I just heard NBC's Brian Williams portray Montana, my home state for 28 years, as portrayed by him visiting the motorheads at Gallatin Motor Speedway in Bozeman , Montana.
Brian Williams has proven himself as a complete idiot. Next to no one in Montana spends their weekends doing motorsports in Montana. A scant few people do, including a few of my friends. The vast majority of Montanans are out fishing and camping not watching race cars here in Big Sky Country!
The John Edwards for president campaign rolled into Missoula Montana yesterday, with Governor Brian Schweitzer introducing the candidate. Nearly 700 people showed up at the evening event held at the University of Montana. It's a rare event to have a presidential candidate from any party show up in Montana, which holds its primary in June of an election year, one of the last primaries in a presidential election season. But Governor Mitt Romeny has already visited the Montana at the state's republican convention last spring, and Governor Schweitzer's endorsement is viewed as a valuable commodity with western democrats on the move.
Liz Claiborne passed away yesterday, and from the national news reports, you would know little more than she was a famous fashion designer. But she did more than just design nice clothes; she tried to design the future as well, at least for this portion of the world called Montana.
I just got back from a Jon Tester fundraiser with General Wesley Clark here in Montana's capital city and the phone rings with a push-poll robo-call from some polling firm in Virginia. I would like the help of the DKos community in tracking down these sleazebags so that we can do some local press on this desparate, but typical behavior of the corrupt repubs. More after the flip.
Senator Conrad Burns issued a written apology today to the wildland firefighters, the elite Augusta Hotshots of Virginia, that he accused of doing a poor job in fighting a fire in central Montana this week. It appears that most of Burns' more critical comments were left out of the initial report written by a state employee that worked as the public information officer on the fire and dealt with Burns on the "altercation" between the senator and the firefighters at the Billings Airport.
U.S. Senator Conrad Burns in a desperate attempt to save his sinking re-election campaign, has revealed that unbeknownst to most Montanans, he is secretly an environmentalist. Senator Burns will attach legislation to the current appropriations bill in the senate permantly prohibiting leasing on 375,000 acres of Forest Service land on Montana's Rocky Mountain Front, according to this story http://www.helenair.com/... in the Helena Independent Record.
Tester Crushes Burns in first Debate: Montana Political News Roundup, Volume2
U.S. Senator Conrad Burns and State Senator Jon Tester faced off this morning for one hour in their first one on one debate of the 2006 campaign season, and wow did the sparks fly! For those that missed this early morning political event, C-SPAN is rebroadcasting the debate at 8 PM MDT, according to Left in West.
I took scribbled notes for the entire hour, so any errors in quotes for either candidate are all mine. There was one moderator asking questions to both Burns and Tester, with no follow-ups, and there was no interaction from the live audience. Candidates were allowed to respond to questions aimed at the other candidate, and ask a limited number of questions directly to each other.
Join me below the fold for more news on this hot senate race.
There's a lot going on in Montana politics this year, almost as much as in 2004. Will Jon Tester defeat Conrad Burns and take back the seat of legendary Senate majority leader Mike Mansfield ? Will Montana democrats retain control of the state legislature, or will some of the two dozen Constitution Party candidates that are running gain power and grind the legislative process to a halt? Will any of the right-wing constitutional initiatives pass and severely limit the state government budget? Will Governor Brian Schweitzer ever slow down and stop traveling and talking?
I will try to cover all these topics and more in these weekly state political roundups. Here's the first short one below the fold.
In the latest poll from Lee Newspapers in Montana, State Senator Jon Tester is tied in a statistical dead heat
with State Auditor John Morrison for the democratic nomination for U.S. Senate, with nine days to go to the June Primary. But as the sage Yogi Berra has said, it ain't over til it's over.
It's fun to wake up on Sunday morning and read your DailyKos comments quoted on the front page of the local newspaper. Montana's foremost political reporter, Chuck Johnson of the Lee Newspapers State Bureau checks the blogs first for responses to Thursday's story on Senate Candidate John Morrison (no-party, MT) and then calls on the national political pundits for their reaction. Check out the whole story here.
Oh, and Mr.Morrison, since you don't have anything on your campaign website or in your fundraising letters that identifies you as a democrat running against Burns, I will accede to your wishes and refer to you as the no-party candidate.
I don't like posting flyby-night rumor diaries, but this is too juicy to pass up. The Montana political rumor mill is saying that Senator Conrad Burns (R-MT) will announce in the next ten days that he will retire from his senate seat and not run for re-election in November. What makes this rumor so juicy are some signs that it may be true. More after the fold.
Please recommend to keep this up for the next hour or so to discuss Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer's interview on 60 Minutes this evening.
Background on Governor Brian Schweitzer and the interview from his brother Walter here from my diary last night.
Darksyde's front page story on Black Gold from earlier today has a spirited discussion on the pros and cons of coal synfuel, and some good links to other resources.
We are having a Schweitzer 60 Minutes party just to celebrate having a governor on the national news that we can be proud of rather than former Gov. Marc Racicot who chaired Bush Cheney 2004 re-elect effort. Many Montana eyes will be on Schweitzer's dog Jag, who serves as his chief of staff.
Governor Brian Schweitzer will appear on CBS News' 60 Minutes this Sunday, February 26, on a piece entitled "Coal Cowboy". The Montana Governor was interviewed by Lesley Stahl last January in several locations across the Big Sky country. More after the flip.
Senator Burns continues to dig himself into a hole with Montana voters while piling up the campaign cash, this time by holding the Burns' Winterfest at the exclusive Yellowstone Club. Admission is $2,000 a person or $4,000 per Political Action Committee (PAC). But that's just to get into the fundraiser, not the Club.
As the 2006 election year warms up, there will be thousands of polls in field trying to measure voter's opinions. Last night I got polled, and this diary is an attempt to encourage fellow Kossacks to report when they get questioned, so that we can help out with progressive campaigns, and of course have some fun discussing polls. More after the fold.
Senator John Kerry stopped by Montana's Capital Thursday afternoon and chatted with Governor Brian Schweitzer as part of Kerry's "Listening Tour". Senator Kerry was on his way to his vacation home in Ketchum, Idaho during Congresses' August recess and has been stopping in to talk to local democrats.
Late Thursday afternoon, motorists noticed something strange along-side Interstate 90 twenty miles west of Missoula. There were several very small fires burning along the borrow pit on the west bond lanes. One driver at 4:45PM called 911 to report the blazes, and barely made it through the increasingly large fires on her way to Spokane, Washington. By 6PM Thursday, Interstate 90 was closed to all traffic, as the fires raged toward the small town of Alberton toward the northeast. Traffic was detoured along the narrow two-lane Montana Route 200 from St. Regis on the west fifty miles to Missoula on the east.
The origin of the fires remain a mystery. Lightning strikes? Arson? Terrorism? Or something as simple as a dragging chain from a tractor trailer rig causing sparks?
Chairman Howard Dean will be the keynote speaker at this year's Montana Democratic Party Convention in Great Falls, this Saturday evening July 16th. Making his second trip to Montana in as many months, Governor Dean is pushing democrats big time in the Rocky Mountain West.
"I'm spending my whole week in the West," Dean said. "I think the Rocky Mountain states, as Governor Schweitzer has proved, are states that can be won."
Tickets for the 6:30PM dinner are $35 in advance or $40 at the door at the Heritage Inn Convention Center on Fox Farm Road in Great Falls. Call 406-442-9520 for advance tickets.
