In Montana Senate Race, Focus Is on Local Issues Rather Than Washington

[DeepModem Mom]

NYT: In Montana Senate Race, Focus Is on Local Issues Rather Than Washington
By KIRK JOHNSON
Published: August 7, 2006


(Brian McDermott for The New York Times)
Jon Tester at a festival in Missoula in July. Mr. Tester, a Democratic state senator in his first run at statewide office, is trying to unseat Senator Conrad Burns, a Republican.

....“Nobody has the momentum right now that the other side has to take a risk to counter, so they’re both cautious,” said Christopher P. Muste, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Montana.

Congressional Quarterly, which had listed the race as leaning Republican, recently changed its assessment to “no clear favorite,” partly because of a gaffe by Mr. Burns about, of all things, firefighters.

Mr. Burns, who is 71 and seeking his fourth term, lambasted a group of firefighters after running into them at a Montana airport in late July, telling them in front of witnesses that they had done a lousy job on a wildfire.

Firefighters are pop heroes in this state of big timber, and even though Mr. Burns quickly issued a written apology — saying he was frustrated by a bad fire season in the state’s forests — the damage was apparently done. Mr. Tester immediately issued a statement supporting firefighters.

Mr. Tester, a third-generation farmer, very much looks the part of old Montana agriculture, right down to his flattop haircut that looks like nothing so much as a field of hard northern wheat. And he proudly declares his love for the land at every opportunity. Energy independence, he says in most of his speeches, must be a priority. And that independence, he adds, will depend on renewable sources like wind power and on farmers in places like Montana, where he believes wind farms and ethanol-production agriculture could boom....

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/07/washington/07montana.html

[havocmom]

1. Good old fashioned common sense populism

The old DEM base might be just the thing for America now. Offer solutions and address issues. Look to how we can be more independent instead of slaves to Big Oil. What a nice change from the GOP offering hot button straw men diversions while they steal the prosperity of the nation for their corporate bosses.

http://www.testerforsenate.com/ <--------Check it out. It's time for a Senate that addresses problems, finds solutions and works FOR AMERICA.

[DeepModem Mom]

2. He sounds like a great guy -- the NYT photo is priceless! nt

[havocmom]

3. Haven't seen a photo of him yet

were he didn't look like what he is: A Montana farmer who loves his family, home, America and who wants to make things work better.