Since this is Groundhog Day and with me being a Bill Murray fan, I thought about just posting the two columns I wrote yesterday again today, but that would not be fair to my faithful readers.

Yesterday’s column about the Rehberg/Tester race did garner a lot of readers. Politics almost always get more readers than sports on this website.

It’s typical for the campaigns to send out initial e-mails or letters to let their supporters know they are there and working hard with our donations and to ask for more money. I received two e-mails yesterday, one from the Tester campaign and one from the Rehberg campaign. The Tester Campaign e-mail was a little more pointed than Rehberg’s.

The Introduction:

About mid-morning yesterday I received an e-mail from the Tester campaign. The almost 360 word e-mail mentioned Denny Rehberg’s name six times.

Dear Jack,

I’m Preston Elliott, and I’ve just signed on as Jon’s campaign manager. I would tell you a little more about myself, but this just hit my inbox: Denny Rehberg to Announce Senate Bid Saturday

Elliott went on to write that Rehberg has “ties to every Washington special interest you can think of. They’ll work to get him elected no matter what ethical trap door he manages to fall through.”

Ouch. It can only go downhill from here.

The good news is it looks like Tester has directed his attention away from Taco Bell and toward reelection.

Since Mr. Elliott was too busy to tell us about himself, I decided to do some checking to see where’s he’s been (if this info is incorrect, Mr. Elliott can send me an e-mail):

-Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC): Deputy Political Director (Source)

-John Edwards Campaign: It appears he worked for the John Edwards Presidential campaign in Nevada back in 2007 as a Field Director. This raises a lot of questions in itself considering the sleazebag we all found out Edwards was.

-Montana Democratic Party: Field director for the 2006 Montana Democratic Coordinated Campaign

-Dick Gephardt for President: 2003-4 Iowa caucus campaign. He sure picks winners, huh? (Here is the source for the last three positions)

-I did not see anything about him working at Taco Bell…so there goes that conspiracy theory…

Elliott closes out his e-mail as most campaign e-mails do, which is to ask for money. He writes,

That’s why my first email to you has one simple request: please click here and make a small contribution right now and help us keep growing our team. You can think of it as welcoming me to the Tester campaign family — or welcoming Congressman Rehberg to what will be a very hard-fought race all the way to Election Day.

Rehberg Invite:

The Rehberg campaign e-mail hit my inbox just a little before 1:00 p.m. yesterday from his campaign communications director, Brian Barnett. It was just an invite to the big announcement in Helena on Saturday night which is also called the Lewis and Clark County Lincoln/Reagan Day Fundraising Dinner. The Rehberg e-mail did not mention Jon Tester.

Being one who likes to eat, I checked the menu which is Prime Rib, Halibut, or Chicken Caesar Salad. For $75 I can have one of those entrees while I am listening to Congressman Rehberg and Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann talk.

I imagine they will be serving tea, also.

Unfortunately I will not be able to attend this historic event. I will be home probably eating a Spam sandwich, but I will be on Twitter waiting for the news and hoping my keyboard does not get too sticky from the Spam…

They did say they were going to celebrate Ronald Reagan’s 100th birthday, which is nice because he was one of my favorite Presidents. I wonder if they will have a cake…

The Future:

Although it’s unfair to compare the two e-mails from the campaigns, it is apparent that Tester will be in the attack mode and use some of the same tactics he used in 2006 (with a lot of help from the Montana media) to win. Winning dirty is still a win for Jon Tester.

Although everyone says they dislike negative campaigning, it does work – and the people who run and advise the campaigns know it. Like I wrote yesterday, there will be plenty of money flowing into this race from all across the country. It might be a good idea to get a wagon or something to help you bring in the flyers from your mailbox. There will be many.