Kerry very cleverly packaged himself as a veteran and hunter. That is why the 'swiftboat' campaign was so important.
MT will not go for Obama.
If MT went for Obama, it wouldn’t matter. Obama would have won by a landslide. The point is that some of these red states like MT, Colorado, VA, and AZ are trending Dem. I attribute it to changing demographics. By 2042 half of the country will be minorities [as classified by the USG].