While the Democratic and Republican national conventions trumpets the party's and presidential hopefuls' message to a nationally televised audience, WISC-TV reporter Jessica Arp is touring Wisconsin to talk to the residents about what they think of their policies, what issues matter to them and the impact of the coming election. Jessica will be blogging about what she's seeing for the next few days. Also, check out her reports on "News 3 Live at Five," "News 3 at Six" and "News 3 at Ten" at 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 10 p.m.

9:45 p.m., Thursday

Here's a few stats from the last two weeks:

Miles Traveled: about 995 Cities Visited: 6 Libraries/Coffee Shops Stopped at to find wireless: 5 Estimated Population of Areas We Stopped: 721,779 Coffee Consumed: too much...

I hope you've enjoyed our stories (and this blog) and maybe have learned a little along the way. One thing I noted during this time is that there are really more issues that are important to voters in this state than some of the ones the candidates are talking about. We've heard a lot about offshore drilling and I'm not sure in any conversation we had with folks we talked to that I heard that issue come up once. Its easy in a campaign for there to become "soundbite" issues or some that become so controversial that both candidates feel the need to address them repeatedly. But there are other issues people hope are addressed and maybe if either of the candidates or their campaigns took note of that, they could be more successful in "swinging" Wisconsin.

We'll do more of these stories before the election-- but we want to make sure we're talking about what will swing YOUR vote. E-mail me at jarp@wisctv.com and tell me what you want us to explore-- and where! Thanks for tagging along-- we'll catch you on the road!

5:20 p.m., Thursday

It's been a rainy day in Milwaukee, but we've once again learned a lot from our travels. Like I said before, today's issue was troop deployments and their effect on Wisconsin soldiers and employers. We went today to Aurora St. Luke's Hospital in Milwaukee, as well as Aurora Sinai to find out. Aurora Health Care currently has 12 employees deployed both overseas and stateside, and has many more potentially eligible. While you'd think that would be a hardship for a company who relies on talented doctors and nurses, they make it work, and do right by their employees as well. The company has won awards from the military for their efforts to assist employees-- they offer a salary continuation to make sure employees are able to support their families during deployment, as well as benefits assistance. Where do you find people to fill in for those dedicated caregivers who are gone? The hospital might find temporary help, but often other members of an area step in for extra shifts to cover the need.

And what about the soldiers themselves, how do they cope? We talked to one that hasn't been deployed yet, but has been on numerous training missions across the country to prepare to be in a combat hospital. Nurse Kelly Bell, a member of the Army Reserve, says it can be an adjustment, and her swing issue is really making sure employment rights stay in place so service members can make the transition from service to civilian jobs. She not only cares about this for herself-- but for her husband, who is also in the Army Reserve. And her colleagues, who have even erected a "military wall" in the ER where she works to recognize those who serve, and their family members.

We're working on the story here -- I'll bring you some parting throughts a little later tonight.

9:45 a.m., Thursday

Another day, another drive. We're off to Milwaukee this morning after spending the day yesterday in Eau Claire and Chippewa Falls. If you didn't see the story last night you can catch it here. My initial reaction (in my head, of course) when we got to Cray Inc. yesterday was -- holy supercomputers Batman!!

The machines both they and SGI of Chippewa Falls make are truly incredible. Whne you look at them you might see towers of cables and blinking lights (picture somewhere between the Matrix and the bank of servers the robbers hack into in the "Oceans 11" series) but the high-performance computers are built to solve some of the worlds most complex and pressing problems. As they hum along, the banks of hundreds of processors could be simulating the flight of a Department of Defense jet, the launch of a NASA rocket, or the effect of climate change on an environment. SGI's visualization computers have been used by companies to do some things you might recognize-- they helped create special effects for Pixar and Disney movies (they've gotten Oscars for their movie work), create the graphics you see during NFL games or Nascar races, or even design the swimsuits olympians like Michael Phelps wore this year.

But all this innovation doesn't come without support, and these companies are hoping candidates pay attention to that. To them, there are no supercomputers to make if there aren't jobs for supercomputers to do -- and many of those jobs are created by government funding. They want candidates to demonstrate their commitment to this technology as a medium to help solve these problems -- not only to help make the world a better place, but keep high-tech jobs in the Chippewa Valley.

South and east of there, today we're exploring the issue of troop deployments in the state and their effects as the last swing issue on our trip. The year 2009 could hold the largest Wisconsin National Guard mobilization since World War II, and it will mean a great deal to both families and employers as some 3,400 soldiers would leave the state to head to Iraq. We're going to two hospitals in Milwaukee today to talk to some soldiers who have been deployed about what its like to leave your job for that period of time, and we're going to talk to their employers about what it takes to replace important medical professionals while they're gone, and how they support those employees while they're away. Hopefully with some additional caffeine and a better wireless card connection we'll bring you more updates on the last leg of our "Swing State Wisconsin" trip.

8:45 a.m., Wednesday

Good morning from Highway 93 in northwest Wisconsin, between La Crosse and Eau Claire. We're headed further north this morning after a steamy day in the coulee region. If you didn't catch our story last night on health care reform, you can watch it here. Thanks to our friends at WKBT who hosted us for the evening!

We're on the way to the Chippewa Valley -- an incredibly beautiful area to drive in the morning -- which has been called by some, including former Gov.Tommy Thompson, the "Silicon Valley" of the Midwest. The region is home to numerous computer-based and high-tech industries, which some believe are the future of the economy as some of Wisconsin's other industries (automotive manufacturing, paper production) are in a stage of decline. We're headed here to talk to two different companies, Cray Inc. and Silicon Graphics about how their businesses are doing in this economy, and what can be done to help keep them successufl.

8:30 p.m., Tuesday

It's been an enlightening day in La Crosse today. As we said before, today's issue is health care reform. We first talked to Gundersen Lutheran Hospital CEO Dr. Jeff Thompson, who is active in trying to effort reform in the industry, including working with both state and nationwide groups. We talked to Dr. Thompson for some time, and I regret that in our short television news time we can't fit in more of his comments. He talked at length about things that need to be examined in the industry, including fundamentally how we approach health care as a nation. He believes focusing on making communities healthy rather than just providing them health care would change the industry for the better, as well as looking at ways that we can ultimately make health care accessible for all people without putting undue strain on employers or patients who pay for the care. Dr. Thompson also talked about how electronic records could make health care more efficient, and that there needed to be some sort of nationwide standard for those records for every provider to communicate in the system. His biggest piece of advice for politicans was a good one, but a difficult one to translate into our story: politicians (and us media types) should not simplify health care reform issues down into one-liners or seemingly easy solutions. He advocated for candidates to surround themselves with experts in health care, business and government who can share ideas and be bold enough to work to establish solutions. For our purposes, we regrettably can't provide you with a half-hour special on the issue tonight, but we'll give you the best picture of this issue as we can with the people we've talked to.

Those other people included dedicated volunteers at the St. Clare Health Mission, a volunteer-run organization that's supported by both major hospitals in La Crosse (Gundersen Lutheran and Fransciscan Skemp) that provides free health care to un-insured residents. We met Lois McHenry-Nemec, who was gracious enough to let us sit-in on her visit, where she was seeking help for OCD. Her husband was laid off just days previous, and on her salary alone (at an organization that serves children with developmental disabilities) she can't afford health care, much less the medication she takes for her disorder. For her, health care reform is a major issue, not only with providing access to all, but access for those even with pre-existing conditions like hers. She said even times when she's had insurance in her life, she often has to pay more out-of-pocket costs because of her disorder. Its an issue we saw many at the clinic facing today, and one that they all hope the candidates face. Tune in at 10pm tonight for the full story-- and catch us tomorrow as we head further north to the Chippewa Valley to talk about the economy.

9:30 a.m., Tuesday

Good morning! We're fully caffeinated and on the road once again, traveling "Swing State Wisconsin." It's been quite the last few days in the political world, as well as in major news around the country. The announcement of Republican vice presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin, and subsequent information about her family history and positions have highlighted a whole new set of political issues for the country to discuss. And Hurricane Gustav has put the spotlight once again on the Gulf Coast, and our country's efforts after a natural disaster. Even as we travel this week, we're thinking about and hoping for the safety of the affected residents and all the volunteers from Wisconsin and around the country that are headed there to make sure people are cared for.

Our coverage today is focused on "Reform", the scheduled theme of today's convention. (Because of yesterday's schedule change, it looks like some of the scheduled speakers and themes are being shuffled around. We're planning to still focus on the themes as they were scheduled, which is "Reform" today, "Prosperity" tomorrow, and "Peace" on Thursday). Our discussion will be reform of Health Care, which has been a major topic in the state. We're headed to La Crosse, where there are two major hospitals and an innovative partnership clinic that serves the uninsured. We'll bring you some updates as we're working, as well as let you know what our plans are for the rest of the week. As always, if you have any questions or comments on our work-- feel free to email me at jarp@wisctv.com. You're a voter in "Swing State Wisconsin" too-- so we love to hear your input!

5:15 p.m., Thursday

Good evening! Once again a fewer number of postings today, but that's because we were a little closer to home today and started a little later Hope you saw our story from Merrill last night, if not you can catch it here.

Blogging to you today though from Beloit, where we're talking to some folks you'd think are waiting to watch the Super Bowl tonight. That major event being the nomination acceptance speech from Senator Barack Obama. We talked to Mary Henry tonight, a woman who is watching tonight with bittersweet sentiments. She's active in the community here, through church, education and now the Obama campaign. But she was doing all these things with her husband, Hugo, who pased away in March. He was a 34-year educator who ran for public offices in Beloit, and always had the community's best interests in mind. She said he would have been so proud to see this day, especially after growing up in the segregated south, and tears up when she talks about it.

We also stopped by a beauty shop in South Beloit -- its actually feet over the border in Illinois, but we found some Wisconsin voters-- who are also excited about tonight. We wanted to know if they think race will be a swing issue, many agreed it would. Many have no doubt some will not vote for Obama because he is black. And they have mixed feelings about whether some might vote for him because he is black. Either way, they say they think it will be an issue, although most said it wasn't the reason they felt compelled to vote for him.

We'll have the full story coming up tonight at 10. Hope you'll tune in-- and come back next week when we continue our trip across Wisconsin during the Republican convention.

6:30 p.m., Wednesday

So, here's a little thing you should know about using the internet for blogging and television live shots. You need a really good internet connection. Here's a little thing you should know about Merrill, Wisconsin… they have great people and a great little lunch café (the chicken dumpling soup at Skippers was great!) but the internet and service for wireless cards… not so much. Therin lies the reason for the drought in my posts today.

What have we been up to? We paid a visit this morning to the family of Private 1st Class Grant Allen Dampier, a soldier from Merrill who was killed by an IED blast in May of 2006 in Iraq. His mother Karen Goulee was gracious enough to let us into her home to see the beautiful portrait of Grant and the collection of photos and medals she has to remember him. Also at the house was Heidi Dampier, Grant's wife, and their three children Alexis, Starr and Kylee, possibly the three cutest girls on the planet. The girls can talk easily of fun memories of their father, going fishing, building snowmen, and how they keep pictures of him in their rooms. Heidi says no one will understand how hard it is to raise three young daughters alone. But she says the whole reason Grant joined the Army in 2004 was to get financial security for his family and make his daughters proud.

Their swing issue is obviously the war. But when they talk about it, its in calculated terms. They don't want the work Grant did in Iraq done in vain, so they're leary of a hasty troop pullout. But both admit they don't want the war to go on forever. While it seems that some in the country can see the issue in easy black-and-white terms, its not so for those who are struggling with the actual personal costs of war. One of the most poignant quotes from Karen, "I didn't believe in the war at all, but I believed in my son, and when he made the decision [to join the army] I respected it and was proud that he served."

Dampier isn't the only soldier Merrill lost. Sgt. Ryan Jopek was killed in August of 2006 as well. The town population is just more than 10,000.

Merrill is home Troop E, 105th Cavalry of the Wisconsin National Guard 32nd Infantry Brigade, which could be subject to a large Guard mobiliation next year.

Look for the story tonight on "News 3 at Ten: The Update" and we'll catch you again tomorrow!

9 a.m., Wednesday

Good morning to you from Little Chute, Wis.! Actually, from Highway 10 headed to the center of the state. I hope you were able to catch our stories yesterday. If not, you can watch our story on Kimberly, its paper mill and the Papermakers here.

If you saw us at 5 , 6 and 10 p.m., yesterday, you might have seen we were live "via the Internet." We trying something rather new and interesting -- using just my laptop, a webcam and a program called Skype to do our live reports. Normally, you'd see us out with a large truck filled with editing equipment and a giant sattelite dish. Now we're a little more low-maintenance, a little more gadget-heavy. (It also makes for an interesting work environment … you might have noticed my picture inside Butch's Pizza in Kimberly.)

It's definitely an innovative way of doing things for television, and we'd love to know what you think so feel free to e-mail me at jarp@wisctv.com and let me know what you think.

So, as I said we're on our way west and north now from the Fox Valley, today the destination is Merrill, Wis. The theme for the day at the convention in Denver is "Securing America's Future" -- and a central point of discussion will be the war in Iraq. We're heading to Merrill to talk to community members there about how the war has affected them -- and what will swing their vote this election. Stay tuned!

3:00 p.m., Tuesday

Spend a few hours in Kimberly and you'll be struck by how the New Page plant closing is affecting the community. Go in most businesses, you'll find flyers for the community rally they've planned for Sept. 6. Drive down streets in town, and you'll see the signs pleading for the plant to be saved. Spend a few minutes talking to any of the plant's employees, and you'll realize that the mill has been part of their lives for years -- I haven't met an employee that's worked there less than 20.

The guys I talked to you can likely picture, and if you've spent any time in Wisconsin, you likely know someone just like them. They're hard-working guys, love sports, their families and their community, and just want to have a job to go to every day to keep food on the table. They don't ask for much more and never really have.

The surprising fact we've learned here today is that a huge issue for them is international trade. One of the major factors in the price of paper, and thus the closing of the plant, is because the International Trade Commissions have made it easy for other countries to import paper to the U.S. Now, the market is over-saturated and companies hope to drive up the price by taking some paper out of the market. Who would have thought Kimberly, Wis., would be the center of a global trade issue?

We're stopping by Kimberly High School's football practice now. Their team name: The Papermakers. See you at 5, 6, and 10.

Noon, Tuesday

VIDEO: Watch Report On Kimberly Mill

10:30 a.m., Tuesday

And we're off! I'm Jessica Arp and and you're welcome to come along on our "Swing State Wisconsin" trip! I'm on the road -- actually, photographer Jeremy Nichols is driving -- so we're out on the road on the way to Kimberly this morning. Here's the premise of the blog and the project we're working on for News 3 and Channel3000.com: As political figures from around the country come together this week and next to talk about the issues facing our country, we want to know what voters in Wisconsin think about it all.

And frankly, it matters what voters here think because we're one of a few battleground states the candidates are invested in this fall. So we're going to explore the issues facing communities across the state-- and ask residents just what it will take to "swing" their vote this year.

So come along with us -- I'll bring you some updates along the way about where we are, what we're talking about, and how much coffee it actually takes for me to stay awake on 14 hour days. (current count: 1 Starbucks White Mocha) Feel free to email if you've got a suggestion or comment to jarp@wisctv.com.