Welcome to Monday and another edition of Monday Morning Politics!  This is a special week since Wednesday (Feb. 29) is “Leap Day” so celebrate accordingly!

Almost every Monday I gather a lot of the political stories from the past weekend and put them all in one place for all to see – and I often add a little commentary!

Today I take a look at Ole, Sven, and Denny, Daines, Cadillacs, Campaign finance, Romney at Ford Field, voter scrutiny in Missoula, the University of Montana and sexual assaults, political dinner, ObamaCare, and much more!

Ole, Sven, and Denny:

On Friday morning in the “Caught My Eye” column I mentioned that I sensed a little “cockiness” from the Rehberg Campaign after a fifth straight poll came out that showed Congressman Denny Rehberg (Republican) leading U.S. Senator Jon Tester (Democrat) for the U.S. Senate seat in Montana.

Little did I know that even the Congressman, himself, was acting a little cocky on Thursday during his speech at Montana Rural Water Systems Convention in Great Falls.  Rehberg told a joke about a couple of drunken fellows named Sven & Ole in a stolen boat.  You can watch the video of Rehberg telling the joke to the Rural Water folks HERE.

Readers may remember that Rehberg and several of his staffers were injured in a boating incident in 2009.

The last time I commented about Rehberg, his staffers, and the 2009 boat incident, I was “voted off the island” by some conservative friends (I don’t miss them), so I am sure they will love my commentary this time.

Frankly, Rehberg telling a joke about anyone  drunk in a boat is, in one word, stupid.  You can bet that even the people closest to Rehberg feel the same way.  Political groups pay people to follow Rehberg and Tester with video cameras trying to catch them doing or saying something silly – and they caught Rehberg.  Elected officials telling jokes about people being drunk should always be off-limits.  Someone whom Rehberg actually listens to should pull him aside and say something like, “You’re an idiot for saying that.”

Additionally, the statement sent about the incident by “Rehberg campaign spokesman,” Chris Bond, made matters worse.  You can read that statement in this story.  Instead of saying something significant, Bond acted as though he was on an elementary school playground.  Many folks are probably wondering why a campaign person was even allowed to comment on something that happened at an official event…

The Rehberg “cartel” will say this is much about nothing, but I’d say to mark the date of the joke (February 23) – that just may be the day that the Rehberg campaign started circling the drain… 

Wild, Wild West of Politics:

With U.S. District Judge Charles Lovell blocking more campaign finance laws, Montana is going to be a fun place to play politics until something is done (and something that is constitutional).  The Associated Press reported the story HERE.

Now we’ll be hearing from both sides that the other is playing unfair (it’s already started).  Rest assured that both Democrats and Republicans have supporters who can/will throw lots of money into the races…

Speaking of Money:

With President Obama’s re-election looking safer every day, the U.S. Senate races are “attracting tens of millions of dollars from GOP-allied outside groups…”

The Montana U.S. Senate race is one of them.  The Democrats are already saying they will be outspent – which is just the spin they put on it to raise money and maybe get voters to feel sorry for them. 

A Couple of Cadillacs:

On Fox News Sunday, Romney answered questions about him being out of touch with average Americans.  He said, “If people think that there is something wrong with being successful in America, then they better vote for the other guy, because I’ve been extraordinarily successful and I want to use that success and that know-how to help the American people.”

Everyone who owns a couple of homes and a couple of Cadillacs, like Mitt Romney, should vote for him.  Everyone else should vote for another candidate.  Romney does not know what it’s like to be an “average” American.  Ironically, he mirrors a couple of candidates here in Montana…

Romney at Ford Field:

Ford Field is the home of the Detroit Lions of the National Football League.  The stadium holds about 65,000 for football and up to 80,000 for basketball.

Mitt Romney rented the facility for a “major economic speech” on Friday.  Only 1,200 attended the event.  You can see photos of the event HERE and HERE.

Repeal or Not:

A new poll from  Gallup tells us, “Americans divide evenly when asked if they favor (47%) or oppose (44%) a Republican president’s repealing the 2010 healthcare law if elected this November.”

The way it’s looking now, I doubt we’ll have to worry about it being repealed.

Daines to File:

Although this information was not sent to The Western Word, Republican congressional candidate Steve Daines announced that he will kick-off his filing day on Tuesday, February 28, with an announcement in Conrad, Montana, at 9:00 a.m., and then stop in Helena for the “Official Filing” at 1:00 p.m.  At 5:30 p.m. he will hold a rally in Bozeman.

I think Daines has settled on filing for U.S. House…

BTW, if I were running for office this year, I would file on February 29 (Leap Day) because I would need a lot of luck. 

Farm Bureau Gubernatorial Candidates Forum:

According to their website, “The Cascade County [Great Falls, Montana] Farm Bureau will host a candidates’ forum at 6 p.m., Feb. 27, in the Exhibition Hall at Montana ExpoPark in Great Falls. Nine gubernatorial candidates have committed including Larry Jent (D), Jim Lynch (D), Rick Hill ( R), Neil Livingstone ( R), Jim O’Hara ( R), Corey Stapleton (R), Robert Fanning (R), Ken Miller (R), and Ron Vandevender (L).”

People attending are asked to bring a can of food for the community food bank which is a great way to help the food bank and fellow citizens!

Missoula County Voter Scrutiny:

Reporter Chelsi Moy of the Missoulian newspapers reports, “Concerned about the increasing number of absentee voters in Missoula County – and the potential for fraud, a dozen citizens came to the Missoula County Elections Office on Friday demanding access to voter records.”

I have been concerned about voter fraud in Montana since I heard a certain governor talk about making some calls on election night 2006.  It’s is not surprising that other people are concerned, too.

University of Montana/Sexual Assaults:

The University of Montana has found itself in a predicament about how they handled several sexual assaults over the past few months.  It could have long-lasting negative effects on the University and some of the top officials employed there.

Gwen Florio of the Missoulian is on top of the situation.  Read her latest report HERE.

Native American Voters:

The Montana CBS news station did a report called, “Campaign Battleground: Montana’s Native Americans” where they reported about the 60,000 Native Americans living in Montana and how they could impact the 2012 Election.  You can read/watch it HERE.

The piece of information that was sorely missing from the report was the percentage of Native Americans in Montana who historically vote in elections.

Sadly, strong political reporting seems to be lacking in Montana this election season.

Lincoln/Reagan Dinner:

According to this story, the Cascade County (Great Falls, MT) Republican Central Committee had a turnout of about 170 people for their annual Lincoln Reagan Dinner.  Not bad for Cascade County.

The reports say there were over 20 speakers so it makes me wonder if anyone was talked to death…

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Follow Jack on Twitter @TheWesternWord.