With the date to start filing for office in Montana on Thursday (January 12), I started thinking about an e-mail I received way back in early September from the Rick Hill for Governor Campaign.  That e-mail was dated September 8 with the subject “Next steps” and it contained this paragraph:

Though I’ve been on the road full time for months now, we’re in the process of ramping up our campaign and expanding our effort.  In the coming weeks you’ll see my campaign name a running mate, bring on additional campaign staff, and roll out new policy proposals to address all the problems we’ve identified and studied in the past few months.

That was over 120 days from today – a whole football season ago!

I’ve mentioned numerous times that the former Congressman, being that he is from Helena, would probably want a running mate from Montana’s largest city (Billings).  Plus, Hill has several primary opponents from the Billings area, and if he names a running mate from the Billings area, he might be able to take some votes from them.

Democrat Steve Bullock may be looking at the Billings (or Missoula) area for a running mate too – but more for the General Election than a primary boost.

Let’s face it, being the Lieutenant Governor for Montana is a darn good gig – one even Charles Barkley would enjoy.  You attend a lot of events (some are even fun).  One of your staffers writes some comments for you.  You smile a lot.  You have to shake a lot of hands.  You have to be able to read.  Sometimes you get to eat and then give a speech and that can be tricky if you spill food on yourself (like I do) frequently.  You can even bring your dog (if you have one) to some of the events!  You get to travel around and see Montana!

The bad thing is if the event is really fun or truly important, then the Governor can pull rank on you and attend.

I’m not from Billings, but I think it would be a great job – and with that job description (above), I know there are several of you who do too.

So who will Rick Hill select – or has he asked someone and been turned down?  Maybe that is the reason for the delay.  There are at least three candidates running against Rick Hill from the Billings area that he could choose from if they decide not to actually file for Governor or drop out.  There’s also a former county commissioner and opponent of his for U.S. House who lives there that would be a good choice, and there’s the GOP candidate for Governor from 2008 who lives there, and several current and former legislators live around that area, too.  So who knows – with all this speculation he’ll probably pick someone from the other side of the state!

I believe Neil Livingstone was the first candidate to select a running mate and he selected State Senator Ryan Zinke way back in the summer, but who will the other candidates pick?  So many questions…so many candidates…

You can e-mail me your ideas and rumors about who will be the Governor candidate’s running mates at my e-mail, which is:  Western_Word@Yahoo.com (or leave a comment below).  You can remain anonymous!

Once one of the remaining candidates for Governor announces a running mate, it will be like dominoes falling as you can bet the other candidates will soon follow.

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