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Tuesday, January 31, 2006

MT-Sen: Morrison Swamps Tester, Burns Way Ahead of Both

Posted by DavidNYC

Bad news, Tester fans:

Tester 4Q Fundraising: $89K
Morrison 4Q Fundraising: $407K
Burns 4Q Fundraising: $814K

Tester Cash-on-Hand: $167K
Morrison Cash-on-Hand: $753K
Burns Cash-on-Hand: $3.4M

Morrison raised almost 5x as much as Tester, and Burns almost 10x as much. Tester really has got to turn things around, and soon. You can help him by going here.

P.S. Markos rounds up fundraising numbers from a whole bunch of top-tier Senate races. The numbers don't look great for us.

Posted at 03:19 PM in 2006 Elections - Senate, Montana | Technorati

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Comments

"You can help him by going here" .

Or the blogosphere could switch to Morrison's bandwagon. What's wrong with him, exactly? I'm not from the area, and would like to understand better why there's so much more enthusiasm for Tester among online pundits. Everyplace I've looked, so far, I see some variation of 'they're both good candidates, but support Tester". Is there a reason?

Not trying to start a quarrel - just trying to catch up with the conversation.

Posted by: Christopher Walker at January 31, 2006 04:29 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Christopher, I'm also an outsider to the race, but from what I've read, Tester is a Prairie Populist much like popular MT Governor Brian Schweitzer, while Morrison is a careful compromising lawyer of the Max Baucus variety. Since Tester already has a track record of winning over Republican voters with a progressive message, he's much more appealing to the True Blues like most of us here. I'm inclined to agree, but would nonetheless be content with a Morrison primary victory as I think he could beat the embattled Burns just as easily.

Posted by: Mark at January 31, 2006 04:36 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Wow, these numbers are depressing for Tester fans like myself. He'll have to fight pretty damn hard not to be marginalized after this. This is a HUGE decrease in donations since the last cycle.

Not good news at all.

Posted by: HellofaSandwich at January 31, 2006 04:55 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

I'd say Mark sums it up pretty well. If Morrison wins, I will certainly support him against Burns (though perhaps not as enthusiastically as I would Tester).

Posted by: DavidNYC at January 31, 2006 05:26 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

I just sent in another donation to Tester via e-mail. We can't give up on this guy so easily! Yeah the numbers are depressing, but we have got to help him out!

Posted by: DFLer22 at January 31, 2006 07:39 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Thanks, DFLer. I'm definitely not giving up on Tester, no way. But we do need to be realistic: There's only one more fundraising deadline (3/31) before the MT primary (which is on 6/6). If Tester doesn't haul in a whole lot more cash in 1Q, like it or not, people are going to start writing him off.

And, once Morrison goes on the air, Tester's going to have a hard time if he can't go up as well.

Posted by: DavidNYC at January 31, 2006 11:12 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

On the bright side, $167k buys a lot of web ads. Can he bring Pearl Jam back?

But I think I'm with Christopher on this - I don't understand the blind devotion to Tester in this race. I understand the attraction, sure, but here's the thing: we need to win. Burns is an abomination, and taking back the Senate MUST start in Montana. From what I've seen and read, Morrison is the guy.

Montana friends tell me Tester's district is huge but underpopulated. Morrison's won 2 statewide races in years Bush was on the ballot, outperforming Gore/Kerry each time. And can someone explain to me why Tester's more like Schweitzer than Morrison? To my thinking, you need some Montana centrism to win statewide there, and Schweitzer demonstrated that in spades (GOP LGer, ads with guns, NRA even I think). Above all, Scweitzer practical, and he knows what it takes to win. THAT's the quality I'm interested in, and frankly I see it in Morrison more than Tester.

But feel free to convince me otherwise.

Posted by: ryno at February 1, 2006 02:20 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

You certainly aren't going to win people over when you blithely attack their alleged "blind devotion" to a candidate. I and many others have made an informed choice, which simply happens to be different from yours.

If you want to talk seriously about MT-Sen to me, then respect the choices I've made and don't cast aspersions on my decision-making process. I'm about the most reasonable person around - I'm willing to listen to almost anyone. But not when my motives are questioned without any basis.

Posted by: DavidNYC at February 1, 2006 02:31 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Sorry, David, didn't mean for that to get personal. Poor choice of words on "blind," I was in no way questioning your motives.

I guess all I'm really trying to say is that no one's given me a reason to dismiss Morrison as not the right guy. Of course there are plenty of good reasons to back Tester, and I don't mean to suggest that anyone who does has no idea what/why they're doing it. He's a really attractive candidate on a lot of levels.

End of the day, I don't sense Morrison is the wrong guy for what I believe, but I do sense the community has written him off. I was just looking for more exposition on why that was.

Posted by: ryno at February 1, 2006 04:36 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

I actually sorta agree with you, ryno. I like Tester a lot--I think he's great on the issues and has some pretty good personal appeal. A lot of people emphasize style in this race--gritty Tester vs. slick Morrison, but not so much substance. I hear that Morrison is "totally DLC" because he was a "DLC star of the week" on their webpage, or something like that, but that doesn't necessarily mean he'd be a total sellout. I just don't know enough about him to really say for sure. He doesn't have a lot of boosters in the 'roots, y'know?

Now, that said, there was a story a while back that said that Baucus had a fundraiser organized either by Abramoff or an Abramoff ally (sorry, I forget which...) and, when asked to comment, Morrison smiled and said that it "was great! Democrats always need Republican help to win in Montana" while completely avoiding the corruption issue. I was not impressed at all by that.

I'd still support the guy, even if he doesn't have much of a spine. Burns is horrible.

Posted by: HellofaSandwich at February 1, 2006 05:28 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Ryno: Sorry for getting so worked up! Trolls on both sides have sprung up from time to time, so I've gotten a bit sensitive.

To the issue at hand, I have nothing in particular against Morrison. I just happen to like Tester a lot. As I've said, if Morrison wins, I'll certainly support him - I'm a Yellow Dog Democrat, after all.

Posted by: DavidNYC at February 1, 2006 06:07 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Troll, people with different opinions. The two seem to be interchangable on many blogs. I am glad to see that some people are starting to the see the light. This is no surprise to those of that live in Montana and know the political climate here. Morrison has been the dems best chance to unseat Burns since day one. I just wish the Tester camp would see that and step aside. How about Lt Gov in 2008?!

Posted by: Andy_Duphrane at February 1, 2006 07:16 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment