Montana Senate Race - Burns versus Tester by Doug Giebel

Jon Tester Conrad Burns


Republican election-year strategy is clear: keep the populace in a state of anxiety, and heighten that anxiety as the November election draws near. Will September and October be filled with "surprises" such as a symbolic troop withdrawal from Iraq, the closure of Guantanamo's notorious prison camp, the capture of Usama bin Laden, unconstitutional homeland spying that supposedly leads to more arrests of home-based terrorists groups, discovery of viable WMD in Iraq? Will Dick Cheney finally declare a state of national emergency and proclaim Republicans the permanent conservators of the United States?

At the local level, Republican candidates for House and Senate will continue to trot out the votes of Democrats who opposed doomed-to-fail amendments on flag burning, same-sex marriage, immigration, "cut and run" withdrawal from Iraq, the estate tax repeal and tax-welfare policies to benefit American's wealthiest citizens.

As an early example of things to come, the current Montana race for U.S. Senate is a worthy harbinger. Out here in Big Sky Country, Democratic businessman-farmer Jon Tester is challenging the folksy Republican Senator Conrad Burns. For the first time, Burns is vulnerable, primarily because of his association with convicted felon Jack Abramoff. Any scandal attached to Burns has not seemed to diminish the cash flowing into his re-election coffers, but one suspects that deep pockets from outside Montana will give Tester a financial boost as the campaign heats up.

From now until November, remote Montana, whose scenery and lonesome spaces usually garner the most outside attention, will provide a wide-open stage where political junkies can get their kicks watching Republican strategists try to take a small-town country boy to the woodshed of history.


http://www.counterpunch.org/giebel06272006.html