We are just 92 days out from November’s General Election and things are heating up like a hot August day!

If this is your first time dropping by, “Monday Morning Politics” is where I put together several of the political stories from the past weekend all in one place for your reading pleasure.  I also offer some commentary about these stories.  Sometimes my commentary is laced with just a little sarcasm…

Today I talk about women’s health, wilderness, small business, most Democratic states, fundraising, name calling, and Ohio!  There’s more so read on…Women’s Health:

The Bozeman Daily Chronicle’s Political Notebook takes a look at which “U.S. House bills would cut women’s protection and health care” in this article from Sunday, saying “Two recent U.S. House bills are chipping away at safeguards and health care options that women have had for decades.”

Women’s healthcare has become a major issue for two men, U.S. Senator Jon Tester and Congressman Denny Rehberg.  They are running against each other for U.S. Senate.  The Chronicle’s Political Notebook does a pretty good job in explaining the women’s healthcare issue. 

Wilderness Bills:

The Missoulian takes a look at future wilderness designation in Montana and contends, “across-the-aisle support for wilderness has faded” over the years.

The partisanship in Washington has harmed this, too.  It looks like the stars and the moon will have to be aligned just right for any bill dealing with wilderness in Montana to pass.

Small Business:

Montana State Senator and small business owner Taylor Brown has an opinion piece making the rounds in Montana’s newspapers about President Obama’s speech last month (July 13) where Obama said,

If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help.  There was a great teacher somewhere in your life.  Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive.  Somebody invested in roads and bridges.  If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that.  Somebody else made that happen.  The Internet didn’t get invented on its own.  Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.

The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together.  There are some things, just like fighting fires, we don’t do on our own.  I mean, imagine if everybody had their own fire service.  That would be a hard way to organize fighting fires.

I commented about the President’s speech (Caught My Eye -July 20).  It’s interesting that State Senator Brown would waste time on this issue in Montana newspapers – Mitt Romney will undoubtedly beat Obama in Montana – Romney does not need Brown’s help in Montana.  Maybe Brown is looking ahead to a U.S. Senate bid in 2014 or maybe he just wanted people to tell him “good job” on building a successful small business…

Most Democratic States:

A new Gallup Poll released Friday tells us “Along with the District of Columbia, Rhode Island and Hawaii rank as the most Democratic states in the country, followed by New York, Maryland, and Massachusetts.  Rounding out the top 10 Democratic states are Delaware, Connecticut, Vermont, and California. Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming are the most Republican states.”

Montana made the Top 10 Republican states coming in sixth.

I guess it must be all the state-wide offices the GOP currently occupies in Montana…

$101 Million:

The Associated Press is reporting, “Mitt Romney and the Republican National Committee say their political money-raising machine netted more than $101 million last month.”

Great googly moogly…

Dirty Liar:

Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Reince Priebus called Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid a “dirty liar” over the weekend.  Priebus did not add “pants on fire.”  Other people followed the RNC talking points on the Sunday shows.

This ruckus stems from Reid saying Mitt Romney may not have paid taxes for the past 10 years and he should release his tax returns.

Priebus, who looks a lot like Don Knotts, is lacking in many categories and he may go down as one of the worst RNC Chairs in recent history.  The fact is that this could all be settled if Mitt Romney would come clean and release his tax returns.  The Democrats seem to be winning this little war as the Republicans have been off-message for a few days and have resorted to name calling…

Then there’s Ohio:

There’s a little fight brewing in Ohio between Obama and Romney.  The Los Angeles Times has the heart of the fight HERE.

The key point is this, “Until 2011, all Ohioans could cast early ballots as late as the Monday before election day.  Last year, the Legislature instituted a Friday cutoff for all voters except members of the military and their families.”

Basically, Obama and the Democrats want all Ohioans to be able to cast ballots as late as Monday and they filed a lawsuit to allow it.  The Times reports, “The suit does not call for reducing early voting access for service members.”

The Romney campaign is way out in left field in saying Obama is trying to “undermine service members’ voting rights.”  I am not a supporter of the system that allows a person to register and vote on the same day (unless they are a military member or dependent).  There should be a cut-off day (like the Friday before Election Day to register).  Some personal responsibility must come in to play when we are given the opportunity to vote…

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