Greetings! Here are the topics for today’s commentary: 

• 30,000 Signatures
• AOC in Missoula
• The Noon News
• Paxton Defeats Cornyn
• One More Thing

30,000 SIGNATURES:

In a press release sent to The Western Word, Independent candidate for U.S. Senate Seth Bodnar announced that his campaign successfully gathered nearly 30,000 signatures to qualify him for the November ballot; more than twice the required threshold of 13,327. All signatures will be submitted to county offices by 5 pm MT (May 26). 

The Helena Independent Record reports that the next step is for the campaign to submit the petitions to county election officers, who approve or reject local residents’ signatures before passing the batch of approved signatures to the secretary of state for another round of verification. Only after Montana’s top election administrator has signed off on the total does an independent candidate get on the ballot. 

AOC IN MISSOULA:

I received a message from U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez letting me know she will be in Missoula on Thursday, May 28, to campaign for congressional candidate Sam Forstag.  

The event is scheduled for 5 p.m. at The Wilma. (Source)

THE NOON NEWS:

I am a news junkie, especially political news. I watch (and record) the noon news televised by MTN News each day on KRTV in Great Falls. 

Tuesday’s broadcast was unique, to say the least. 

It started with a weather map of Montana and a bearded man wearing a dress shirt and pants, a tie, but no jacket. Suddenly, another person appeared on the left side of the screen and vanished. There was no sound at first. 

As the bearded man shuffled around, other people partially appeared on camera. He left the screen and returned a few times before the audio finally kicked in at the 1:20 mark. He left the screen, and I heard someone with an open microphone say, “[Inaudible] is not amused.” 

Doors clicked open and shut, and someone began humming a song. At the 2:10 mark, the open mic captured what loudly sounded like someone using the bathroom! By 2:30, the audio cut out completely, and the broadcast reverted to a slideshow of different Montana weather maps. 

A woman walked in front of the maps at 3:20, followed by a man in a baseball cap at 4:05. The same man walked back in the opposite direction around 5:26. At the 7:20 mark, the broadcast cut to a live shot from the Missoula Eye Cam. Finally, at 7:25, the anchor suddenly appeared. She was right in the middle of a story. 

Live television at its best…

PAXTON DEFEATS CORNYN:

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, whom Trump endorsed, won the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, defeating four-term U.S. Senator John Cornyn. 

With about 60% of the votes in, Paxton had about 63% of the vote to Cornyn’s 37%. (Source)

Paxton will face Democratic nominee James Talarico in the general election. 

ONE MORE THING:

Trump’s doctor reports that they did a brain scan and found nothing. (Source)

## END ##