Although Montana’s U.S. Senators Max Baucus and Jon Tester gave it the ol’ college try, the article in the Great Falls Tribune this morning left me with nothing but a little chuckle.

The opening paragraph says it all:

Montana’s U.S. senators Monday asked the Air Force and National Guard Bureau to add at least one extra C-27J aircraft to the new mission being assigned to the Montana Air National Guard.

Realistically, all Baucus and Tester did was sign their name to a letter along with like-minded senators.

The 450 word-article did one thing – it let the folks “back home” know that Baucus and Tester were on the job – fighting tooth and nail for “at least one extra” plane.

So now they can check that section off their list for this month – and tell folks they really support Montana’s military.  They have a copy of the letter as their proof – and now they have the Tribune story –which will come in handy for campaign commercials.

Meanwhile the Montana Air National Guard’s F-15s are still scheduled to head to California (pending an environmental review) – that is if the unit in Fresno still has pilots available to fly Montana’s planes after the “dozing for dollars” investigation is completed.