16 August 2016

Denise Juneau has a platform one plank wide

Democratic U.S. House candidate Denise Juneau’s campaign website does not have an issues page per se — she’s like Steve Bullock in that regard — but she does have what amounts to a buried one-plank-wide platform on public lands. Here’s how to find it:

1. Go to www.denisejuneau.com.


2. Open the News page. Scroll down to Juneau Unveils Public Lands Priorities Focused On Access, Collaboration, Cutting Red Tape, and click on that headline.


3. On the “Juneau Unveils Public Lands Priorities Focused On Access, Collaboration, Cutting Red Tape,” page, scroll down to “Read more about Denise Juneau’s public lands priorities, here.” Click on “here.”


4. That takes you — finally — to her poll and (probably) focus group tested agenda for public lands.

When an issues plank is buried that deeply in a candidate’s website, it’s because the website developer was incompetent or because the campaign prefers that as few people as possible read the details. I suspect the latter reason accounts for Juneau’s burial.

I’ve like Denise Juneau, but I don’t like her campaign. She seems to be counting on Democrats’ voting for her simply because she’s a Democrat with an interesting personal story and a single issue. In the Year of Identity Politics, the leaders of the Democratic Party think that’s enough.

I think that attitude insults the intelligence of the voters. I’m growing increasingly sympathetic to the argument that given Ryan Zinke is a virtual lock for re-election, even in the age of Trump, not voting for Juneau, and thus not endorsing her campaign, has moral merit.