Montana Republicans can no longer hide the fact that they are stuck in a quagmire of their own creation.  Republicans rocketed into power in state legislatures across the country after voters reacted to the unpopular  actions of the U.S> Congress.  Now, voters have had a couple of months to see what Republican power looks like.

Spear-hunting, abortion, nullification and militia bills have taken their toll on the Montana legislature, with a new poll showing that 61 percent of voters don’t approve of what the lunatics in the state house are up to, while only 24 percent of voters approve of their behavior.  In the same poll, Schweitzer is strong at 60 percent, Tester is in solid shape in the 50s (given what he’s had to deal with back in DC), Rehberg is below 50 for the first time in a number of years, and Baucus is in the toilet in the high 30s.

Surprisingly, there is some modest public support for once-a-year legislative sessions as opposed to the current biennial format. This is a ray of light for all spearthrowers who are dreaming of the 2012 hunting season.

Not surprisingly, a proposal for all-mail-ballot elections got a strong majority, meaning that Denny Rehberg’s poorly concealed efforts to kill the vote-by-mail bill in recent days might have a negative repercussions for him.

It’s also bad news for Wendy Warburton, and the other Republicans who introduced a large number of bills designed to ban abortion in Montana.  Leading the crusade to legislate that religious ideology shall trump science, Warburton  said during floor debate that abortion is the

“biggest and most important issue of our time, perhaps of all time.”

Unfortunately, sixty percent of Montanans don’t agree with Warburton’s position on the issue.