Posted on 07/01/2007 1:58:27 PM PDT by Clintonfatigued
As Jim Gransberry reports at the Billings Gazette this morning, state Rep. Mike Lange, R-Billings, has just announced that he will challenge Democratic Sen. Max Baucus.
Lange, a pipefitter from Billings, told reporters he knew he has a long, hard road ahead of him, trying to unseat a powerful incumbent. He pledged to put "America first" during his campaign and focus on freedom, security and America's working class.
Lange, who has served three sessions in the House but became famous during the last legislative session (in which he was the House Minority Leader) for the tirade against the governor, will make several other stops in the coming days to speak about his candidacy, including Great Falls, Helena, Bozeman, Missoula and Butte.
Barrett Kaiser, Baucus' spokesman, said although Baucus has not officially announced he will run again for the seat, "we fully expect them to."
(Excerpt) Read more at newwest.net ...
This does not look promising.
State Rep’s rarely win Senate seats.
Especially if they tell the Governor to “stick it up his a**” when talking about a bill they disagree on.
At best, he is second-tier. But Denny Rehberg isn’t interested.
Fantastic, why don’t we run Jessica Lange instead ? The fact that Montana STILL sends a Watergate baby to Congress is outrageous. That trash should’ve been taken out a long time ago.
He has had SO many breaks, partly due to his wealthy family. When he first ran in 1978, he may have lost to state Senator Henry Hibbard (who was almost elected to the U.S. Senate in 1972), but Hibbard died in a plane crash. Baucus also ould have been unseated in 1984 if then Secretary of State Jim Waltermire had run, but he raised a ton of money and Waltermire ducked out. And Denny Rehberg didn’t run in 2002.
And they said that Ronald Reagan was made of teflon.
Denny Rehberg lost narrowly to Baucus in 1996, but that was before Rehberg had the name ID he has now. Perhaps, Bob Keenan could make another go at the Senate.
Seems like untimely deaths were a near-epidemic in the state to wipe out political opponents.
Oddly enough, Secretary Waltermire died in a plane crash in 1988 while campaigning for the GOP nomination for Governor. Some conspiracy theorists claim it was deliberate and alleged certain elements in MT politics were protecting international drug trafficking (specifically accusing Marc Racicot when he worked in the AG office) and that Waltermire was going to blow it wide open. Too make matters even more peculiar, Chet Blaylock, Racicot’s future Dem gubernatorial opponent, also died during campaigning (supposedly, right before he was going to publicly raise issues against Racicot).
I take no position on the validity of the claims, but there have been odd allegations made against Racicot for some time (including one of setting up his boss for a DUI, the incumbent AG in the ‘80s, who was in the way of Racicot’s rise). Maybe it all was coincidence. Maybe it wasn’t (noteworthy was that Racicot was Dubya’s top pick for Attorney General, and he didn’t end up with the job — the public excuse was his social liberal views, but I’m sure some of these allegations would’ve been a fiasco for the administration early on if aired publicly — that might also be a reason why Racicot has never run for the Senate, too, against Baucus. They probably all have dirty laundry on one another).
U r all right. There is no excuse for there to be Democrat senators from red states such as the Dakots(3) or Nebraska’s 2(Hagel the rino) Lindsey Gramnesty? They all need the Lincoln Chafee treatment from the voters. Unfortunately the higher ups will go to bat for them in the primaries(remember Specter?) Save your contributions. I’m buying an Iphone.
That’s right. The gross overrepresentation of Rats from red states is a scandal.
Unfortunately, this candidate doesn’t do much for us. We need someone who has run statewide before.
This does not look promising, that’s for sure.
Agreed. It is hard to imagine Lange running a credible campaign against Baucus. He’s pretty much on his own at this point, so it would take something very unexpected to change that.
Prior to his YouTube moment, he was actually shaping up to be a interesting potential candidate against Baucus, since he is one of the few Montanans who actually carries a union card.
It beats having no candidate at all.
Now, lets find a candidate to beat Baucus like a rented mule.
FIRE MAX BAUCUS!
Freepers, go here:
http://www.newwest.net/index.php/topic/article/mike_lange_announces_senate_bid_against_baucus/C8/L8/#comments
Make a comment. Remind people of why Max Baucus needs to be retired.
Lange doesn’t stand a chance. Baucus has strong support from independents and Libertarians. He’s not a moonbat Dem.
Keenan is our best shot. He also had the cahones to run against Conrad in the primary. He got only 22% of the vote but that shows his tenacity. He’s our best shot to finally bounce liberal madmax out of the senate. It really comes down to the cohesiveness of MT republicans.
We should put up billboards across Montana: “Don’t vote for “Tax to the Max” Baucus.”
Yes, but maybe a positive spin instead : Keenan is Montana’s best shot with baucus as the target, and make the target look old and tattered. Perhaps that message will get thru : madmax is a tired old liberal who goes the way of our best senator, Conrad Burns, that Montana ever had, retired from active duty.
I do remember madmax on C Span once, grilling an atmospheric scientist on air pollution, etc; during a hearing. Madmax : WELL, isn’t there something we can DO??? You could just see the guy rolling his eyes, slapping his forehead : DICKHEAD, do you know how BIG the atmosphere is(10^15 tons)? A clear illustration then of fringe liberal thinking that you see in CA, completely out of touch with reality. Yup, put up an excellent republican candidate and madmax is GONE.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.