Someone please tell me what’s wrong with Montana? How could they have elected so many liberals over the years? Montanans are generally pretty much “leave me alone” in their political philosophy.
On paper, Denny Rehberg should be the favorite, but state and local races can be unpredictable. Most polls show Rehberg leading Jon Tester, but by margins within the polls’ margins of error.
MT is very tough territory for conservaties, very Democrat for U.S. Senate and governor’s races. Only two Republicans since World War II have served in the Senate from MT. Even AR can match that record.
Jon Tester walks & talks like a conservative...
...but when he’s not up for election he votes like Harry Reid.
The 17th Amendment was passed to ensure the election of Democrat senators from states like Montana. There are also many people who vote Democrat “because that’s how dad voted”. You also have to be a Democrat to get a government job in MT and the government is the biggest employer, followed closely by the all-so Democrat education complex. Lee Enterprises also controls the major newspapers in MT and they make every Republican candidate out to be satan. Montanans have ceded their land, their livelihoods and their children to the Democrat coastal elites.
MT isn’t that Democrat, actually. It’s just that in close races, the Democrats have tended to prevail. They’ve been ludicrously overrepresented with Democrat Senators for a century even as the GOP has frequently won the legislature and Governorship (which they’ve held for 42 of the last 70 years). We’ve also held the At-Large House seat uninterrupted for what will be 16 years. Jon Tester, of course, was a fluke win based on false charges made against former Sen. Conrad Burns, for which he was conveniently cleared of AFTER the election (similar trumped-up charges were made against Ted Stevens of Alaska to ensure he’d lose). Were Burns not pushing 80, I’d probably cheer him on to reclaim his seat.