Posted on 02/03/2011 4:09:59 PM PST by BigSkyFreeper
HELENA — Bozeman business executive and Republican Steve Daines, seeking to avoid a divisive U.S. Senate primary against U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg next year, left that race Thursday and said he'll run instead for the House being vacated by Rehberg in 2012.
Daines' decision clears the way for an uncontested primary for Rehberg, a six-term congressman, in the 2012 Senate race for the seat held by U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont.
Republican sources have said Rehberg plans to announce Saturday night his bid against Tester, who has said already that he's running for a second term.
"By me running for the House seat, it avoids a divisive (Senate) primary which could harm our chances," Daines said in a telephone interview. "It would have put Montana's lone congressional seat at risk. It would not have been in the best interest of Montana."
Daines, 48, becomes the second person to announce a bid for Rehberg's soon-to-be open House seat. On Tuesday, state Rep. Franke Wilmer, D-Bozeman, announced that she'll run for Rehberg's seat.
Daines, a vice president of RightNow Technologies, a high-tech firm that employs more than 1,000 people, ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor in 2008, on the Republican ticket headed by Roy Brown. Brown and Daines lost to Gov. Brian Schweitzer and Lt. Gov. John Bohlinger by a 2-to-1 margin.
Daines said he isn't disappointed to run instead for the House.
"These seats are not owned by politicians," he said. "They really are seats that belong to the people. I think an entitlement type of thinking of politicians is part of our problem."
Reiterating what he said in his candidacy announcement last fall, Daines said his goal was to help "common-sense conservatives capture all three (of Montana's) federal seats by 2014."
He was referring to the two Senate seats and Montana's lone congressional seat.
Daines said Rehberg told him privately within the last month that he was considering running for the U.S. Senate.
"We had to make a decision," Daines said. "Is it the right thing to have a divisive primary or get behind Denny and what he wants to do in the U.S. Senate?"
Daines said he and Rehberg are on the same page philosophically on the need to reduce government spending and "to eliminate Obamacare."
As a candidate for federal office, Daines will be able to transfer his Senate campaign's $206,000 cash balance into his new House campaign. Daines had raised about $225,000 in six weeks for his Senate campaign. The Bozeman Republican noted he raised nearly $100,000 more in six weeks than Tester garnered in three months.
Daines said he and his wife, Cindy, already have traveled 6,000 miles campaigning.
"There's really no change there: keep putting the miles on the pickup, keep talking about more jobs and less government," he said.
"We've just seen a lot of support from everything from the Tea Party groups to the Republican Party to independents and moderates," he said. "I think they are attracted to someone who is not a career politician and worked in the private sector for the past 20 years. Job creation is not a theory for me. It's been a reality for me."
As a Senate candidate, Daines received endorsements from a couple of groups, Gun Owners of America and Concerned Women Political Action Committee.
The state Democratic Party said Daines is now having to eat crow.
"This charade is a lesson in how not to run a congressional campaign, and it has to be tough for Steve Daines," said Ted Dick, the Democratic Party's executive director. "Steve Daines wants a new job so badly he apparently doesn't care which job it is, and Montanans ought to remember that as he tries to tell them why he deserves the job."
For Immediate Release
February 3, 2011
Contact: Jason Thielman
406-431-8236
Jason@Daines.com
DAINES PLEDGES UNITY;
ANNOUNCES RUN FOR U.S. HOUSE
BOZEMAN, Mont.__ Steve Daines announced today his campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives, instead of the U.S. Senate, and called for a united Republican Party and strong conservative voice in Congress.
The switch allows for Congressman Denny Rehberg to enter the U.S. Senate race and avoid a divisive primary with Daines, who shares Rehberg’s commitment to repeal Obamacare, and reduce government spending. “Denny’s done a great job representing the people of Montana the past 10 years in Congress”, said Daines. Daines said he believes Rehberg is ready, able and willing to provide a successful challenge to Jon Tester, especially if Rehberg knows he can run for the U.S. Senate with the confidence that a committed conservative leader like Daines is ready to stand for Montana’s lone Congressional seat.
When Daines announced his candidacy in November, he declared that he was committed to leading common sense conservative Montanans to recapture all three federal seats by 2014, and that remains his goal. Daines said this provides the best opportunity to reclaim two of Montana’s three federal seats by 2012.
"I can best serve Montana by uniting the Republican Party and reaching out to concerned Montanans of all affiliations who believe we need less government and more jobs," said Daines. "These seats do not belong to politicians. They belong to the people of Montana who seek leaders who represent their values in Washington."
Daines is a 5thgeneration Montanan who has spent the past 26 years of his life working in the private sector as a successful businessman, most recently as Vice President of RightNow Technologies, a company founded and headquartered in Bozeman. RightNow Technologies has over 1000 employees and is Bozeman’slargest commercial employer.
“I am humbled and overwhelmed by the support my campaign has received,” Daines said. “The mission has not changed. I am running to fight the politicians of both sides who believe bigger government and more spending will solve our problems and create jobs. Cindy and I are parents of four children, and believe we must stand up to the unprecedented debt Washington has created. We must stop this generational theft for the sake of our kids and grandkids.”
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Daines makes his switch to the Rehberg open House seat contest official in MT.
No surprise. Does he have any kind of name I.D.?
Tester has a 2:1 edge over Daines. With Rehberg and Daines switching races, it puts Tester on defense because Rehberg is popular in Montana. Daines isn’t nearly as identifiable as Rehberg as this is his first foray into politics, but he got an early start and has close to a million in the bank.
This isn’t Daines’ first race. He was the nominee for Lt Governor in 2008 on the ticket with Roy Brown.
It amazes me that Tester got elected at all. A former High School Music teacher and organic rancher? He’s certainly been a ghost as in the upper house, that’s for sure!
Thanks BigSkyFreeper.
He got elected because he ran as a Conservative. All Democrats did in 2006.
OK, right, I stand corrected. Thanks.
D-MT is an emblem for most of the 20th century.
Not only did he “run as a Conservative” (aka lie like a **** rug), but the dims hijacked the open primary by putting an old screwball in as his opposition and then had Silver Bow County and the Reservations “adjust” the final vote count the way they wanted it to finish.
Schweitzer (the dim Governor) was caught later bragging about his neat ol’ time job of vote fraud, but all the lawyers and media in the state gave him a pass ‘cause he was “just joking”.
Oh, yeah, JohnBoy’s really up there on my ****list.
Well, Tester is on record for supporting and voting for Obamacare both times. He knows where I stand with him as I’ve e-mailed him a number of times over the course of the last few years. He used to respond in a timely manner, now he’s gone into hiding.
I firmly believe that Tester puts in a call to Max or one of Reid’s staff every morning to get his schedule for the john that day.
Tester is in trouble with Rehberg deciding to get in the race, no doubt about it. They are on equal footing financially and Rehberg has run and won 6 statewide races in Montana, compared to Tester’s lone victory in 2006. Tester’s 3,500 vote victory against scandal-plagued Conrad Burns is insignificant when you consider that Rehberg received nearly 40,000 more total votes while being re-elected to the House on the same ballot in 2006. I realize that Montana has elected plenty of Democrats statewide, with Baucus and Schweitzer winning races recently. Rehberg should be able to take this seat back and his chances are only better without having to use resources on a primary challenge.
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