A handbasket from Helena

Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer was in Oklahoma this week. He gave an address at the National Congress of American Indians at the Tulsa Crowne Plaza, in which he said that the worst part of his job was consoling the survivors of fallen warriors.

Schweitzer has oil on his mind these days; he told the NCAI that the US has "140,000 troops in Iraq and we know why they are there. They are there because that is the corner of the oil production world." He also visited Syntroleum's coal-to-natural-gas conversion facility and got in a plug for Montana coal; Syntroleum suggested that synthetic-fuel plants could be built on-site at coal mines, eliminating the expense of hauling coal across the country to processing facilities.

There were rumors that Schweitzer has his eye on the White House, which he denied: "I have the best job in America," he said. "I'm not looking to go downhill."