Many politicians crave the media spotlight. When there’s a camera or reporter around, they will do just about anything to get their name in the newspapers or their photo on TV for a minute or two.

With several fires burning around the state, it was not long before a politician or two showed up to take a look and get that helicopter ride so they can check off the box on their “To Do” publicity list to show people “I care.”

Recently, the Billings Gazette Blog “On the Margins” carried these comments filed under the headline, “The big guns arrive” about two of our more “esteemed” politicians, Brian Schweitzer and Max Baucus, making the rounds at the Cascade Fire.

It’s a great read. I imagine the real firefighters saw the visit from Schweitzer and Baucus even more comical. Here are some of the funnier observations:

Seeing these guys show up was quite a hoot, though. Schweitzer was first. He came in dressed in his personal fire clothing, carrying a worn red fire helmet. But something tells me that helmet has never been near fire or near the governor’s head at the same time. In fact, he never put it on. He just carried it.

Then Baucus showed up. He too was wearing standard-issue fire clothes. But his pants were a little too tight and a little too short, exposing his socks and ankles. He also had his shirt buttoned to the very top on a 95 degree day.

Before they flew towards the fire area in a helicopter, both men had to prepare for the flight. The group gathered around a pile of equipment. Baucus put on his flight helmet, which immediately brought back images of Michael Dukakis in that tank in 1988.

These are my favorite observations:

Nothing against Baucus, but he looked like an alien with that giant flight helmet.

Strangely enough, Baucus was wearing a microphone and was being tape-recorded by one of his staffers. I don’t know why.

And finally, more Montana reporters should take note of this:

Baucus even asked and answered his own questions. It was kind of surreal.

I’ve heard that Baucus holds his own press conferences almost every day in Washington DC and the only people attending are HIS press people with their cameras. Then they feed it to the Montana television stations and they eat it up.

Now, if we can just see some photos from the visit!