Welcome to Tuesday!  I know it feels like Monday!  Since my column on Friday, there has been a lot happening in the political world – it was a busy weekend just keeping up with it!

Typically Labor Day is the time when the campaigns kick into high gear and voters start noticing.  With about 63 days until Election Day, it is crunch time!  You’ll see more columns here at The Western Word – more than my typical one per day, five days a week!  I am going into overdrive – so you should subscribe to keep up!

This week I’ll be watching the Democratic National Convention and you can count on some lines devoted to it on this website and, of course, some tweets.

Today I write about Karl Rove and murder, Paul Ryan and marathons, Democratic Convention attendees, the AP and undecideds, debates in Montana, Campaign Ad watch, and much more…

 

Karl Rove and Murder:

In what angered several Republicans it was reported that Karl Rove “joked” with a group high-powered donors saying, “We should sink Todd Akin.  If he’s found mysteriously murdered, don’t look for my whereabouts!”

Akin is the GOP Senate candidate in Missouri who said, “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut the whole thing down.”  The Republican royalty asked him to step aside.  Akin refused.

Rove has been known for his campaign savvy, but this statement was pretty dumb…

Paul Ryan and Marathons:

Republican Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan got himself into a little trouble with runners (and the truth squad) when he claimed he ran a sub-three hour marathon (2:50 something).  Later he corrected his statement saying he ran the marathon in a little over four hours.

I give him a high-five for actually running a marathon.  If I ran one, they would need to time me with a calendar… 

But Ryan should know that you can look race times up.  In fact, it’s reported that Ryan run 1990 Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota in 4 hours, 1 minute, and 25 seconds.

Like most of us older folks – we tell people that we were a lot better in our younger days than we actually were…

Democratic Convention:

Lee Newspapers has the list of Montanans who are attending the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, this week.

Check it out HERE.  I wonder if any of these people donated to Republicans…

I’ll be watching the convention, except on Wednesday night when football starts…

Out on a Limb:

The Associated Press (AP) went out on a limb this weekend and reported that the Montana “Senate battle hinges on small number of undecideds.”  You can read the story HERE.

The AP had to call 47 voters to find someone who was still undecided in the senate race…

I’ve debated at length with both Rehberg and Tester campaign workers over the past few weeks when they’ve call my home.  I imagine those callers felt a sense of being “schooled” in the art of politics when the call ended…

A friend said someone called her asking for a donation to help Denny Ray-Berg.  She kind of went off on them about how the person pronounced Rehberg’s name.  I said it was probably one of the “bright” people from the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC)…

Montana Debates:

There are several debates scheduled in the U.S. Senate, U.S. House, and Montana Governor’s races in the coming weeks.  Check out the list from Lee Newspapers HERE.

These are not really debates – they are more of a conversation about issues with supporters acting crazy…

Ad Watch:

On August 31 the Rehberg for Senate campaign launched a new campaign ad called “Twins” that I found cute and funny.  You can watch it HERE.  In the 30 second ad, the female twins say “Jon Tester and Barack Obama: they may not be twins, but they might as well be.  Tester votes with Obama 95% of the time.”

I like a little humor in political ads.  With all the ads, we can sure use a laugh…

The 95% claim is different than a National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) ad that says Jon Tester votes with Obama 97% of the time.

Leave it to the boys and girls at NRSC to screw things up.  Montanans may remember that in 2006 the NRSC pretty much helped seal the victory for Jon Tester by running terrible ads and not properly funding their candidate.

Maybe the Rehberg campaign and NRSC can e-mail me their sources for the 95% and 97% claim…

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