U.S. Senate Races

The Montana Legacy Fund has a new web ad up on its website taking Senator Burns to task for his recent vote to slash Medicare and Medicaid funding.

Click here to watch the ad. 

Here's the Great Falls Tribune coverage of the new ad.

The Abramoff scandal appears to be sticking to Senator Conrad Burns.  Check out the story from today's LA Times.

A huge outfitting store on the edge of this mountain-ringed town should be a conservative bastion: The ranchers and farmers who come to shop tend to be reliable Republicans.

But here at Murdoch's Ranch and Home Supply — amid the calf pens, muck buckets and bags of horse feed — there are signs of trouble for the GOP. And that could be bad news for the party from coast to coast.

Jack Bolender, a retiree who voted for three-term Sen. Conrad Burns because the Republican delivered mounds of federal aid to Montana, said he was deserting the incumbent in the state's November election. Allegations that Burns was cozy with Jack Abramoff, the lobbyist central to a wide-ranging corruption scandal in Washington, have Bolender steamed.

"I appreciate what [Burns] brought to the state, but at what cost?" Bolender said one cold afternoon outside Murdoch's. "We seem to be selling out to the special interests."

Voters such as Bolender are at the center of a political storm that threatens to roil this year's midterm elections.

Interestingly, after years of cultivating an image of being crazy like a fox, Burns now wants Montanans to believe that he is the most naive fellow in Congress and had no idea what that Abramoff fellow was up to.  We'll see if he pulls it off.

From the Great Falls Tribune:

Meanwhile, Burns' campaign has hired an out-of-state spokesman with a reputation as a political street fighter.

Jason Klindt comes to Montana from Burns' home state of Missouri, where he worked for Republican Congressman Sam Graves.

"I'm very excited to be here," said Klindt, who is the second out-of-state operative hired recently by the Burns campaign. "I think we're going to try to counter a very slick and aggressive media campaign by the Democrats that's full of smears and lies."

But two Democrats who ran unsuccessfully against Graves in Missouri said the word "aggressive" should be applied to Klindt.

"God help you guys," said Cathy Rinehart, who ran against Graves in 2002 and accused Klindt of assault.

Both Rinehart and Charlie Broomfield, who ran against Graves in 2004, said Klindt startled them at campaign appearances by leaping at them and taking photographs and then melting back into the crowd.

"He came up to me in the middle of the night — it was cold, it was dark, it was icy — and he flashed a camera within a foot of my face," Broomfield said. "...I talked to the prosecutors, and I could have brought charges. And today, I wish I had."

Both Broomfield and Rinehart said they called police about Klindt, and Rinehart actually filed a complaint, but nothing came of it, she said.

For months, Insurance Executive Mike McGavick has been a pseudo-candidate for U.S. Senate. He has raised money for a campaign while avoiding discussing any real issues.

Now we know why.

In a recent stop in Yakima, McGavick laid out his plan to "save Social Security."

Here it is:

* Social Security: He didn't offer specific solutions, but said he has faith in the American people, and would appeal to those who receive, but don't really need Social Security benefits, "to turn those checks back in as part of a volunteer program. I think we'd be amazed at the response."