It’s October!!! Please, leave your mask off; it’s not Halloween just yet!

Welcome to Monday and Monday Morning Politics!  Monday Morning Politics is brought to you by number 36 today – there are just 36 days until General Election Day (Nov. 6) and just 8 days until absentee ballots are mailed (Oct. 9 in Montana).

Today I take a look at donations, the secret recording, returning a favor, Pearl Jam, no endorsements, the Presidential debate, Time Magazine & Mormonism, a new Gallup poll, SCOTUS returns, and much more!Send Me Some Money:

Sunday at midnight was the latest fundraising deadline, so my inbox is full of e-mails asking for donations. A quick count shows that I received about 20 e-mails from Friday morning through Sunday night just asking for donations.

The Secret Recordings:

KRTV (CBS) in Great Falls has the story about a “controversial audio recording” in which Congressman Denny Rehberg is speaking to the American League of Lobbyists. There’s already a campaign commercial (or two) about the speech.

Maybe someone should tell Rehberg that whenever he gives a speech, he should think it’s always being recorded. Then he would not have to do damage control later.

Frankly, the speech is pretty damaging to Rehberg in which he says, “…the revolving door does not make me nervous” where he is talking about a current staffer who was a lobbyist and then came back to be his staffer. He also says “lobbying is an honorable profession” and that he has to “rely on you guys to tell me the information.”

In this political climate, Rehberg should be up on Tester by double digits – but he has managed to screw up his candidacy over the years (by doing stupid things). He comes across as though he thinks he is entitled to this seat because of who he is.  Montanans may be growing weary of Rehberg’s antics.

Returning the Favor:

When Congressman Denny Rehberg invited Senator John McCain to visit Great Falls back in August to talk military and veterans’ issues, the campaign team of Jon Tester welcomed McCain with a full-page ad in the Great Falls Tribune thanking McCain for “standing with Montanans against Citizens United” the recent Supreme Court case that prevents the government from restricting independent political expenditures by corporations and unions.

Since U.S. Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) will be in Great Falls today to campaign with Jon Tester, the Rehberg campaign returned the favor with a quarter-page ad (on page M-3) saying, “While turning his back on Malmstrom and Great Falls, Tester sided 95% of the time with Obama.” Of course, the famed Tester/Obama photo takes up most of the ad.

Pearl Jam:

Pearl Jam came to Missoula to play a concert yesterday and help Jon Tester. The Missoulian has the wrap-up HERE.

Rock and roll…

Tribune – No Endorsements

Jim Strauss, the Publisher and Editor of the Great Falls Tribune, on Sunday announced that the newspaper will not be endorsing candidates this election.

I think this is a good move – plus it gives more room on the Tribune’s viewpoint page for The Western Word and other Bloggers’ columns and comments…

Presidential Debate:

The first Presidential Debate is coming up Wednesday, and while it is an exciting time, Thomas Fitzgerald of The Philadelphia Inquirer reports, “political scientists who have sifted through the available polling evidence have found debates have rarely, if ever, shifted enough votes to decide a presidential election by themselves.”

But we watch because once in a great while the debates do make a difference and it does give the challenger a little bump in the polls for a few days just from being on stage with the President.  I would venture to say the debates will be pretty boring, and they will be nothing like the recent GOP debates or the Democratic debates of 2008 – but I will watch and Tweet!

Time Magazine:

In case you missed it, the October 8, 2012, edition of Time Magazine cover is “The Mormon Identity” and the feature story is titled, “The Mormon In Mitt.”

With some reports showing that Mormons “make up 1.7 percent of the U.S. population” there are a lot of people who just don’t understand the religion – it’s a mystery to them. I think that may concern voters and hurt the Romney campaign.

Middle-Income Americans:

According to a new poll from Gallup, “More Americans believe middle-income earners would be better off in four years if President Barack Obama is re-elected than if Mitt Romney wins, by 53% to 43%.”

Romney’s 47% comment will be with him for the remainder of this campaign and that comment may go down as the main issue that lost him the Presidential race…

SCOTUS Returns:

The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) heads back to work today and the Associated Press reports on what we can expect the court to tackle this term.

Will this term be as exciting as the last?

Follow Jack on Twitter @TheWesternWord