Meanwhile, Back In Montana…

When John Bohlinger comes into any town in Montana to talk policy, it is news. Veteran journalist Mike Dennison interviewing Bohlinger last week on a campaign policy tour

Beltway Democrats decided their best chance to hold the Montana Senate seat would be to replace Max Baucus-- who was given a plumb job as ambassador to China-- with the conservative John Walsh. Walsh gets to run as an incumbent against radical right extremist Steve Daines, a congressman. At the end of 2013 Walsh had $435,549 in his campaign kitty. Daines had $1,897,935. And the Koch brothers and other fat cats and anti-democracy plutocrats will spend handsomely to capture the seat. Remember, the close race that McCain won in 2008 wasn't all that close in 2012, when Romney beat Obama 55-42%. Democrat Steve Bullock was elected governor that day, though, 49-47% and Democrat Jon Tester was reelected to the Senate over Denny Rehberg 49-45%. Very purple. But can an appointed corporate shill of the Beltway Democratic Establishment win this race? Almost unimaginable!

Although the DSCC tried, Walsh doesn't have the Democratic nomination wrapped up. They attempted to push Schweitzer's Lt Governor, John Bohlinger (who we've talked about before), out of the race… and that backfired. The mnore they pushed, the more he became convinced that he owed it to Montana to stay in the race.

Walsh also has a primary challenger in John Bohlinger, a quirky, bow-tie wearing former two-term lieutenant governor in the Brian Schweitzer administration who is positioning himself as the progressive alternative. Democrats expect Walsh to prevail in the June primary, but Bohlinger’s name recognition in the state can’t be underestimated.

…He’s campaigning on public campaign finance system, a minimum wage hike, an increase in Social Security benefits and greater protections for gays and lesbians-- but also as the insurgent who wouldn't step down for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., who told him last fall he didn't want a primary.

With a fair-minded reputation and a grandfatherly demeanor, don’t expect Bohlinger to sling mud at Walsh-- “I’m not going to make much about what our differences our … I want to talk about what I’m for,” he says.

But he hits a nerve when he charges that his real problem with the senator is that he doesn’t know what he truly stands for.

“I really can’t comment on his politics because I have not heard him articulate his views on things. I really don’t know where he stands. I think a lot of Montanans would say we really don’t know the guy,” Bohlinger says. “I suppose that somebody will tell him what to say.”

Meanwhile, if Walsh got a bump with the voters from the appointment, it has yet to show up in any polls. While there hasn't been any public polling on the primary since PPP had both in the 30s in Dec, it remains basically 1/3 for Walsh, 1/3 for Bohlinger with the rest up for grabs. This is a single digit primary, and I've heard reliable chatter that Bohlinger is even within the margin of error in Walsh's DSCC polling.

He's just been keeping his head down and putting in a ton of highway miles. Our old friend Franke Wilmer has introduced Bohlinger twice in Bozeman in the last 2 weeks, both times explaining how she first met him when he was the only legislator at gay pride parades in the early 1990s. There's one primary debate scheduled on May 3 and many Democrats are taking a second look at Bohlinger after realizing Walsh can't beat Daines, regardless of what Beltway insiders want. Like another populist western Democrat the Beltway insiders is wary of, South Dakota's Rick Weiland, Bohlinger is campaigning on getting the big money out of politics. And that's been something he's been pushing for years and for which he has a two-pronged plan:

1. Implement I-166 and strengthen the US Constitution by explicitly declaring that corporations aren't people and money isn't speech.

2. Pass the Government By the People Act of 2014 to create a system of public financing that candidates could choose instead of relying upon DC lobbyists and PACs.

I'm sure you're familiar with I-166, you were probably among the 74.7% of Montanans who voted for it in 2012. But have you read up the Government By the People Act that Congressman Sarbanes introduced in February? It already has 141 cosponsors, despite not having any from the Montana delegation.

You come away from looking into Bohlinger with the certainty that-- unlike Daines or Walsh-- he can't be bought by lobbyists. On policy matters, he talks about expanding Social Security, not cutting back on it. Montana is a grey-haired state and over 20% of all Montanans are on Social Security. This messaging resonates so perfectly on the stump that every Democrat in the country should run on this. That and single payer which, we are told, gets the most applause in every single town and after the very successful Schweitzer-Bohlinger health care record, is something Montana Dems take seriously.

The primary is June 3rd, absentees go out 30 days earlier and the majority of votes will be cast before election day. If Bohlinger can beat Montana's weak appointed senator in the primary, nobody is going to doubt whether he can beat Montana's unpopular GOP congressman come fall. If Walsh is the nominee, Democrats will lose the seat and maybe the Senate. The way to win is to run on the Schweitzer-Bohlinger successes. That's resonating with more and more Democratic voters.