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Wednesday, October 05, 2005
MT-Sen: Reid Billboard in Helena
Posted by Bob BrighamThe Montana Senate racing is receiving a great deal of attention from Democratic Party leaders. Former Montana Democratic Party Chair Bob Ream endorsed Jon Tester, saying, "he is the only Democrat who can beat Conrad Burns."
As the Swing State Project reported last week, Senator Harry Reid's new PAC is also getting involved in Montana.
HELENA - New billboards went up in Helena, Phoenix and Albuquerque, N.M., touting a new Web site by U.S. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid that he said will provide Americans with tools to fight for Democratic control of the Senate next year.The Nevada senator's campaign account paid for the three billboards to promote his Web site, www.giveemhellharry.com. The Helena billboard is on the corner of Montana Avenue and Poplar Street.
In a telephone conference, Reid called on Americans to join him to tell the nation's largest oil companies that gas prices are outrageous. Oil executives refused to testify before the Democratic Policy Committee last week on rising oil prices, he said.
The Democratic Western Strategy is coming together...
"I want to do whatever I can to reach out to people in rural America to let them know Democrats care about them," Reid said.The national Democratic Party has believed if the party can win the votes in the big cities around the country, it will win the presidency and control of Congress. Although that theory worked well for years, it no longer does, he said.
"We should own rural America," Reid said. "We're the ones who have saved the family farms. Republicans are doing everything they can to help the bankers."
Democrats pushed for the Medicare changes that saved rural hospitals and saved Social Security from "the Bush onslaught," the Senate Democratic leaders said.
Posted at 02:29 PM in 2006 Elections - Senate, Montana | Technorati
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Comments
Hopefully this comment will not get censored like my last one. Apparently if someone has a contradictory opinion on a race, those comments are not welcome on this site. In case you think I have a some kind of Morrison connection, let me make this clear. I do not work for or work with the Morrison campaign. I don't even work in politics anymore, I am a university administrator. I am following this campaign closely and do disagree with the blogs endorsement of Tester.
First I would like to point out that Bob Ream is not the Chairman of the Montana Democratic Party, Dennis Mcdonald is. Bob Ream resigned as chairman recently. Despite what the papers said, there was a lot of pressure to get a new Chairman. Bob Ream represented the old democratic strategy. He lacked innovation and wasn't adapting to the new political climate in Montana. He represented the political ideology that allowed for two decades of republican control in Montana, the ideology that dominated this state before Schweitzer. The ironic part is that Bob Ream is the antithesis of everything the blogosphere believes that Tester represents. Tester is not the populist innovator that he has been made out to be. The Blogs were quick to jump on the Tester bandwagon, without a thorough examination of the candidates in this race. Those of us that live in Montana, care more about defeating Conrad Burns, than we do about idealogical disagreements with the DLC. That is why the people of Montana are supporting John Morrison. The endorsement of Ream illustrates that Tester is not a champion of the people. He is a candidate that would follow the traditional model, but his inability to be an effective fundraiser has forced him to use unconventional means to raise money.
By the way, I never saw a link to any of the articles that pointed out despite all the online attention that the Pearl Jam concert received, Tester campaign only received a net profit $85K. If Testers celebrity friends can't fill his war chest, he is in real trouble.
Posted by: Andy_Duphrane ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.swingstateproject.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at October 5, 2005 04:42 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
Having worked for Bob Ream, I just want to say that you're a complete fool. With Tester's leadership in the Senate and Ream's leadership of the Party, Democrats swept. But you have to go negative on Ream because he (rightly) points out that Morrison doesn't stand a chance against Burns. No wonder nobody wants to be associated with the wankers in the Morrison camp.
Morrison represents everything that is wrong with the Democratic Party and is going to get spanked.
I'm proud to be one of many bloggers supporting Tester.
Posted by: Bob Brigham at October 5, 2005 07:59 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
Contributing the Montana Miracle to Bob Ream and Tester is beyond me. Tester and Ream had leadership positions for a long time in the state before the Democrats won anything. This is just another example of you distorting facts in an attempt to prove your point. Everyone that followed the 2002 election, or studied it afterward, knows there were two reason the democrats swept. 1. The democrats controlled the redistricting process. 2. Brian Schweitzers coat tails. That’s it, without those two factors, the democrats would still be in the minority.
Bob, when did you develop this ability to predict winners of elections? From what I can tell you have a lengthy history of supporting loosing candidates. Your elections predictions are worth about as much as the "facts" you spin to prove your point.
As for Bob Ream, I like the guy. A kind man with a big heart. I have no idea what the Morrison camp feels about him. It seems kind of strange to condemn the Morrison campaign because of a readers opinions. Then again, you have condemned the campaign for less in the past. Just like Bob Reams vision of the democratic party in Montana, his prediction that Morrison can't win this election is skewed and distorted.
Lets look at what an independent observer has to say about the race. For those of you that also subscribe, you can find this at: http://www.nationaljournal.com
"6. MONTANA
Conrad Burns (R)
Last ranking: 6
At some point, we could envision moving this up some but only if John Morrison and not Jon Tester gets out of the primary. As much as we know the liberal blogosphere loves Tester, the reality is that he'll get killed in a general by Burns and the NRSC, which will just paint him as out of the mainstream.
The Pearl Jam fundraising concert, while cute for a good press hit, will not excite the right-leaning Bush voters that any Democrat has to woo in order to win. We can only imagine the direct-mail pieces the GOP could come up with to bury Tester in a general. Morrison is the Democrats' best bet to keep this race competitive. "
That about sums it up.
Posted by: Andy_Duphrane at October 5, 2005 11:48 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment