Four years ago, Texas oil billionaire T. Boone Pickens gave $3 million to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in their effort to sandbag the presidential campaign of Democrat John Kerry.

Next week, he's buying breakfast for New Mexico delegates to the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver.

Pickens is the sponsor of a delegation breakfast Aug. 28 at Denver's Crowne Plaza hotel. "His people contacted us about speaking to the delegation on The Pickens Plan," said state Democratic chairman Brian Colón in an interview Tuesday.

Pickens unveiled his eponymous plan last month. It would spend $1 trillion on wind-turbine farms for power generation and use natural gas to fuel automobiles. Pickens, who has been running national television commercials for the plan, claims the proposal would cut the amount the country spends annually on foreign oil from $700 billion to $400 billion.

"Instead of 'swift boats,' he's spending a boatload of money on renewable energy," Colón said. "He's doing as much as anyone to move the national conversation (on alternative energy) forward as anyone. People expect Democrats to talk about renewable energy, but when a conservative guy is pitching it, it's great."

Pickens is speaking to several delegations of Western states at the Democratic convention, state party spokeswoman Conchita Cruz said Tuesday.

Despite his support for the Swift Boat group — and the fact he has said he's supporting Republican John McCain for president — since proposing his alternative energy plan, Pickens has won praise from Democrats.

In a Pickens commercial, he even uses rhetoric employed by Democrats, saying, "This is one emergency we can't drill our way out of."

After appearing at an energy summit in Nevada organized by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, U.S. Senate Republicans released a statement Tuesday quoting Pickens saying he supports offshore oil drilling and drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which many Democrats oppose. The statement also quoted Pickens criticizing a Democratic bill aimed at oil speculators.

Contact Steve Terrell at 986-3037 or sterrell@sfnewmexican.com.