Emery McClendon is a husband, father, Air Force retiree, Christian, a FedEx driver, amateur radio guy and photographer. In general, his race is beside the point.

But this series is about the Tea Party, a movement that struggles to persuade some observers that it is not merely a racist reaction to a black president. The 59-year-old McClendon, as can clearly be seen in James Cheng’s photo, is a black man. He is also a prominent voice in the Tea Party movement.

McClendon was among the highlighted speakers at a recent rally in administration against the health-care package, adding his voice to the chorus with this message: the Tea Party movement has nothing to do with race.

“We are not the KKK,” he boomed with rhetorical flourish. “We are patriots.”

McClendon was raised at a time when the black population was overwhelmingly Democratic. It wasn’t easy to “come out” as a conservative Republican.

“I grew up in a household where they would break your neck if you voted any other way,” says McClendon. “But they were very conservative. My parents really didn’t know how conservative they were.”

The Fort Wayne native served in the Air Force for four years then joined the Indiana Air Guard. His 23 years as a FedEx driver paid the bills while he and his wife, Queenie, raised their three sons.

Over time McClendon decided that his views on abortion, limited government and taxation - principles he says he learned from his parents - just didn’t match liberal views.

“I ended up thinking I wasn’t a Democrat or a Republican, but more of a Reagan conservative,” he says, and he has voted accordingly since the election of George H.W. Bush.

By the time McClendon established the local Tea Party chapter last year, he had a network of conservative friends. At the group’s first rally in front of the Fort Wayne courthouse, former conservative presidential candidate Alan Keyes delivered the keynote address.

Since then, McClendon has frequently been invited to speak at Tea Party events in Indiana and elsewhere. Public speaking comes easily to him, he says, because as a child he used to travel with his uncle, a bishop for the Church of God in Christ, listening to preachers and talking morals and values.

The warm reception he receives at Tea Party events isn’t universal, even among family members.
“I’ve been called an Uncle Tom,” he says. “They say (I) should support the president because he’s the first black president. I support the president. I just don’t agree with his beliefs.”

If you get right down to it, McClendon is pretty disgusted by President Obama - even writing that Obama’s election was the saddest day of his life.

“I never thought the American people would fall for a person they didn’t know anything about,” says McClendon. “He has Socialist views and, even worse, Marxist…. He goes around the world bowing to leaders and talks about how the market system doesn’t work.”

In McClendon’s view, this show of presidential humility doesn’t mesh with the notion of “American exceptionalism” that is embraced by the Tea Party.

“We stand above because of our morals, our Constitution,” says McClendon.

“(The Tea Party) is a group of individuals who love their country and feel they are losing their country. They are finding out there are other people who are standing up for principles…. When we return to those principles, we will return to exceptionalism.”

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When we arrive, the smell of baking cookies pervades the Cosgrays’ ranch-style home in the countryside outside Monticello, Ind. Outside, it is clear and silent except for their chatter, and the crunch of our footfalls crossing the field covered by cut corn stalks.

The Cosgrays are a close family, knit together by conservative Christian beliefs. They work hard, study hard and live in a place where they have their own water and power supplies, and where they could plausibly be self-sufficient. Their oldest son Alex, 27, farms 20 acres of family land - refusing government subsidies, on principle.

To Sam and Laura Cosgray, massive government spending in the name of averting economic crisis has been an affront to their common sense, and their sense of fairness.

“We bust our backs every day going to work, teaching our children values and working, and that you don’t rely on the government... (you) make it on your own,” says Laura Cosgray, a 47-year-old mother of four. “Then the government has the audacity to come in and take our money... to prop up the banks that are failing because of corruption and greed.”

The frustration is not new to the Cosgrays. The feeling that the government was straying - getting too big, too intrusive and too liberal - had been building for them since the 1990s. When their son, Tyler, set out to join the military after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, Sam and Laura decided they wanted to serve their country too. The inspiration as to how to best do that came later.

“When (Sarah Palin) came onto the national scene, that was America right there,” says Laura. “I couldn’t wait to get home and turn on the TV (and see) the lady we have been waiting for - a conservative, a family woman. Then we started getting very involved.”

She found the C-Corn.com Website ( http://c-corn.com/) set up by Anna Kroyman, a Monticello woman who was trying to establish a local Tea Party. At the first meeting of the White County Tea Party Patriots, the Cosgrays made up six of 12 members.

They have all remained involved. Sam works long hours at Caterpillar, but he helps out with most events. So do Rachel, 20, who is studying to be a teacher, Nichole, a 16-year-old student. The snickerdoodles in the oven are for a Tea Party meeting later in the evening.

The family is quietly encouraging 25-year-old Tyler, who has finished his service in the Marines, to build the credentials he needs to run for local office in coming years.

For Laura, who was a stay-at-home mom for 17 years, it is as if she ducked into a phone booth and emerged as supercharged Tea Party activist. Energized by TV and radio host Glenn Beck, she tirelessly recruits for the Tea Party - handing out flyers at home and garden shows. When she worked at a drive-in bank, she put Tea Party flyers into the canister with the cash she sent back to the cars.

“It’s kind of like us being Christians,” she says about her enthusiasm for the Tea Party. “(As Christians) we tell people about the Lord. … It just becomes who you are.”

Laura is looking beyond the Nov. 2 election, with plans to keep organizing for the Tea Party.

“Our goal in 2011?” she says. “I think we are going to try to fund a very, very conservative Republican to run against (senior Republican Sen.) Richard Lugar.”

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Kent Hizer is a salesman for steel products and a volunteer policeman. He’s running for a seat on the board of Penn County Township - population 64,000. It’s a modest office, but the odds of beating a long-serving Democrat are slim, and Hizer is the first to say so.

“I probably will not be elected,” he tells a Tea Party meeting at the VFW hall in nearby Mishawaka.

But Hizer is not here to campaign -- there are only three people in this crowd of 50 who could vote for him. But he sees hope, and finds solace, in the Tea Party because they seem to be on the same track as he is.

“I’m on a mission to hold elected officials accountable -- local officials, and all the way up the food chain,” says Hizer. “I want to get people engaged no matter what party they are.”

Hizer says he has uncovered a concrete example of malfeasance on the part of a current Penn Township board member. Hizer used a Freedom of Information Act query to uncover a scandal involving the township trustee, who reportedly used township funds for unauthorized personal expenses and failed to document official work performed by his girlfriend.

This feeling that public officials are running amok, he insists, is not a partisan issue.

Hizer, a conservative who was raised Democrat, says it has become uncomfortable to identify himself with the party because the Republicans have “lost their way.”

Even then, he doesn’t align with every conservative stance. After witnessing someone close to him die of a debilitating disease, he now believes in the right to choose a dignified death.

“This is not in the conservative playbook,” he says.

But Hizer is most animated about getting people to step up, politically.

“I wanted to tell people to stay engaged,” he says after his Tea Party presentation. “If we hold them accountable maybe they will start looking after our interests instead of looking after their own.”

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Fellow multimedia producer John Brecher and I published a story today about the trend of cities across America restarting streetcar lines in hopes of invigorating their downtown cores and connecting neighborhoods. An Oregon company is taking a gamble on being the first American-owned company to make streetcars in over 50 years. Check out the story here.

I like this picture John captured during the assignment, making a beautiful, quiet frame of such an everyday moment.

More from the AP poll of scientists:

There is no comprehensive calculation for how much marshland was oiled, but estimates range from less than a square mile to just a handful of square miles. Regardless, in the big picture that's hardly alarming: Louisiana loses roughly 25 square miles of marsh each year due to a host of environmental and manmade causes. The state is the site of one of the most ferocious rates of land loss in the world.

Read the full AP report, and see an interesting information graphic on the story, at this link.

We have 16 very pretty fall foliage pictures in this slideshow.

A surprisingly intimate picture under the circumstances. The Canadian Press has a little more information on the hunger strike.

Read and see more on the impact of Megi here.

Can you imagine seeing this vehicle roll through your town? More on the Wolfhound's deployment, including a short video clip, is available via Sky News.

We've previously covered some of the challenges of trying to win hearts and minds while rolling along in a highly armored vehicle. In a slideshow of images taken from inside American Humvees, photojournalist Chris Hondros told us in June that:

"American forces aren't often in any type of vehicle nowadays: engaging the populace face-to-face is an important part of the counterinsurgency philosophy espoused by General Petraeus, so there are a lot more walking patrols that leave the vehicles on base altogether."

As this is a handout picture, I figured I'd also remind you of our policy around publishing handout pictures: "This picture was provided by the United States Coast Guard." Along those lines, one can only wonder if the announcement about the Wolfhound deployment and the release of this image are related to the looming announcement of how much U.K. budget cuts will affect defense spending there.