I was not at all surprised when I received an e-mail late Friday afternoon from possible U.S. House candidate, Dennis McDonald, regarding the accident involving Congressman Denny Rehberg and State Senator Greg Barkus.  This is politics, right?

First, the e-mail arrived in my inbox about 4:28 p.m. on Friday afternoon, which did surprise me.  This is a time when politicians and office holders send out stuff they don’t want anyone to read.  

I also expected McDonald to spell his own name correctly in his e-mail, but that’s just me.

It’s been almost a month since the accident, so I kept looking for something substantial from possible challengers to be thrown out across the web, instead of just reading lefty blogs and their conspiracy theories.  You see a lot of things in politics, and this is just the latest cheap shot that we see from a lot from challengers these days.  As the former leader of the Montana Democratic Party, McDonald is right at home with these tactics.

I expected more from Mr. McDonald than a few poorly-written lines about how there is a cover-up by the authorities investigating the accident.  I expected more from McDonald than to use this accident as a fundraising tool as he placed this line at the end of his e-mail, “Please help Dennis with a final push to end the third quarter reporting cycle.  Donate before September 30th by visiting the Dennis McDonald for Congress Website.”

While I think it is very cheap to use the accident as a fundraising tool, it’s also slap in the face of the professionals who are investigating the accident to write “Cover-Up” in your fundraising e-mail.

When something like this accident happens, challengers smell blood in the water (no pun intended) and they have to try (tactfully) to cast doubt in the voters’ minds about the incumbent to win.  The key word is “tactfully” and McDonald failed miserably.

McDonald decided to walk the tightrope of being sensitive to the people involved in the accident, and giving his supporters some red meat for consumption.  I guess he decided against using “don’t throw your opponent a rope…”

Since he decided to walk that tightrope, I think McDonald fell off.  How far he’s fallen will be seen when polling is done and his fundraising totals come in.

As I wrote in previous posts, I want to wait until the results of the investigation are complete before making any judgments.  Here in Montana, we’ve seen our share of tragedies happen when people drink and drive.  Some of them have involved politicians, their staffers, and other well-known people.  We’ve also seen many “not so well-known people” get arrested for DUIs multiple times.  That is a sad fact about our society that needs to be changed with tougher laws and penalties.