Here’s how a political party can undercut its candidates for an important office: don’t let them speak at an important party dinner, in this case the Democrat’s Mansfield-Metcalf dinner in Helena on 10 March ($50 for a ticket).
The keynote speaker is Democratic pollster Paul Begala. Senators Max Baucus and Jon Tester will speak, and, party sources inform me, so will Attorney General Steve Bullock.
But the dinner’s organizers have Duck-taped shut the mouths of Bullock’s primary opponent, Larry Jent, and Diane Smith, Rob Stutz, Franke Wilmer, Kim Gillan, Dave Strohmaier, Melinda Gopher, and Jason Ward, the announced and/or filed candidates for the Democratic nomination for Montana’s seat in the U.S. House. They can distribute literature and shake hands, but they can’t even each have three minutes to introduce themselves.
This is crazy. The House seat is important. And excluding Jent certainly appears to be a violation of the spirit of the requirement of party neutrality in primary elections.
Here’s what I propose:
Let Tester speak. He’s running for re-election. But Baucus is not. Instead of speaking, Baucus should introduce the candidates for the U.S. House. That would give him exposure while underscoring the importance of Montana’s sending a Democrat to the U.S. House.
Will the party come to its senses and do that? Probably not. No Democrat has won Montana’s House seat since Pat Williams retired. Only one Democrat, Nancy Keenan, who narrowly lost to Denny Rehberg in 2000, has come close. The rest of the post-Williams Democratic candidates for the House have been weak and/or underfunded, and have lost by humiliating margins. The results? First, Rick Hill. Then, Denny Rehberg. And now, a six-term Congressman, Rehberg, challenging Tester. Methinks Rehberg would be a much less imposing challenger without his Congressional pedigree.