Daily Archives: March 10, 2008

Ready, Set, GO!

It happened today. Did you see it, yet? We’ve all been waiting days for the big event.

By now, you’re probably asking, “What did I miss? What is this important thing that happened today?”

The big event is that Max Baucus kicked off his campaign advertising blitz on TV this morning!

So, if you are watching your local channels during the news, you’ll probably be seeing one. If you have cable, you might see one, too.

The funny thing is that the Montana media sucked up this announcement like it was an ice cream cone on a hot August day. Baucus has already run a few campaign commercials before today. Remember “Fighting for Children’s Health Care” that aired in February 2008? Remember “Abigail” in October 2007? Remember “Rocky Mountain Front” that aired in December 2006 or January 2007? I guess the Montana media didn’t.

Today his ad was used to tell Montanans that he has not lost touch. He told viewers that he won millions for new highways (what game was he playing that he won?). The ad states that Max created 18,000 jobs (I’d like to see the list). Of course, he says there’s still more to do. Oh yes, the word “powerful” was used in the ad.

The ads were done by an out of state company, which should tell Montanans a lot.

Watch for the ad to run on TV during your local news, and then the reporters will do a story about the ad during their newscasts – a double win for the Baucus camp.

Kicking off an ad blitz this early shows Baucus is a little worried. People across the country are demanding change, and he knows it’s tough to change when you’ve been in office for 30 years. So, he’s spending the money now to cement his position as Montana’s Max.

So according to the media, Campaign 2008 has officially been launched over the airwaves in Montana. Luckily for us, nobody else has any money to run a TV ad, and most candidates probably won’t until the final month before the primary and the general elections. Congressman Rehberg has the money, but lacks a formidable opponent to worry about running TV ads at this time.

Campaign 2008 – Ready, Set, Go!

Rebates and Publicity

On Friday, I wrote about U.S. Senator Max Baucus and his mass mailing of a “postcard” telling us about “his” help in authoring the economic stimulus package passed by Congress. He also alerted us about where to go regarding the specifics of the rebate (Hint: IRS).

Of course, the actual work that Baucus did on the economic stimulus package can be disputed.

I wrote that it was perfectly legal for Baucus and other members of Congress to send these updates telling us what they were doing for us in Congress, but that maybe, just maybe, there was a wee bit of campaigning involved in this particular mailing, since we’ve not seen too many mailings from Baucus over the last five years.

No matter, it was a waste of money, and it makes one wonder just how many other senators and representatives are doing the same thing. I also wonder if those senators and representatives up for re-election this year, like Baucus, will send another postcard after the checks are delivered saying, “I want to let you know that your check should have arrived by now. I was proud to help…”

On Friday, according to this Associated Press story, it seems the Internal Revenue Service has decided to send out their own letter to let us know that the checks will be coming.

By the way, the cost to send these letters by the IRS is about $42 million.

Of course, Democrats thought this was a foolish waste of money and blamed President Bush for allowing it to happen.

In the story, U.S. Senator Charles Schumer, a Democrat from New York, was quoted as saying, “There are countless better uses for $42 million than a self-congratulatory mailer that gives the president a pat on the back for an idea that wasn’t even his.”

Schumer is correct about better uses for taxpayer money. The same could be said about Max Baucus and other politicians who send a “self-congratulatory mailer” giving themselves a “pat on the back” for an “idea that wasn’t even his.”