Billings resident Kirk Bushman announced yesterday that he is running for U.S. Senate. That means there are two Republican candidates (Michael Lange and Kirk Bushman), so there will be a primary to see who will take on Max Baucus. There may be more candidates especially from a third party.

January 22, 2008, is the first day to file for office and March 20, 2008, is the last day to file for office here in Montana.

Baucus has not announced he is running again, but with his war chest, I would say there’s a 99.9% chance he will. Although there has been some talk from disgruntled Democrats, nobody has announced they would run against Max Baucus in the primary. More talk than action, so far. There has probably been a lot of talk (and deals made) from Baucus insiders with some disgruntled Democrats.

Ironically, Bushman announced his candidacy the same day that a story was written about Max Baucus’ getting 91% of his $8.9 million in campaign donations from outside of Montana. As we’ve seen in the past, Montanans are not really that keen on outsiders telling them what to do and buying access.

Heck, $8.9 million may not be enough money to buy the seat. I’m thinking $13 or $14 million by the end of this cycle. Baucus’ rich war chest will buy him a lot of TV and radio time, advertisements, and campaign staff so he can convince Montanans he deserves another term. He should be nervous as times are changing in the political world. Seniority is not a big thing to the voters these days.

Whoever makes it to the general election could lose in a landslide, but I don’t think they will. Montanans don’t too much care about the tons of money from out of state or the perception that their senator is owned by others. They support the home team more times than not, and right now Baucus is starting to look like a visitor. Then there’s the old saying, “He’s been there too long” that Baucus will have to deal with, again.

And who knows, Harry Reid may come to Montana and promise Baucus a seat on the powerful appropriations committee, which is a step up from the finance committee to most observers.

Bushman could present some problems to the other candidates. He has no voting record, which reminds me of Schweitzer in the 2000 Senate race and in the 2004 gubernatorial race. A person in that situation can be for almost anything.

Bushman also owns a home in Montana and went to college here. Bushman’s home is probably not worth a million dollars. I doubt Bushman’s wife has an assault on her record or flew an anti-war poster in their Billings home, but that’s just a hunch. Bushman, his wife and new born child look young, educated, and refreshing – like an all-American family.

So to quote Lloyd Christmas from the classic movie, Dumb and Dumber, “So you’re telling me there’s a chance?”

Yes. It’s a long way to November, and there can always be health issues, ethics issues, and mistakes along the campaign trail. It should be fun to watch.