Monday Morning Politics is brought to you by number 22 today – there are just 22 days until General Election Day (Nov. 6) and my phone has been ringing a lot this past week with calls from pollsters, campaigns, and political groups. I just tell them I am voting for their candidate and that my ballots have been mailed!

Today I take a look at debates for the U.S. Senate, U.S. House, profile stories about the Montana Governor candidates, Thune to visit Great Falls, Arlen Specter, Brian Schweitzer, and Social Security. There’s a lot more so read on…

U.S. Senate Debate:

For unknown reasons somebody figured that holding a U.S. Senate debate on a Sunday night (during football and the baseball playoffs) and not televising it live (it was streamed on-line) was a great idea.

I’d like call these people mistaken (and that is being kind).

After reading the Tweets and the stories about the debate, here is the key thing that I took from the debate: Jon Tester does not even agree with his wife 95% of the time, let alone President Obama.

Tester and I have more in common than I thought…

There are at least three different stories about the debate. Each has different variations of that 95% comment. You can read the Associated Press story HERE. The Missoulian story is HERE. The Kalispell Daily Inter Lake story is HERE.

Supposedly there is one more debate scheduled Saturday night in Bozeman. The candidates did not debate in Great Falls, which may mean they are worried about me showing up and asking some tough questions…

Thune in Great Falls:

On Friday I received a postcard from the Denny Rehberg for Senate Campaign saying that U.S. Senator John Thune (South Dakota) will be campaigning for Rehberg in Great Falls on Tuesday (Oct. 16). On Saturday, I received another postcard with a location and time change for the event. Thune will be in Great Falls on October 16 at the Best Western Heritage Inn at 5:30 p.m. (unless it changes).

Nothing like wasting some of that hard-earned campaign money…

So, in the 2012 Campaign season two of my favorite senators (Democrat Jim Webb and Republican John Thune) will have visited Great Falls. Great Falls is a battleground area in the senate race between Rehberg and Senator Jon Tester.

Thune almost single-handedly saved Ellsworth AFB from closing during the last round of BRAC. It was on the list and he stopped it from closing.

Thune is also the leading proponent of expanding the Powder River Training Complex which would open more skies above Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota and South Dakota for aircraft training. Rehberg, Tester, and Senator Max Baucus are against the expansion, which basically told the Department of Defense and defense contractors that Montana’s skies are closed.

Hopefully some of Thune’s bravado on defense issues will rub off…

U.S. House Debate:

U.S. House candidates Steve Daines (R) and Kim Gillan (D) debated Saturday night in Bozeman. It was televised statewide in Montana.

There’s nothing like a good political debate on Saturday night (just kiddin’). After the debate (which started at 9:00 p.m. on CBS stations) viewers could then turn the channel to NBC and watch Saturday Night Live and get more laughs…

I did not watch it, but here are two different stories about the debate HERE and HERE.

MT Governor’s Race Profile Stories:

The Associated Press published their token Montana governor “profile” stories this weekend.

Republican Rick Hill’s story is about 890 words. You can read it HERE. Democrat Steve Bullock’s story is about 860 words. You can read it HERE.

I thought Hill’s story would be shorter…

Brian Needs Attention:

The Associated Press published a story about Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer who is nearing the end of his time as Governor. I imagine the Republicans will be throwing a party in early January when the Governor departs.

I think Brian may feel a little lonely with all the campaigning going on without him…

With the predicted close races here in Montana (especially in the U.S. Senate) Schweitzer may need to work his magic once again for Jon Tester on Election night…

Social Security Raise:

According to the Associated Press, it looks like Social Security recipients will get a one to two percent increase next year. That’s about $12 to $24 per month. Average retirees get about $1,237 per month.

I’m thinking we should pay our U.S. Senators and Representatives $1,237 per month…

RIP Arlen Specter:

I was saddened to hear that former U.S. Senator Arlen Specter passed away on Sunday at the age of 82. President Obama said Specter was “fiercely independent.” That’s the way I remember him. He left the Republican Party in 2009 (after 44 years) and lost in a Democratic primary.

In the past few years the Republican Party has lost most of their moderate voices. It’s too bad the “big tent” is closed to moderates…

Republicans Fighting:

The Montana Cowgirl Blog has the story about the fighting inside the Republican Party and reports that a GOP Public Service Commission candidate was getting ticked that some of his fellow Republicans endorsed his Democrat opponent. Read the story HERE.

It’s getting freaking nasty over on the right. The tent may not only be closed to moderate voices, but they may destroy it altogether…

 

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