For those of us who live in the 'New North,' we have no doubt about the potential that exists in our region.

I expect we'll invest in about two companies this year.

Any benefit of the doubt definitely goes with the skater. I think skating outgrew the 6.0 system. Is it perfect? No. But we are taking suggestions on how to make it perfect.

I am proud of the way we fought back - no doubt about it. We hit the ball well enough to have 13, 14 hits. They just weren't finding the holes at the time until we got a little something going in the last inning.

[Political analysts tell First Read, however, that it probably doesn't matter how these potential oh-eighters position themselves on Katrina and its aftermath. Claremont McKenna College's Jack Pitney explains that it's always politically safe to blame bureaucracy. On the other hand, he says, those who don't can always do so in the future.] There's plenty of time to criticize. ... I think two years from now, nobody is going to remember what these people said.

That's an indication that both programs and operations in Latin America have got really significant potential so that's a principle area of focus for us.