Free Republic

A third-party Senate candidate in Montana has effectively dropped out of the race and endorsed Republican candidate Matt Rosendale in his bid to unseat Sen. Jon Tester (D., Mont.). Rick Breckenridge, a Libertarian and a surveyor, cited his anger with an anonymous campaign mailer encouraging voters to choose him over Rosendale because of privacy concerns. The Republican nominee said Tester's allies were behind the message, and he said he was honored to have Breckenridge's backing.

WASHINGTON – President Trump plans to hold 11 campaign rallies in seven states in the run-up to the midterm elections. The president’s schedule includes stops in Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Tennessee and West Virginia.

A poll shows Montana Democratic Sen. Jon Tester barely leading his Republican challenger, indicating the seat might be within reach for the GOP. A survey conducted by Montana State University and the Montana Television Network shows Tester beating state auditor Matt Rosendale, his Republican opponent, by 3 percentage points. The poll — released Monday — shows Tester pulling in 46 percent of registered voters to Rosendale’s 43 percent. Over 6 percent of respondents said they are still undecided. The survey suggests a neck-and-neck race just two weeks ahead of Election Day. “In just 19 days, the people of this incredible...

After the mother grizzly bear finished mauling him, after he rubbed the bear spray from his eyes and hiked a half-mile cradling a broken arm, Bob Legasa found himself under attack from a meaner, more unpredictable and entirely more vicious animal: online commenters. “I have never been so threatened in my life,” said Legasa, a Hayden, Idaho, resident. “There are literally hundreds of threats wishing that I would die. Wishing that I would die a slow, painful death. It came, from all people, the peaceful grass-eating vegan community.” Legasa was attacked by a mother grizzly bear Oct. 13 while bowhunting...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Various reports indicate President Donald Trump will return to West Virginia before the Nov. 6 General Election to stump for state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey in his run for U.S. Senate. According to a Reuters report, Trump will go on an 8-state blitz beginning next Wednesday including campaign stops in West Virginia, Florida, Missouri, Indiana, Montana, Ohio, Georgia and Tennessee. Morrisey, who has trailed U.S. Senator Joe Manchin in most of the major polls, predicted during an appearance on MetroNews “Talkline” earlier this week that Trump would return. Trump visited Wheeling Sept. 29. “A vote for Patrick...

The Democrats typically lead Republicans in early voting during midterm and presidential election cycles. In 2016 the Democratic lead in early voting was such that it inspired major news outlets, AP for example, to run articles with titles like “Early voting: More good signs for Clinton in key states.” Among the states in which early voting portended a victory for Hillary, according to AP, were Florida and North Carolina. The story went on to quote her spokesperson as follows: “The Clinton campaign describes both North Carolina and Florida as ‘checkmate’ states.” Trump won both of course.Oddly, most of the major...

From KGVO and AP, we learn that the infamous city council of Missoula, Montana, voted eight to three in favor of two bans on legally owned guns in public places. Both of the bans outlaw the possession of firearms at all polling places, parks, schools, museums, libraries and city council chambers. The first is an ’emergency’ ordinance, effective immediately, and additionally includes a clause banning guns in “any other locations of public assembly where persons gather together to conduct and/or administer any public election while election-related activities are taking place.” This first ordinance will last 90 days. The second, follow-up...

Is the "blue wave" turning purple? Republican-affiliated voters have outpaced Democratic-affiliated voters in early voting in seven closely-watched states, according to data provided by TargetSmart and independently analyzed by the NBC News Data Analytics Lab. GOP-affiliated voters have surpassed Democratic-affiliated ones in early voting in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Montana, Tennessee and Texas, the data showed. Only in Nevada have Democratic-affiliated voters exceeded Republican-affiliated voters so far in early voting, according to the data.

Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) said President Donald Trump’s compliment of Rep. Greg Gianforte (R-MT) for assaulting a reporter last May was “not OK.” Sasse said, “I believe the First Amendment is the beating heart of the American experiment. We need to have a president who celebrates the First Amendment and not pretends that beating up a reporter is OK. What you hear from Nebraskans who also tune out most of the rallies is that there’s a short-term, long-term thing going on and feel that the president’s rhetoric is short-term playful. I don’t think...

MISSOULA, Mont. – Supporters of President Donald Trump lined up early this morning for a chance to catch the president’s rally for candidate Matt Rosendale in Missoula. We’ll have coverage of tonight’s rally throughout the day and evening. Tune in at 5:30 and 10 p.m. for the latest updates and coverage. (VIDEOS-AT-LINK)

President Trump on Wednesday revived his attacks on Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), one day before the president is set to hold a rally for Tester's political opponent. The president lambasted Tester over his handling of workplace misconduct allegations against White House doctor and Trump's one-time Secretary of Veterans' Affairs nominee, Adm. Ronny Jackson. "Ever since his vicious and totally false statements about Admiral Ron Jackson, the highly respected White House Doctor for Obama, Bush & me, Senator John Tester looks to be in big trouble in the Great State of Montana!" Trump wrote in a tweet, misspelling Tester's first name.

Colorado and Wyoming residents woke up Sunday to find that an early season snowstorm had blanketed their homes and roadways with up to a foot (30 centimeters) of snow and sent temperatures plunging overnight. The storm caused crashes, snarled traffic and temporarily closed some major highways due to icy conditions. The heaviest snow fell in an area stretching from Boulder, Colorado, through Wyoming to Montana’s Beartooth Mountains. The National Weather Service reported snowfall measuring between 3 and 13 inches (8 to 33 centimeters) south of Sheridan, Wyoming, over the last 24 hours. About 3 inches (8 centimeters) of snow fell...

<p>HELENA, Mont. (AP) — President Donald Trump is planning a three-state campaign swing in the West in the final weeks before the Nov. 6 election.</p> <p>Trump campaign officials say the president will use the rallies next Thursday, Friday and Saturday to urge people to get out and vote in Montana, Arizona and Nevada.</p>

Senate No Toss Ups 2018 Democrats 0 Pick Ups GOP 2 Pick Ups Mo & ND

A vigilance committee dispensed frontier justice in 1863 Montana. But did they get the right man? Henry Plummer walked the line between lawman and outlaw in the wild west.

Left-wing activists and Democrats are disturbed over a conference sponsored by "This West Is Our West" scheduled this Saturday in Whitefish, Montana. The conference called "A 'New Code Of The West'" will look at land, water, property and civil rights in the Western states. A large list of speakers include Ammon Bundy with a local activist calling his appearance "very disturbing". Cherilyn DeVries of a group called "Love Lives Here" told "The Missoulian" newspaper in Montana: "When you have violent extremists like Ammon Bundy coming to town, they're not trying to bring people together, they're trying to divide the community."...

Swift’s endorsement is not without commercial risk. According to an analysis by the New York Times, she is most popular in rural areas in the West and Midwest that tend to vote conservative, like Utah, Montana and Nevada, and only modestly popular in Tennessee...."OUR GIRL no more," one posted. "They took her from us and turned her into one of their brain dead zombies," another wrote.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) challenged Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) on Sunday to name one person from President Donald Trump's list of potential Supreme Court justices that he finds acceptable. "This is a list that was compiled in November, but he actually put it out during the campaign," Graham told "Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace, as he held up the list. "Twenty something people on this list, asking Chuck Schumer, name five, name three, name one that would be okay with you." Schumer and fellow Democrats tried to pressure Trump and Republicans to withdraw then Supreme...

Rep. Mark Walker's (R-N.C.) office said this week that it reported Twitter messages from a supporter of his Democratic opponent to Capitol Police to investigate. Staff for Walker, the chairman of the powerful Republican Study Committee, said they asked for Capitol Police to investigate after the North Carolina Republican’s campaign received continuous threatening messages from a supporter of his Democratic opponent. The person behind the tweets – which included the "bomb" emoji and an attempt to track down information about the congressman’s daughter’s school and whether it was public or private – was identified as Andrew Cabaccang, a Montana-based man...

10/5 8:46pm Democrat Senators Tester, McCaskill, Donnelly, Nelson and Heitkamp are discussing change of Kavanaugh vote tonight.