NOTE: This is my 100th “Caught My Eye” column! I am sure letters will be forthcoming from the President and elected officials congratulating me.  Nonetheless, enjoy the 100th edition of Caught My Eye…

Woohoo – we made it to Friday – Congratulations!  If you read one thing today, this column has to be it!  You want to slide into your weekend armed with knowledge and a smile, don’t you?

If this is your first time visiting The Western Word (TWW), the “Caught My Eye” column is posted every Friday morning right here!  Here is where I take a quick look at some of the stories I did not have time to write or comment about during the week – and I often throw in a touch of sarcasm just to make you smile…

ADVISORY: Before proceeding please understand that everyone and everything is fair game…

Today I write about the Rehberg no-show, Pearl Jam tickets, Trib v. KRTV, Independent, GOP Witch Hunt, Term Limits, FarmVille, More Outhouse, I share the contents of my political inbox, and much more!

U.S. Senate Debate:

This week the major political news has been Congressman Denny Rehberg not participating in a debate sponsored by the Montana Broadcasters Association.  So the first couple things that “Caught My Eye” mentions are Rehberg and the debate.  The debate was scheduled for Sunday.  It has been cancelled altogether.  All around the country we’ve seen several headlines like “Senate debate cancelled due to Rehberg no-show” which has caused harm to the Rehberg campaign.

To compound the problem, Rehberg’s schedule surrounding the date seemed to be a mystery.  On Tuesday I wrote, “As far as I can tell, Rehberg’s campaign has not disclosed where the Congressman will be on Sunday morning – and that adds to the mystery – and keeps it in the news and on the blogs.”

Rehberg should hire a crisis management team because the folks handling this crisis right now are not doing so well.

Free Pearl Jam Tickets:

Jon Tester picked up on my “Where’s Rehberg” column and his campaign is offering two free Pearl Jam tickets to the first person who finds out.

Apparently the Montana Television Network (MTN) will get the free tickets (shame on corporate America) as they found out that Rehberg was in the midst of fundraisers campaign events this weekend.  Rehberg is attending a fundraiser campaign event in Wyoming on Saturday and was scheduled to attend a fundraiser campaign event in St. Louis on Monday.  It appears that the St. Louis event has been cancelled.

I was hoping a Team Rehberg staffer would give me the info and we could go to the concert together…

So now Team Rehberg gets to deal with headlines, like “Rehberg misses debate to attend campaign event.”  Oh the humanity…

Tribune v. KRTV:

KRTV (one of the local television stations in Great Falls, Montana) posted a story on their Facebook page about bears near Great Falls.  An employee from the Great Falls Tribune newspaper posted a comment on KRTV’s Facebook page saying, “Hey nice work on getting this from our website.  Next time could you give the paper credit at least?  Thanks!!”

Then the fun started.  Read more HERE.

Both news organizations do a tremendous job in a small-town market, and it is fun to see some of their competiveness spill out and give us a chuckle…

If only The Western Word could grow up and compete with the big boys and girls…

Under The Bus:

The headline in Politico was “Rehberg throws the party under the bus” and the story is about Congressman Denny Rehberg’s latest campaign ad which portrays Rehberg as independent.

Last Friday here at The Western Word I kind of put that myth in its place.  I wrote, “So when you hear Rehberg and Tester saying they are ‘independent,’ it’s actually true less than 10% of the time…”

More Outhouse:

The executive director of the Montana Human Rights Network, Travis McAdam, has a viewpoint in the Great Falls Tribune today regarding the Montana GOP Convention and the Obama Outhouse.  The headline is “GOP officials should be harsher on Obama-insulting outhouse” and you can read it HERE.

It’s an issue that seems to keep on giving…

“GOP witch hunt for Eric Holder…”:

I like to read Eugene Robinson’s columns and his latest, “GOP witch hunt for Eric Holder reflects bigger problem” brings up some very good points about Operation Fast and Furious.

While I don’t agree with Robinson on everything in this column, it is worth a read and will open the eyes of some and others will attack him for it.

The U.S. House investigation into Fast and Furious is more “gotcha politics” and winning in November than for finding out the facts.

Jack’s Political Inbox:

Every week I receive e-mails from candidates, elected officials, and/or groups (from all political parties) promoting a cause, many just hoping they get mentioned (in a kind and gentle way) on The Western Word website!  I select a few each week that “Caught My Eye” and share them with my readers.  This week I picked four that I think you will enjoy…

–The Montana Republican Party sent me an e-mail with the subject, Millionaire Tester: ‘I Don’t Consider Myself Poor, I Consider Myself Middle Class” in which they write, “Senator Raymond Jon Tester couldn’t be more out-of-touch or hypocritical.  Just like pretending to be a reformer while he’s the number-one recipient of lobbyist money and has taken hundreds of thousands of dollars from Wall Street banks after doing their bidding in Washington, Tester now calls himself ‘middle-class’ when he’s really a documented millionaire.”

They called him Raymond again.  Nasty. 

–John Walsh, who is the Democratic candidate for Lieutenant Governor with Steve Bullock, sent me an e-mail on Tuesday with the subject, “Deadline Nears” writing, “Our campaign to move Montana forward as your next Governor and Lieutenant Governor is heating up, and Wednesday marks a key date.  It’s the end of the first fundraising period since the June 5 Primary.”

The Democrats have a solid lead in fundraising for the Governor’s seat – can they hold it? 

–The Rick Hill for (Montana) Governor campaign sent me an e-mail on Wednesday with the subject, “today’s deadline” writing, “This past weekend Jon and I gathered with Republicans from across the state at the annual Montana GOP convention.”  They added, “Today is the close of the first fundraising period for the general election, and we need your help.”

Is it just me or did you find it interesting that Rick Hill failed to mention the Obama Outhouse being at the GOP Convention?  Not even a photo…

-The Jon Tester for U.S. Senate Campaign sent me an e-mail with the subject, “Urgent” and as soon as I saw it I opened it (since it was urgent).  I thought he was going to say, “Jack, I am bringing a suitcase full of beef to your house and I need to know if you will be home.”  Sadly that was not why the message was urgent.

Tester said, “Looks like Karl Rove isn’t the only special interest bigwig launching attacks against me — now the Koch brothers are getting in on the act.”

OMG!! 

FarmVille:

The boys and girls in the United States Senate played FarmVille this week and passed a Farm Bill.

This farm bill is probably a heartbreaker for U.S. Senator Jon Tester because, as the Associated Press reports, “Sen. Jon Tester was not allowed to bring an amendment inserting his Sportsmen’s Act of 2012 into the bill.”

Not even the “powerful” Senator, Max Baucus, could help farmer Jon Tester get his signature piece of legislation in the bill.  The U.S. House may not pass the bill the way it is now, but if Tester’s amendment would have made it, the Farm Bill would have been dead on arrival…

Term Limits:

Here in Montana we have term limits.  There’s talk of trying to do away with term limits and some are saying we need to have the experienced legislators stay around longer.

Maybe if some brave Democrat or Republican in the Montana Legislature would introduce a bill to make it as easy for independent candidates to run for office in Montana as it is for Democrats and Republicans (they should have the same requirements) they might have an easier time getting term limits changed.

Many of us are tired of the old party lines that everyone toes each session.  Independent legislators would change that…

Miami Heat:

Last night the Miami Heat won the NBA Championship for the 2011-2012 (shortened) season four games to one over the Oklahoma City Thunder.

I have always been a Boston Celtics fan so every other team takes a backseat to the Celtics.

In my opinion LeBron James harmed basketball with his ESPN reality show to announce he was taking his talents to South Beach.  He acted like he was bigger than the game by having a television show, and then telling folks he would bring multiple titles to Miami (this is the first one for him).  It’s not that easy.

The NBA has problems they need to get under control – from the flopping of players to get a foul call to the constant complaining (whining) of players to the referees to LeBron James acting like he is bigger than the whole NBA.  All this sets a poor example for our youth.  I mostly watch the NBA when the playoffs start because of it.

Congrats to the Miami Heat.  Go Celtics…

One More Thing:

Don’t forget to stretch…