Welcome! Here are the topics for today’s independent commentary:

• Bankhead Pivots
• On The Lam
• Gas, Groceries, & Electricity
• One More Thing

BANKHEAD PIVOTS:

The 2026 Montana election season has been a masterclass in political unpredictability, and when the dust finally settles, it will likely be remembered as either an episode of “Stranger Things” or a total clusterf^&$.

Lee Newspapers reported late Wednesday afternoon that U.S. Senate candidate Democrat Alani Bankhead has claimed she was offered a job with the national political party in exchange for dropping out of the race, a major messaging pivot for the candidate who for months has denied receiving such a formal overture.

Lee Newspapers reported that during an interview that aired last week on Montana PBS, Bankhead alleged she was approached with a proposal: exit the Senate race to clear the way for independent candidate Seth Bodnar, and she’d land a job with the Democratic National Committee.

The “proposal” was supposedly from “a Montana-based” supporter of U.S. Senate independent candidate Seth Bodnar. The Bodnar team has denied it.

As many media reports indicate, the presence of both Bankhead and Bodnar on the ballot splits the opposition, giving Republican Kurt Alme a commanding advantage.

Naturally, Attorney General Austin Knudsen, a Republican, couldn’t resist a headline-grabbing investigation. He quickly weighed in on the situation, threatening to investigate under state campaign laws:

This is extremely concerning. If this is true, it appears to be a violation of Montana Code Annotated 13-35-221. My office will be reaching out to @AlaniBankhead, @SethBodnarForMT and @DNC to investigate. (Source)

ON THE LAM:

Readers may remember Tommy Michael VanHoose, who is the former owner of Highwood Creek Outfitters, a gun store and shooting range in Great Falls, Montana. VanHoose made national headlines after his business was raided by armed IRS and ATF agents. While VanHoose and his prominent political supporters initially decried the high-profile 2023 search as a politically motivated attack on a firearms dealer, a subsequent federal grand jury indictment revealed the operation was triggered after VanHoose admitted to an undercover IRS agent posing as a buyer that he had been skimming cash.

In October 2025, he pleaded guilty to a felony charge of subscribing to a false tax return after admitting to underreporting his gross business receipts by roughly $1.4 million between 2018 and 2022, resulting in nearly $500,000 in unpaid federal taxes.

Just recently, the Montana Free Press is reporting that VanHoose, who became a conservative media darling after the IRS raided his Great Falls gun store in 2023, skipped his October sentencing hearing in federal court for felony tax fraud. U.S. District Court Judge Brian Morris issued a warrant for VanHoose’s arrest on Oct. 8. A day later, VanHoose’s defense attorneys filed the paperwork to remove themselves as his counsel.

Check out the great reporting on this subject from the MTFP (HERE).

GAS, GROCERIES, & ELECTRICITY:

For any candidate stepping up to challenge a Republican this cycle, putting the cost of living at the heart of your platform is your most powerful asset.

A devastating new report from The Hill reveals a financial death blow for everyday Americans: a brutal September inflation spike has slammed households with crushing, unavoidable price hikes just weeks before they head to the ballot box. In a desperate bid to claw back control of Congress from Republicans, Democrats are scrambling to campaign on “affordability”—but the cold, hard numbers tell a much more apocalyptic story.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) confirms that annual inflation remains trapped at a punishing 3.7 percent, while a relentless monthly surge in energy, gas, and electricity costs is actively draining what little remains of the American pocketbook.

Based on the September CPI data provided in the article, here is where prices stand for major goods and products:

• Overall Inflation: Up 3.7 percent year over year. Inflation remains above the Federal Reserve’s 2 percent target, which it has exceeded for more than five years.
• Energy: Up 20.4 percent over the past year. September marked the largest monthly jump in energy prices since March.
• Gasoline: Up 35.3 percent year over year. Prices rose 9.1 percent from August to September, with a gallon of regular gas averaging roughly $4.26 nationwide.
• Electricity: Up 4.4 percent over the past year, ticking up 0.2 percent from August to September.
• Food: Up 2.5 percent year over year. The cost of food at home decreased by 0.1 percent from August to September, while food away from home rose by 0.2 percent.

I think it’s time to end the MAGA charade once and for all.

ONE MORE THING:

Elon Musk is 55 and needed a whole team of engineers to make a car fly. I was 17, had a ’68 Chevelle SS 396, a backroad, and a railroad crossing.

## THE END ##