Happy Friday! Here are the topics that caught my eye:

• Emerson College Polling
• State of the Union
• Filing Deadline
• No More Trump
• One More Thing

EMERSON COLLEGE POLLING:

While most people were talking about the Emerson College Poll that shows Jon Tester leading Tim Sheehy 44-42%, buried further down in the poll are some results that probably caused the Republicans in the state to take notice.

The poll found that Greg Gianforte’s job performance rating sits at 37.2% approve and 37% disapprove. That’s a problem no matter who you are. Another 27.7% were neutral or no opinion.

This is pretty good news for Ryan Busse, the Democrat, who wants to unseat Gianforte.

This survey involved 1,000 registered voters in Montana, with a margin of error of +/-3 percent. Check it out HERE.

STATE OF THE UNION:

And here’s the simplest truth. You can’t love your country only when you win. – President Joe Biden

I think it was the Associated Press (AP) that labeled the State of the Union (SOTU) speech by President Joe Biden “feisty.” Of course, the Republicans called it many other things.

It was pretty much a campaign stump speech in places. Biden entered the chamber and was greeted by MAGA Republican Marjorie Taylor Green, who was wearing a MAGA hat. That is probably against the House rules.

I did like the way Biden showed he had some fight in him, sometimes responding to the Republicans in the audience who were yelling at him. He never called Trump by name, but he did recite several of Trump’s quotes to show how big an asshole Trump is. The Republicans did not like him quoting Trump although they were actual quotes.

I would have liked Biden to keep the speech shorter, but it lasted one hour, seven minutes, and 17 seconds (1:07:17). Many of the folks there were up way past their bedtime, including Biden.

He also had this to say about Trump and Putin:

It wasn’t that long ago when a Republican President, Ronald Reagan, thundered, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.”
Now, my predecessor, a former Republican President, tells Putin, “Do whatever the hell you want.”
A former American President actually said that, bowing down to a Russian leader.
It’s outrageous. It’s dangerous. It’s unacceptable.

I also liked:

History is watching, just like history watched three years ago on January 6th.
Insurrectionists stormed this very Capitol and placed a dagger at the throat of American democracy.
Many of you were here on that darkest of days.
We all saw with our own eyes these insurrectionists were not patriots.
They had come to stop the peaceful transfer of power and to overturn the will of the people.
January 6th and the lies about the 2020 election, and the plots to steal the election, posed the gravest threat to our democracy since the Civil War.
But they failed. America stood strong and democracy prevailed.

You can read the full remarks as prepared for delivery HERE.

FILING DEADLINE:

I expect a burst of activity Monday at the Montana Secretary of State’s office as the time to file for elective office in Montana comes to a close. The candidate filing closes at 5:00 p.m. Monday, March 11. I expect to see some surprises.

The primary election in Montana is June 4. More information can be found HERE.

NO MORE TRUMP:

Dick Wadhams has been the head of the Colorado Republican Party in the past. I’ve known him for years as he was press secretary for U.S. Senator Conrad Burns when I volunteered for the Burns campaign in 1994. He worked for several other senators and ran several campaigns. He was a mentor to me. I learned a ton of things from him.

The Colorado Times Recorder reported this week that one of the Colorado Republican Party’s most successful campaign strategists told a right-wing radio host last week that he won’t vote for Trump if the former president wins the Republican presidential nomination and appears on the November election ballot.

The Colorado Times Recorder also reported:

Asked by KHOW radio host Dan Caplis Feb. 28 if he will “vote for Donald Trump on Election Day, if he’s the nominee,” former Colorado Republican Party Chair Dick Wadhams replied, “No, I’m not going to, Dan. I’m just going to tell ya, I’m not. I cannot stand this stolen election conspiracy crap. I cannot stand how he behaved on January 6th. He drives me nuts when he attacks Nikki Haley’s husband for not being with her on the campaign trail because he’s being deployed in Africa as part of the American military. No, I’m just with it. I hate this choice.”

Wadhams continued:

“Trump and his supporters, including the people who run the party in Colorado, have made it very clear,” continued Wadhams, who last year thought Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis could win Colorado. “They don’t want conservatives like me involved in the Republican Party. They don’t even consider us Republicans. They consider us RINOs and the dreaded establishment.”

Good for Wadhams.

Check out the full article HERE.

ONE MORE THING:

Don’t forget to get up Sunday at 2:00 a.m. to set your clocks ahead (Spring forward) one hour. Getting up at 2:00 a.m. and doing this will make you appreciate the little things in life more.

## HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND ##