Posted on 11/08/2006 7:37:28 AM PST by pissant
HELENA, Mont. (AP) - Senator Conrad Burns and Democrat Jon Tester were locked in a tight contest early Wednesday as the Republican struggled to return to Washington for a fourth term.
Tester had a slight lead of less than 1,600 votes in one of two Senate races still undecided in Tuesday's midterm elections. The other was in Virginia. the Democrats must win both if they are to wrest control of the Senate from the Republicans.
With 99 per cent of precincts reported early Wednesday, Tester had 190,486 votes, or 48.9 per cent, and Burns had 188,900 votes, or 48.5 per cent.
A candidate in Montana can request a recount at his own expense if the margin is within half of a per cent, which would be roughly 2,000 votes. If the margin is less than one-quarter of a per cent, the state and counties pick up the tab.
Burns, 71, first elected in 1988 as a folksy, backslapping outsider, was under siege because of his ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and because of his own gaffes - including an incident in which he cursed at firefighters.
Tester, the state senate president and a farmer, hammered Burns for his ties to Abramoff and what Tester called the "culture of corruption" in Washington. Burns was a top recipient of campaign contributions from Abramoff, who pleaded guilty in January to corruption. He has since returned or donated about US$150,000, and has maintained he did nothing wrong and was never influenced by Abramoff.
Tester resisted help from the national party, saying he wanted to run his campaign his way, out of Montana. He brought in few national party figures, instead relying on rallies with popular Gov. Brian Schweitzer and Senator Max Baucus.
Burns, meanwhile, was joined on the trail over the past few weeks by Republican luminaries, including President George W. Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney.
Tester, 50, surprised many in the state when he beat a better-financed and better-known Democrat in the June primary.
This time around, it was Tester who portrayed himself as the Washington outsider - a western moderate Democrat who owns guns, opposes gay marriage and has a libertarian's suspicion of the anti-terrorism Patriot Act.
"It really is proof positive that Montanans are ready for a change," told CBS' "The Early Show" Wednesday while the race was still too narrow to call. "We need to take some Montana values back to Washington."
Tester stood out, with his scuffed cowboy boots and flat-top haircut. One of his hands lacks three fingers, lost long ago in an accident with a meat grinder.
Burns focused his campaign on his ability as a veteran senator to bring federal money to the state, and portrayed Tester as a liberal who wants to raise taxes and "cut and run" from Iraq.
Burns took heat after confronting members of a wildfire-fighting team at the Billings airport in late July and saying they had done a poor job, according to a state report and the U.S. Forest Service. The Hotshot crew had travelled from Virginia to help dig lines around a fire east of Billings.
Here's a guy that properly expresses just SOME of my sentiments. You're out of step with reality.
Like many Americans, Im really angry. It was bad enough to watch Republicans fall like dominoes this week. Hearing liberal Democrats claim that the election was all about the war when they didnt offer a single alternative plan was infuriating.
But receiving the knock-out punch of Donald Rumsfeld being fired the day after the Democratic Party windfall election is making a lot of us about as mad as weve been in a long, long time.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld listens to a question Friday, Sept. 29, 2006, in Portoroz, Slovenia. President Bush says Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld is stepping down and former CIA Director Robert Gates will take over at the Pentagon and in prosecuting the war in Iraq. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari) Im doing my best to try and understand what message my president is trying to send us. Last week, he told reporters that the Defense Secretary would be in place until the very final day of the presidents term. Turns out, that wasnt true at all we now know that President Bush and Secretary Rumsfeld made the decision a few weeks ago. Yesterday, the president admitted to lying to the reporters with a mischievous grin. While Im not going to shed any tears for some Associated Press reporter being given wrong information, I wonder why a simple no comment wouldnt have been a better answer last week. At least we would have been spared watching this honorable man try and explain why he didnt tell the truth.
And I suppose people can understand how reluctant the president was to appear to make Rumselds dismissal look like a political move. But isnt firing him the day after the mid-term election just as political? Lets face it; President Bush is giving Democrats just what they demanded: Don Rumsfelds head on a platter.
Its disgusting.
I guess I just dont understand politics. I try too hard to establish right from wrong. I want to hold true to my values and principles. I dont understand why President Bush or Karl Rove would give a rats rear end about what Democrats would think about the decision to go in another direction with the Secretary of Defense.
And heres the reason for my anger: If the decision to remove Rumsfeld came a few weeks ago, I wonder how many Republicans would have been able to hold on to their jobs if he had left then?
Every single poll suggested that the GOP would lose the House and maybe the Senate. They were right. As this campaign season was nearing the election, our president decided it was time for another Defense Secretary. Fine. So how about throwing a lifeline to George Allen or Rick Santorum? If this election was, indeed, about Americas dissatisfaction with the direction of the war, dont you think that a number of these razor-thin victories by Democrats might have gone the other way if Rumsfeld had stepped down a few weeks ago?
Of course they would have. It couldnt have hurt. Instead, were now left with a bunch of good Republicans like J.D. Hayworth being voted out of office and Rumsfeld being sent packing the day after the mid-term anyway.
I support and admire George W. Bush. I support this war and frankly, dont think the mid-term was about dissatisfaction with this effort. Conservatives feel abandoned over issues like illegal immigration and out-of-control spending.
And I feel abandoned by my party when I see a defense secretary thrown out to the curb the day after the Democrats thumping.
We all worked too hard during this campaign season to see this happen and not feel angry. The stakes are high, the downside too great.
Now well be treated to a couple of years of gloating Democrats who will raise our taxes, give amnesty to illegals, and, God forbid, wave the white flag of surrender in Iraq.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld listens to a question Friday, Sept. 29, 2006, in Portoroz, Slovenia. President Bush says Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld is stepping down and former CIA Director Robert Gates will take over at the Pentagon and in prosecuting the war in Iraq. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari) I know that many of my colleagues are putting up a brave front. Theyre spinning this by suggesting that this will all energize the base. Trust me; what theyre saying privately is not quite what theyre saying publicly.
And I, for one, wont play that game.
We blew it. And Im furious.
I know Im not alone.
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/column.aspx?UrlTitle=a_double_thumping&ns=MikeGallagher&dt=11/10/2006&page=1
No, Mike Gallagher, you're not alone. Anyone with ANY sense can see this.
If you can't see the obvious, there is NO POINT in continuing this exchange. Rejoice in the victory of the Demoncrats. Spin it any way you like - whatever makes you FEEEWWWLLLL good!
That is just downright rude and insulting. Nobody here is rejoicing in the victory of the Democrats. Nothing I have said supports that defamatory statement either.
I asked you to stop attacking your own team members.
You are acting like a drunken donkey.
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