Prayers go out to the family, friends, and co-workers of the Cascade County (MT) deputy sheriff who was killed in the line of duty Thursday.

Welcome to “Caught My Eye!”

If you are a first-time visitor, “Caught My Eye” is posted right here every Friday morning! This is when I take a look at some of the stories I did not have time to write about during the week. I often throw in a touch of sarcasm to make you smile – or to irritate you just a little – or both.

Today I write about Amanda Curtis, the nominating convention, Steve Daines and Bob Winger, the nude bike ride, Woodstock, plus we have a winner who is Making Montana Proud!

Is it Curtis?

I am not a party insider for the Democrats or Republicans and I don’t even play a political scientist/professor on local TV, but there seems to be a lot of momentum for State Representative Amanda Curtis to be nominated by the Montana Democrats to run for U.S. Senate. We’ll find out for sure this Saturday.

Meanwhile I was reading one of my favorite Montana Blogs, James Connor’s Flathead Memo, and saw that Curtis had posted a YouTube video about the Nominating Convention. Curtis says in the video that she will be nominated and she would accept it. Connor also points out the rifle on the wall in the video. Read his insights HERE.

Connor wrote that it was “another of her nose-too-close-to-the-lens videos.” She did many (MANY) legislative updates during the last state legislative session. These videos are a great way to communicate with constituents – it’s too bad more legislators don’t update their constituents this way.

Curtis did an interview with The Daily Beast recently. Read it HERE. It was not that good.

Pro-Tip: Curtis will need to get up to speed quickly on the major issues and have responses ready for all the questions she will have thrown at her if she is the nominee. She should retain the assistance of a communications professional before she heads to Helena for the nominating convention. There’s little margin for error in the final 80 days of campaign 2014.

Finally, if Curtis is the nominee I think it will be a good thing for her and the Montana Democrats. I give her chances of winning against Daines at about 5%, but gaining name recognition for several state-wide office openings in 2016 will be priceless.

Daines Ad “Montana Jobs”

If you’ve read many of my reviews of campaign ads, then you know I can’t stand it when the people in the ads are reading their lines.

Today I take a look at a new ad from the Republican Steve Daines for U.S. Senate called “Montana Jobs.” Many folks are probably wondering why Daines is even running ads at this time since John Walsh stepped aside. Every day Daines is on TV and out and about shaking hands when he does not have a major opponent is a day he wins – and the more momentum he builds.

Steve Daines struggles when he has more than a couple of sentences to read, and Bob Winger of Billings, Montana, does, too. I am sure Winger is a great guy, but the folks making this video should have used him for a voiceover and not on camera so much. When the ad starts with what looks like him reading a line saying, “I’m Bob Winger, I’m a Democrat and a retired union leader” you know you’re in for a treat.

It’s always great for a candidate to find someone from the other party to endorse them. That’s political campaigning 101. Now Daines can check that off. Maybe they will stop airing it now.

I give Daines’ ad “Montana Jobs” a four out of ten.

Nude Bike Ride:

I don’t think the Democratic Nominating Convention scheduled for Saturday in Helena will take too long because there’s a nude bike ride scheduled in Missoula for Sunday. I’m sure folks will want to get back to Missoula so they can rest up for that.

I imagine the local media will be covering it. According to a line in the Missoulian when a similar nude bike ride was held in Portland, it “earned the Oregonian newspaper’s website more than 1 million pageviews in less than 48 hours this year, thanks in large part to a photo slideshow.”

I wonder if the Missoulian will be doing a photo slideshow. I wonder if it will be behind the pay firewall. I wonder…

Making Montana Proud:

This section is where I mention people or groups whose actions embarrass Montana in some way.

-From the Billings Gazette: Gary Alan Roma, 53, appeared in Yellowstone County Justice Court this week after being charged with his 10th DUI. It was reported, “Roma has three DUI convictions in Minnesota and six DUI convictions in Montana.”

Gary Alan Roma is an embarrassment to Montana as well as the last few judges who have allowed him to roam free.

Woodstock:

On this date in 1969 the Woodstock Music and Art Fair opened in upstate New York. (Source)

That would have been a great party…

One More Thing:

Don’t forget to stretch!

 

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