Former Republican Lt. Governor and current Democratic U.S. Senate candidate John Bohlinger has played the game of politics pretty well this past week. Some observers might think his actions are straight from (former Governor) Brian Schweitzer’s playbook. Bohlinger was Schweitzer’s Lt. Governor.

Schweitzer’s gimmicks and actions always included getting the media to play along, and Bohlinger has accomplished that feat like an honor roll student.

Last Tuesday night Bohlinger told folks attending the Lewis and Clark County Democratic Central Committee dinner in Helena of his intentions to run for U.S. Senate, and a story was published about it the next day.

Last Wednesday when Republican Steve Daines was holding a “special event” in Bozeman to announce his U.S. Senate candidacy, Bohlinger told Lee Newspapers:

We need to challenge the tea party representatives who like the Taliban shut our country down,” Bohlinger told reporters, comparing it to the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, and the terrorists’ actions on Sept. 11, 2001.

That statement sent the Tea Party crowd over the edge – and sent the Daines announcement to the back page.

But the fun was just beginning…  Continue reading →