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Montana - the decider?

Texan

Well-known member
Obama-McCain contest could come down to … Montana?

By Scott Shepard | Thursday, June 19, 2008, 03:37 PM


Barack Obama’s campaign has shown an unusual fascination with Montana, even though the state has only three electoral votes.

Obama has an up-and-running organization in the state already, even though it has voted Democratic in only one of the last 10 presidential campaigns. And last week, Obama tapped Jim Messina, the chief of staff of Sen. Max Baucus, Montana’s senior senator, to be the chief of staff for his presidential campaign.

“Well, there are some credible 269-269 scenarios,” said Obama communications chief Robert Gibbs, referring to a possible tie in the Electoral College. In such a case, even Montana, with just three electoral votes, could put Obama over the 270-vote threshold and make him the 44th president of the United States.

“Besides,” Gibbs added, “it’s really beautiful out there.”

But it could also be guns.

The National Rifle Association (NRA) has begun warning voters that during the Democratic presidential primaries, Obama tried to hide anti-gun positions “behind vague statements of support for ‘sportsmen’ or … claims of general support for the right to keep and bear arms.”

One way to counter such charges was for Obama to reach into the office of Baucus, perhaps the most pro-gun Democratic member of the Senate, and make Messina the chief of staff of his entire presidential campaign.

The trouble is, however, that before he worked for Baucus, Messina was chief of staff to Democratic Rep. Carolyn McCarthy of New York, the most anti-gun member of Congress. McCarthy was propelled into politics by the gun control issue in 1993 after a crazed gunman opened fire on a Long Island Rail Road commuter train, killing her husband and seriously injuring her son.

With Messina as his campaign chief of staff, Obama could also run into questions about his opposition to the Bush tax cuts of 2001, which, just this week, the presumptive Democratic nominee criticized as “rewarding wealth” at the expense of middle class taxpayers.

Baucus was the key Democratic defector to help pass the Bush tax cuts. And Messina, in a subsequent interview, was asked to name the most important bipartisan accomplishment of Baucus. Messina replied: “Senator Baucus was the chief reason bipartisan tax cut legislation was enacted in 2001.”



http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/washington/washington/
entries/2008/06/19/obamamccain_con.html
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Well Baucus can "loan out" about all his people- and give away most of this $millions in his warchest if need be since the disgruntled, disorganized Montana Repub Party has no challengers...Their 85 year old selected candidate is a "old nutcase" to put it nicely- and now one of the Repubs, kicked out by the majority of the party after being annointed by the elites that run the party (they closed their convention to the public the other day :roll: they don't want public participation :???: Someone needs to tell the Montana Republicans that the public is who votes :lol: :p ) is running as a write in- and another unknown is trying to get on the ballot as an Independent....

The only way Baucus would lose (and I doubt if he would then) is if he dies before the election.... :shock:

Interestingly when I was looking at the voting records- and rankings of the Senators by both the Conservative groups and Liberal groups- both Baucus and Obama were close together in the ratings- and actually have 30-40 Senators thought to be more Liberal .... :eek:
Tester, who has been more Blue Dog, was rated even more Liberal than Obama or Baucus- and I've agreed with most he did this last year and 1/2 :shock:
But then I could care less about some of those issues that are so important to Liberals and some Repubs-- but that I believe shouldn't even be an issue of the Feds--like birth control, abortion, right to die honorably, schools, etc. etc--so don't even think about them when I do my own ranking.....

The only school issue I think the Feds should be involved in is making sure its possible for everyone that wants to can have access to college and/or a trade school (without owing the rest of their life to the shylocks)- as I think this is a place the country has fallen way behind the world on....

Paul Supporters Fall Short in Montana

Saturday, June 21, 2008 2:30 AM


MISSOULA, Mont. -- Sen. John McCain may be the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, but supporters of Ron Paul in Montana refused to abandon their candidate.

The group led an impassioned fight Friday at the Montana GOP convention, shaking things up in a failed effort to secure the state's 22 national convention delegates for Paul _ who suspended his presidential bid earlier this month.

While the battle jazzed up a normally dull delegate selection process, Paul supporters could not muster enough votes to trump McCain's backers. In the end, McCain received all 22 delegates despite a close vote, party officials said.
--------------------------------

Paul was not a typical GOP convention headliner. He criticized nearly as many Bush administration ideas, such as wartime spending and No Child Left Behind, as he did Democratic ones.

But he received a warm reception from the crowd anyway with a message heavy on cutting government.

"We are talking about the fundamental beliefs of the Republican Party," said Paul, in what he characterized as likely the last speech of his suspended campaign. "These are issues that are important to me."

Paul's supporters said they would continue to fight for delegates at the national convention to honor the principles of the campaign, and as a way to continue pushing their ideals.

Paul finished second in Montana's Super Tuesday caucus _ behind Mitt Romney and ahead of McCain, who came in third.

http://www.newsmax.com/politics/montana_republicans/2008/06/21/106442.html
 

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