He was great on "Diff'rent Strokes". A good role model to Todd and Gary. He also told it like it was to Maude. But couldn't he have done more for Dana Plato?
Senator Conrad Burns of Montana has not been polling very well of late, and appears to have been hurt seriously by the Jack Abramoff scandal (Burns was perhaps the biggest benefactor of campaign contributions from Abramoff-affiliated groups and Abramoff clients). Senator Burns's seat is up in 2006, and Democrats believe that they will be able to defeat him in November. While I still think that Senator Burns would get reelected, there is no reason why we should have to fight to retain a Senate seat in a state where President Bush got 59% in 2004. Thus, I would prefer that Senator Burns would forego reelection and that Congressman Denny Rehberg, a solid conservative who is very popular among Montana voters, ran for the Senate.
Having the relatively young Rehberg (I think he's 51) run for the Senate would not only ensure that we'll hold the Senate seat in 2006, it would also greatly improve our chances of holding the seat in 2012, the year in which Democrat Brian Schweitzer will be completing his second and final term as governor (assuming that he wins reelection in 2008, which is a contingency against which we should be prepared), and if the Republican incumbent Senator is a 77-year-old Conrad Burns it would give the Democrats a golden opportunity of capturing the seat. However, if Denny Rehberg is the incumbent Senator, I don't think Schweitzer would waste his time running for the Senate that year.
So Congressman Rehberg would be our best choice for the Senate both in the short- and long-term. I hope Senator Burns belatedly keeps the promise he made in 1988 to go home after one term.
I just checked the statistics and found that MT has had a total of eight Republican senators in its history. But there have been only TWO Republican senators from the state since 1913, Zales Ecton and Conrad Burns.
He was great on "Diff'rent Strokes". A good role model to Todd and Gary. He also told it like it was to Maude. But couldn't he have done more for Dana Plato?