Just like Matt V, and everyone else on the Jon Tester mailing list, I received an email today from Jon Tester. He references an article that appeared in the National Journal, that tried to break down next year's contested Senate Races. Just to save you clicks, I'll quote the relevant Montana part here.
Conrad Burns (R)
Last ranking: 6
At some point, we could envision moving this up some but only if John Morrison and not Jon Tester gets out of the primary. As much as we know the liberal blogosphere loves Tester, the reality is that he'll get killed in a general by Burns and the NRSC, which will just paint him as out of the mainstream.The Pearl Jam fundraising concert, while cute for a good press hit, will not excite the right-leaning Bush voters that any Democrat has to woo in order to win. We can only imagine the direct-mail pieces the GOP could come up with to bury Tester in a general. Morrison is the Democrats' best bet to keep this race competitive.
Excuse me? A "reality" to who exactly? What "mainstream" is it that matters so much to Montana voters? This requires a helluva lot more explanation than is provided in that blurb. Hopefully someone wiser than the author will provide it someday, to us simple manipulable Montana folk. (Yep, I'm a little testy about being told what I will believe. Imagine that.)
Jon Tester took a little offense to the implications of that dismissal, and for good reason. From his email:
You might have seen it last week, a little article in the National Journal, Washington, D.C.’s, most insider publication, that said that any candidate seen with Big Sandy’s Jeff Ament and Pearl Jam was a surefire loser in Montana.
Quite frankly, I was a little ticked off. But I didn’t give it much thought because taking advice on winning elections from Washington, D.C., can be a bit like taking a business ethics class from Jack Abramoff, the Washington lobbyist tied to Conrad Burns and under indictment for wire fraud and conspiracy.
Unlike Matt V, I am anti-DC establishment, and become more so by the day. This bunch of politicking losers are the same bunch who handed the Senate to the Republicans in the first place ... specifically because they've lost touch with the people who vote. Jon rightly points out that the Pearl Jam concert wasn't a "stunt", it was friends being friends. If the Republicans want to match Jon's friends against Conrad's friends, then we got us a winner, here.
The quality of Tester's friends:
I grew up with Jeff Ament of Pearl Jam. Jeff is a Big Sandy boy like me. His father was Mayor, and gave me my first flattop haircut. I taught Jeff’s sisters and brother music in school. And Jeff and I used to play pickup basketball games together.
Jeff has been fortunate to make a good living doing what he loves – playing music. Year after year he gives back to the people and youth of Montana, the state he still calls home today.
And the quality of Conrad's friends? Hmmm. Indicted lobbyists and money launderers. I will continue to document those until this race is over, and Conrad loses.
But here's the part that gets my hackles up: (from Jon's email)
But then one of my primary opponents, John Morrison, decided that he needed to distribute this article across the state of Montana.
The greatest threat from Washington DC today is the cronyism of an incompetent and untrustworthy administration, that keeps Congress as a pet to be petted when they comply and slandered when they actually choose to hold to their values. By promoting this weak endorsement from the National Journal, Morrison tells me that he would like to be a lap dog, because he will be "electable" in the sense that Washington insiders would endorse. I'm sick of lap dogs in Washington. The guy I endorse says this:
Let me tell you this: I don’t like Washington insiders telling me I can’t be seen with my old friends from Big Sandy. Montanans stick together, and don’t forget friends just because some D.C. insider thinks that friends are disposable. That’s not the Montana way.
Jon Tester understands that Montanans actually value our state, our relationships, and our loyalties. If that belief is destined to lose to Conrad Burns, then at least I'll sleep better at night knowing that I voted for a person that I believe in, instead of an electability goal that walks like a man. Morrison's pedigree means nothing, if he would accept and promote the arrogant argument that he, and he alone, can struggle against Burns. Conrad's greatest failing as a Senator has been his clueless self-interest. Since I first went to his website, Morrison's people have updated his Endorsements page several times ... and his issues page not at all. That speaks to the same self-interest that I revile Conrad for. I don't care who thinks a candidate is just spiffy, half as much as I want insight into that candidates beliefs and loyalties. I want a candidate loyal to Montana, to Montanans, his friends and his neighbors. Do we elect Senators to represent establishment groups and interest parties, or to represent us? I think the latter. And that's why I can finally, strongly, endorse Jon Tester for the US Senate.
As Matt V rightly points out, the most stirring part of Jon's email is this:
I’m running for the U.S. Senate because I think Conrad Burns has lost touch with this state. I sure won’t forget my Montana values and roots – and family and friends.
I don't give a tinker's damn if Bill Bradley supports John Morrison. I don't vote for my Senators to please Bill Bradley. That a famous friend and townsmen of Jon Tester would support him speaks volumes to me. And that Jon would passionately support him right back ... THAT'S the integrity I'm looking for. So, I officially support Jon Tester for the US Senate. Please do so as well.
UPDATE: I am a bad lazy blogger. I didn't notice that it wasn't Matt who posted this issue to Left in the West, it was V. Corrected now.
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