Yesterday in Monday Morning Politics I talked a little bit about Paul Ryan as Mitt Romney’s running mate and U.S. Senate candidate and current Montana Congressman Denny Rehberg (who voted against the Ryan budget in the House).

That selection has also given Democrat House Candidate Kim Gillan an issue to use in the somewhat boring open U.S. House at-large race between Gillan and Republican Steve Daines here in Big Sky Country.

The issue?  You guessed it – the Ryan budget.  In an interview with Lee Newspapers Daines said, “…he would have voted for the so-called Ryan budget” (I bet the Rehberg cartel paid a visit to Mr. Daines after this interview) and “extend all of the Bush tax cuts this year, including those for the wealthy” and he’s for “revamping Medicare” and then Daines said the dreaded “V” word, “voucher program.”

Boom…there it is.  There’s enough ammo in that last paragraph to scare the heck out of seniors by telling them that the filthy rich and out of touch Steve Daines would like to push them off a cliff to save a nickel or a dime…

Monday morning, Gillan hit our inboxes with a short e-mail that contained the subject, “The wrong choice for Montana” in which she wrote:

Make seniors pay more for prescription drugs?  Turn Medicare into a voucher program?  Let millionaires get by without paying their fair share?  These are just some of the policies championed by my opponent for Montana’s lone voice in the House of Representatives.  We learned a lot from the eye-opening profile of this race yesterday in the Helena Independent-Record and none of it sounds good for the working families of Montana that I speak with each and every day.

That was a nice e-mail, but there needs to be more done by Gillan to make this a competitive race.

Meanwhile, The Hill (a publication from Washington, D.C.) reports, “Republicans strategists are worried that Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) addition to the presidential ticket will cost their party House and Senate seats this fall.”  The article also tells us what the GOP counterattack (spin) will be to try and change the subject to spending and debt.

Those “Republican strategists” are not normally very bright – but even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while.

Spending and debt?  After years of uncontrolled spending, the GOP has decided to talk about spending and debt.  OK…that’s original.

Maybe the boring race for Montana’s only U.S. House seat could use an ad like this one:

Follow Jack on Twitter @TheWesternWord