Governor Schweitzer gets yet another mention
Brian Schweitzer [of course] receives praise for winning the Montana governorship three years ago in a Los Angeles Times article today.
The gist of the article is about who ofthe current Democratic presidnetial frontrunners will play best in the Mountain West states.
CAMPAIGN '08: MOUNTAIN WESTLocal Democrats in West fear impact of unpopular ticket leader
Noam N. Levey
Los Angeles Times
September 30, 2007
BOZEMAN, MONT. -- Election day was still more than a year off when Sen. Max Baucus recently stopped by the new Boys & Girls Club along a creek outside this fast-growing city in the shadow of southwestern Montana's jagged Bridger Mountains.
But the silver-haired Democrat looked every bit a candidate in a nail-biter as he finger-painted with children at the log-cabin clubhouse and then raced 100 miles down the Missouri River to the state capital to talk up what he was doing for the state in Washington. Baucus is the longest-serving senator in Montana history. As chairman of the finance committee, he writes the nation's tax laws. He is one of the most popular politicians in the state. And his party, which controls the governor's office, the Legislature and the state's two Senate seats, is on a roll.
Yet, as he prepares to run for a fifth term next year, Baucus is entering treacherous territory. Despite recent gains by Democrats in the Rocky Mountain West, party officials across the region are increasingly anxious that their congressional candidates may get dragged under by Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign.
The New York senator and Democratic front-runner was by a wide margin the most unpopular of 13 potential presidential candidates in Montana, according to a June survey by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research for the Billings Gazette; 61% said they would not consider voting for her, compared with 49% who would not vote for former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards and 45% who would not vote for Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.
The most unpopular Republican candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, was rejected by 51%.
Recent polls in Colorado, Nevada and Arizona have found similar distaste for Clinton.
"She's carrying huge negatives out here," said Floyd Ciruli, an independent Colorado pollster who said Democratic congressional candidates would have to highlight their differences with the national party to be successful next year. "It's that liberal East Coast image that is so hard to sell in the West."
One key advisor to a prominent Democratic congressional candidate, who asked not be to identified discussing tensions within the party, went even further. "It's a disaster for Western Democrats," he said. "It keeps me up at night"...
...But party leaders and strategists also attribute the recent gains to candidates who connect with Western voters and their values, in part by distinguishing themselves from the national Democratic Party.
Perhaps no one is more of a poster child for that success than Montana's colorful governor, Brian Schweitzer. Three years ago, Schweitzer became the darling of Democratic politicos when he swaggered into office with a dog and a pair of cowboy boots.
Schweitzer, a cattle rancher and the grandson of homesteaders, is no Democrat in name only. He is a proponent of energy conservation and environmental regulation. He favors abortion rights. And while the Bush administration was pushing to expand surveillance powers with the Patriot Act, Schweitzer pardoned 78 Montanans, most of them German immigrants, who had been convicted of sedition during World War I.
He also champions gun rights and coal -- a major Montana export -- positions that reflect clear differences from the Democratic Party's coastal wings.
"There are two kinds of people in Montana," Schweitzer joked in a recent telephone interview. "Those who are for gun control, and those who run for public office."
Go here for the remainder.
The gist of the article is about who ofthe current Democratic presidnetial frontrunners will play best in the Mountain West states.
CAMPAIGN '08: MOUNTAIN WESTLocal Democrats in West fear impact of unpopular ticket leader
Noam N. Levey
Los Angeles Times
September 30, 2007
BOZEMAN, MONT. -- Election day was still more than a year off when Sen. Max Baucus recently stopped by the new Boys & Girls Club along a creek outside this fast-growing city in the shadow of southwestern Montana's jagged Bridger Mountains.
But the silver-haired Democrat looked every bit a candidate in a nail-biter as he finger-painted with children at the log-cabin clubhouse and then raced 100 miles down the Missouri River to the state capital to talk up what he was doing for the state in Washington. Baucus is the longest-serving senator in Montana history. As chairman of the finance committee, he writes the nation's tax laws. He is one of the most popular politicians in the state. And his party, which controls the governor's office, the Legislature and the state's two Senate seats, is on a roll.
Yet, as he prepares to run for a fifth term next year, Baucus is entering treacherous territory. Despite recent gains by Democrats in the Rocky Mountain West, party officials across the region are increasingly anxious that their congressional candidates may get dragged under by Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign.
The New York senator and Democratic front-runner was by a wide margin the most unpopular of 13 potential presidential candidates in Montana, according to a June survey by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research for the Billings Gazette; 61% said they would not consider voting for her, compared with 49% who would not vote for former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards and 45% who would not vote for Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.
The most unpopular Republican candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, was rejected by 51%.
Recent polls in Colorado, Nevada and Arizona have found similar distaste for Clinton.
"She's carrying huge negatives out here," said Floyd Ciruli, an independent Colorado pollster who said Democratic congressional candidates would have to highlight their differences with the national party to be successful next year. "It's that liberal East Coast image that is so hard to sell in the West."
One key advisor to a prominent Democratic congressional candidate, who asked not be to identified discussing tensions within the party, went even further. "It's a disaster for Western Democrats," he said. "It keeps me up at night"...
...But party leaders and strategists also attribute the recent gains to candidates who connect with Western voters and their values, in part by distinguishing themselves from the national Democratic Party.
Perhaps no one is more of a poster child for that success than Montana's colorful governor, Brian Schweitzer. Three years ago, Schweitzer became the darling of Democratic politicos when he swaggered into office with a dog and a pair of cowboy boots.
Schweitzer, a cattle rancher and the grandson of homesteaders, is no Democrat in name only. He is a proponent of energy conservation and environmental regulation. He favors abortion rights. And while the Bush administration was pushing to expand surveillance powers with the Patriot Act, Schweitzer pardoned 78 Montanans, most of them German immigrants, who had been convicted of sedition during World War I.
He also champions gun rights and coal -- a major Montana export -- positions that reflect clear differences from the Democratic Party's coastal wings.
"There are two kinds of people in Montana," Schweitzer joked in a recent telephone interview. "Those who are for gun control, and those who run for public office."
Go here for the remainder.
posted by Kevin McCarthy at 8:13 PM
3 Comments:
If Schweitzer ever runs for President, he has my vote. I recently saw him speak in Kentucky about Montana and his platform and I was very very impressed by the issues he discussed: Indian education, clean fuel-wind and solar power, small businesses pooling resources to provide health insurance, lower taxes, increase in jobs, environmental policies, clean coal technology. Wow, I thought, a politician who isn't a politician. A man for Montana who does what is right. After his speech, he walked right toward me and shook my hand.
I disagree-The Governor is all hat-no cattle. The only wind energy project that are out there right now are ones approved when Goernor MArtz was in office. He appointed Steve Doherty to the state land board--don't expect to see coal developed with him on board. He's great at talk--but short on action. Under his administration taxes have gone up--and business bankruptcies have too.
And best of all--the Helena Associated Press office gives him a pass on everything.....
Now we don't live in Montana but it seems the majority of residents in the Big Sky State are still backing Brian Schweitzer. But this is apparently for some inexplicable reason(s) according to the post from Anonymous. ;-)
What you are saying is that Montanans are easily fooled which we just aren't buying.
Now we can't quantify this -- so take it for what it's worth -- but our sense is that any politician's ratings are more than likely not as high as a year ago and for multiple reasons.
Check out this link which contains information along the lines of what we just stated:
http://tinyurl.com/3wmvz2
The quagmire In Iraq, the billions that this costs us monthly, the meteoric rise of both fuel and food costs -- you name it -- people are disatisfied and fed up.
The vast majority of people in this country want a change in our national direction. Obviously considering the millions of people and therefore millions of opinions, there is disagreement in prioritizing the priorities and even with some of the priorities but heading in the directions we have been going for seven years is no longer the desired movement.
Having a like-minded resident in the White House akin to Brian Schweitzer's political beliefs will facilitate this wanting to reverse course -- moving it from spoken and written words to action.
Such will only produce even greater popularity for Schweitzer as he will finally have a national partner rather than an obstacle.
Live with it.
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