Posted: April 26, 2012 at 6:40 pm
Montana Congressional Candidate Dave Strohmaier (D) has a smart new ad up. The ad is different than anything else on the airwaves and shows he believes in fairness and equality for all people. If he were really smart, Strohmaier could probably get some national talk show attention for this. Perhaps that’s already in the works.
Posted: March 10, 2012 at 8:19 am
It’s the big night of the year for Democrats tonight, as the Party will be holding its annual soiree, the Mansfield Metcalf dinner. It will be held at the Lewis and Clark County Fairgrounds. This is the night where the rank and file may buy a ticket for $50 bucks for the privilege of drinking and dining and mingling with Democratic politicians, and can listen to them give speeches.
In past years the dinner has been well attended and raised good money for the Democratic Party. So pull out your checkbook and come down to the fairgrounds. This year’s featured guest is CNN analyst Paul Begala, also known as the Montana Cowgirl of Washington DC.
M&M, as Democrats like to call the affair, has become quite a party in recent years, especially when Hillary and Barack showed up in 2008 and debated each other in dueling speeches. Recent speakers have also included Tammy Duckworth, the VA chief; Jim Messina of the White House; and regional politicians like Ken Salazar and Mark Udall. Sometimes the speeches are interesting, and some have been real snoozers.
On one occasion there was even a wonderfully awkward situation, when the guest speaker was Jim Webb, a U.S. Senator from Virginia. Webb’s speech contained numerous references to Andrew Jackson, with Webb referring several times to Jackson as his hero. When Schweitzer then took the stage, he explained to Webb that Jackson might be a hero in Virginia, but not in Montana, because he slaughtered innocent native Americans. There was an audible gasp from the crowd, and Webb was visibly humiliated.
The usual mix of funny, inspiring, exciting, boring, predictable and weird political speeches will no doubt be served up, some appetizers from Denise Juneau, Linda McCulloch and Monica Lindeen, Carol Williams and Jon Sesso, followed by the main course from Schweitzer, Baucus and Tester and Bullock. Aspiring members of Congress Franke Wilmer, Kim Gillan, Dianne Smith, Bob Stutz and Dave Strohmeier will also probably get a few minutes of stage time.
Also creating some buzz tomorrow night will be the newest addition to the Democratic Party’s roster, General John Walsh, who was picked as a running mate yesterday by Steve Bullock, a pick that so angered and stupefied the Republican Party that they never bothered putting out a statement about Bullock’s choice. That says it all.
So what’s the theme going to be this year? Last year the crowd was fired up because Schweitzer had just vetoed, with his branding iron, a pile of lunatic legislation put forward by Tea Partiers. And the Democrats at the time were successfully standing in the way of the GOP’s efforts to revert the state to the Judy Martz era of deficits and incompetence. So the dinner was up beat and a much-needed catharsis after a depressing election in which the GOP took over the legislature by historic margins.
Speaking of which, there will be local candidates at the dinner as well, such as those running for the state legislature. Some of these folks are lucky to be running against Tea Party lunatics, and so will likely be in the legislature next year. Most of the GOP wingnuts who won legislative seats in 2010 did so only by the slimmest of margins–a dozen votes in some cases–and so we should expect not to see them back in Helena because 2010 was an anomalously large GOP turnout year.
And as always, a justifiable pride will be circulating in the ballroom on Saturday, from the fact that Montana Democrats control all six state-wide political offices. That’s a whole Happy Meal, whereas the Republicans are down to their last greasy french fry, Dennis Rehberg.
Posted: August 31, 2011 at 7:29 am
Congressional candidate Steve Daines was given a clear field by the GOP powerbrokers. No challenge. As a result, he’s been able to amass $600,000 in contributions.
The Democratic primary, by contrast, is a four-person race: Franke Wilmer, Kim Gillan, Rob Stutz and Dave Strohmaier. They they must split money four ways, and thus none of these candidates have amassed more than 10 percent of what Daines has raked in. And all of them, in the final months before the primary, will be forced to deplete their funds in an effort to win the primary, while Daines will horde his chips in tall stacks and continue to take in more.
Partly this problem stems from the fact that there is no democrat in the race with any state-wide recognition, such as Steve Bullock who will likely enter the governor’s race some time in the next few months.
Also, there can be a downside to powerbrokers getting involved in primaries and hand-picking a horse. Rumors have long held that the bigwigs in DC tried forcing Jon Tester out of the senate race in early 2006. If that’s true, then such a heavy handed move by the DNC, had it succeeded, would have been an utter calamity because John Morrison, a candidate with a history of adultery, would have ended up as the nominee. So primaries serve an important Darwinian purpose and should be taken seriously.
Of course Daines, for all his money, has tremendous personal problems that will eventually come to light. When that happens, we will hopefully have a strong and well financed horse in the race against him.
Posted: July 23, 2011 at 5:19 pm
…is a fascinating and thorough analysis of fundraising in the current and past Montana congressional races, as well as a comparative look at the Democratic primary field and what it will take for them to win. Read James Conner’s piece now over at the Flathead Memo.