Montana Senate race is coming down to the wire

[alp227]

From the very beginning, meaning for about six years, the 2012 Senate race in Montana promised to be among the most competitive in the nation with huge implications for which party controlled the Senate.

Nothing has changed with three weeks to go. The polls remain close and hardly anyone would be surprised if it takes longer than election night to figure out who won.

In recent weeks the race has become intensely personal, with each candidate trying to prove that he is the real Montanan, while trying to discredit and disqualify the opponent.

For Democratic Sen. Jon Tester, the focus has been his biography, with frequent references to his organic wheat and barley farming on land that has been in his family for more than a century. “They know they can’t beat the farmer from Big Sandy,” he told a cheering crowd recently at the Staggering Ox restaurant in this town straddling the Missouri River.

The challenger, Rep. Dennis Rehberg (R), has been happy to talk about Tester’s Montananess, highlighting the Democrat’s big Wall Street-fueled campaign war chest and a voting record he says aligns Tester with President Obama. Rehberg’s case against the incumbent can be summed up in the sign hanging above his campaign manager’s desk: “He’s a hypocrite, stupid.”

full: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/decision2012/montana-senate-race-is-coming-down-to-the-wire/2012/10/15/c4ae24b8-1241-11e2-ba83-a7a396e6b2a7_singlePage.html

Tester's tester (hee hee) Denny Rehberg is the slimeball who has called Pell Grants "welfare"...

and has praised lobbyists.

[DURHAM D]

1. A reminder -

This Senate seat was previously held by Conrad Burns for 18 years. He was the most corrupt Senator during the Bush years and was deeply involved with Jack Abramoff. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conrad_Burns

In 2006 I was interested in this race and was reading online about the various Democratic primary candidates. It was very early on and Jon seemed to be thought of as in last place in the primary and not given much of a chance, I think he was running third. From just reading online I could not determine his position on choice. So I called the campaign office. I told the staffer who answered the phone I was calling from North Carolina and was looking for a candidate to back but could not ascertain Jon's position on choice. To my surprise the staffer immediately said I will have you talk to Jon, he is right here.

We talked for more than 20 minutes. We talked about things we have in common - farming, music education and women's issues. It was fun. I also provided him with a bit of information about a member of Conrad's family that he did not know and it really surprised him.

I finished by telling him I would send him a donation. The next day I sent him a check. I received back a handwritten thank you note and a request that if he got to the Senate and I was ever in DC that I must stop in for a visit. He said for me to tell the staff to go find him and tell him "Its the woman from North Carolina". I hope he returns to the Senate because I have not yet stopped in to see him.