Stunts are done to get attention. I understood this philosophy at about six or seven years old when I told my neighborhood friends that I was going to make a jump on my bicycle off a ramp. I made sure my little friend “Debbie” knew of the big event. I wanted Debbie’s attention. My friends (and Debbie) gathered to watch, somewhat like people do who watch a NASCAR race, to see a crash. As I approached the ramp, I had this feeling that I had not planned out my “stunt” very well. I crashed when the ramp collapsed. The “fans” laughed and so did Debbie. I never did another stunt with my bicycle again.

Politicians perform stunts all the time to get attention. Unlike me at six or seven years old, politicians’ stunts are planned out to the letter. Politicians have help from their staff, political advisors, and when election time is near, pollsters and consultants.

Politicians are known for having press conferences, events, or meetings to garner some attention. Many times these politicians will flip a pancake, invite someone to visit their state, or hold an event for some reason or cause. They invite the press to cover it, and most of the time the press is just gullible enough to write a story or film the stunt for the local news.

Most of the time these “events” are not planned to help anyone; they are planned to help the candidate get some positive attention and to show John and Jane Voter they are “working for you.” The politician does it with press releases, interviews, and events (stunts).

Max Baucus has his stunts mostly down to a science. He’s been doing this for 30 years and the Baucus machine runs smoothly on all cylinders, especially when it comes to getting some press coverage for nothing.

Recently Max held another one of his “work day” outings, this time in Great Falls at a sporting goods store. The story goes that, “For more than 20 years, Baucus has done every thing from waiting tables to working in saw mills during his monthly “Work Day” outings.”

That’s hard to believe, so I’d like to see a list of his monthly work days for the last 20 years, just to make sure he has worked at 240 different businesses around the state (12 months in a year multiplied times 20 years). Nevertheless, Max did an eight hour shift.

A few years ago a friend of mine said his mail was very late in getting delivered. For years the mail had been delivered like clockwork around 11:00 a.m. My friend waited and waited because he was expecting some important documents. His mail finally came – delivered by Senator Baucus on his “work day” over three hours late.

During Max’s latest work day, the talk of the tax rebate from the government came up. This would have been a great time for Max to get credit for pushing the rebate through Congress. But, just like my “stunt” years ago, there was a “crash” when the assistant manager said this about the tax rebate, “I sold two pairs of skis last week to a couple who told me ‘These are on George W.’ “

Crash.

That was not the plan. Someone missed the memo and the Montana press stories that gave Max credit for these rebates (incorrectly I might add).

Yes, stunts are dangerous and things can go wrong if they are not planned correctly.