DENVER -- The official balloting for the Democratic presidential nomination had been going on for some time. State by state, alphabetically, each delegation leader announced the votes for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton -- but only after praising various aspects of their home state, prominent Democrats who came from there and current Democratic office holders. Finally, New Mexico was called, and state party chairman Brian Coln followed tradition, spending several moments bragging about the state.

As the tension built, however, instead of announcing the New Mexico vote, Coln yielded to the state of Illinois, which earlier had passed. Illinois' votes gave its own senator, Obama, the vote total needed to officially clinch the nomination. Illinois then yielded to New York, whose senator, Clinton, moved to nominate Obama by acclamation.

So New Mexico's vote never was officially announced.

Coln later said the vote would have been 35 for Obama and 3 for Clinton, who earlier in the day had released her pledged delegates.

Swift boats and wind turbines: U.S. Rep. Tom Udall of Santa Fe, speaking to New Mexico delegates to the Democratic National Convention at breakfast Wednesday, said Republicans are starting to use "swift boat" tactics against him in his race for U.S. Senate.

A few moments later, Udall introduced the next speaker, who happened to be a Texas oilman who in 2004 helped finance Swift Boat Veterans for Truth -- an organization that infamously attacked presidential candidate John Kerry with some claims that turned out not to be true.

T. Boone Pickens, a lifelong Republican, wasn't there to talk about partisan politics, however. He was there to speak on The Pickens Plan, his ambitious agenda for promoting alternative energy sources. He's been running national television commercials for the plan.

Pickens wants to spend $1 trillion on wind-turbine farms for power generation and use natural gas to fuel automobiles. He claims the proposal would cut the amount the country spends annually on imported oil from $700 billion to $400 billion.

Pickens told the Democrats that his plan differs with Al Gore's call for a switch to electric automobiles within 10 years. He said it would be more realistic to use natural gas to fuel cars for the next 20-30 years. "Then we'll get to Al's plan."

Those attending the breakfast responded enthusiastically. After the talk, many Democrats crowded around Pickens to shake his hand and pose with him for photos.

Asked how it felt to be fawned over by all these Democrats, Pickens said, "It's great.