With the Montana GOP convention wrapped up and the Montana Democrats meeting in August, people like me wonder what these political parties are looking for in a candidate.

With so many seats up for grabs in the Montana legislature, it’s a sure bet that some of the candidates are not exactly who the party wanted, but they take them because they are the only ones that will do it. They fill a slot.

Who would want to run for a seat anyway? The higher the office, and lets define higher office as running for U.S Senate or U.S. House or Governor, offer the candidate more chances of being scrutinized and it can really be nasty.

If it gets really nasty, you may even get a few mailers sent from the opposition saying you killed something or your words were nasty to XXXX.

Even running for the state legislative offices is getting nasty and it costs some big bucks to run.

Fact is, most candidates and elected officials running for higher office must all have a certain amount of cockiness. Their egos must be bigger than a June nighttime sky in Montana.

Today, a sad thing is that most of the elected officials and candidates running for higher offices must be rich. Most are millionaires. I believe that Montana’s three federally elected officials have annual reports that all have some worth around a million or more.

It would be nice to see someone with a net worth of less that $200,000 make a run for higher office. How about someone who has $40,000 in credit card debt and drives a 15 year-old car? How about someone who raises a family of four on $35,000?

Montana needs a few blue collar folks representing them, not impersonating them as a few candidates have successfully done. Montana needs someone who actually eats steak as a delicacy, like for his/her birthday or anniversary. Don’t even mention lobster or crab as they are only for the most prestigious events, like a 25 year anniversary. We need someone who sees life like that.

Montanans need a Hamburger Helper or Tuna Helper or Dollar Store candidate!

A campaign theme would be, “If you are a millionaire, vote for him because he is. If you are not a millionaire, then we have a lot in common. I’d appreciate your vote.”

Will we ever change this theme of those who have the most personal wealth wins? I doubt it. We can hope the Republican and Democratic parties look hard for these types of candidates or some of us may look elsewhere.