept of prequalifying foreign workers in their home country under private-sector management is a system that works very well in one place in America," he said of the islands' program. "I think members of Congress ought to be looking at that model and be considering it as a possible basis for a nationwide program."

One of the clients represented by convicted briber and former Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff was a wealthy businessman, Willie Tan, in the garment industry on the island and U.S. commonwealth, Northern Marianas Islands, or CNMI.

Attempting to prevent Congress from extending federal labor laws to the island, despite the fact that all products produced there included "Made in the U.S.A." on the label, Abramoff and allies like Ralph Reed summoned the help of Christian conservatives to thwart Congressional efforts.

It was on this island that some of the worst human rights abuses occurred under the legal jurisdiction of the United States. The U.S. Department of Interior, according to the Washington Post, "presented a very different picture of life for Chinese workers on the islands. An Interior report found that Chinese women were subject to forced abortions and that women and children were subject to forced prostitution in the local sex-tourism industry."

And Republican Bob Schaffer wants to expand this nationally?

(Hat tip: Square State)