People & politics.

• Position: TRENDS AND TRANSITIONS

Colorado Representative Debbie Stafford stunned her GOP colleagues in October when she announced she is switching parties. Stafford's move puts the Democrats' majority in the House at 40-25, and they celebrated by giving her a jersey with her name and the number "40" on it. "I am not leaving the Republican Party as much as I believe the Republican Party left me," said the 55-year-old minister who won her last election with 60 percent of the vote. It has been 20 years since a Colorado legislator switched parties. House Minority Leader Mike May was gracious, issuing a statement that wished her well. Stafford is term limited and cannot run again.

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When John Olsrud took a job with the North Dakota Legislative Council right after he graduated from law school in 1967, he assumed he'd be there just a few months because he'd lost his student draft deferment. The council director at the time was a National Guard officer and he got Olsrud into the Army Reserve to keep the young lawyer at the council. Olsrud stayed 40 years, and retired as director, a position he held for 25 years, in November. The council under Olsrud had 33 employees and a biennial budget of $8.8 million. Olsrud was honored for his outstanding service at a gathering at the Capitol.

Carole Hillard, former South Dakota legislator, lieutenant governor and self-described "humanitarian junkie" who traveled the world to promote democracy, died in October in Switzerland. She was 71. Hillard broke three vertebrae when she fell on a sailboat in the Adriatic. She had organized a conference on federalism in Turkmenistan, and was on a boating trip with friends at the time of the accident. She had surgery in Croatia and left for Switzerland a few days later. But a bacterial blood infection, pneumonia and a series of strokes led to her death. Hillard volunteered for the Peace Corps in 1997 to work on elections in the Balkans, and then served as an international consultant for the U.S. State Department and private organizations, visiting 60 countries. In January 2007 she helped oversee elections in the West Bank, and helped create an environment for small business development in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Even in September the Colorado Rockies were a long shot to make it to the World Series. But when...