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Schweitzer 'joke' may have grain of truth By JENNIFER McKEE Gazette State Bureau UPDATE 3:30 p.m. : HELENA - Gov. Brian Schweitzer said this week he was "just joking" this summer when he suggested he tampered with the hotly-contested 2006 Senate election. However, at least one Big Horn County observer was escorted out of a Crow Indian polling place that election night, (snip) Schweitzer has been criticized this week for remarks he made to a lawyer’s group in Philadelphia this July. In the remarks, Schweitzer insinuates that he tampered with election to secure a victory for Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon...

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. -- A Baptist minister has been charged in Tennessee with indecent exposure and driving under the influence. Police said 58-year-old Tommy Tester of Bristol, Va., was wearing a skirt when he was arrested last week after allegedly relieving himself in front of children at a car wash. A report also accuses Tester of offering police officers oral sex and says an open bottle of vodka and empty oxycodone prescription bottle was found in his car when Tester was arrested Friday. Authorities identified Tester as the minister of Gospel Baptist Church in Bristol and an employee of Christian...

Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., said Friday that he won't keep campaign donations he received last year that have now been tied to a disgraced Democratic fundraiser if the donations are found to be improper. "If a donation to Senator Tester is shown to have been made illegally, he would obviously return it or donate it to charity," said Matt McKenna, a Tester spokesman. Tester received $3,750 last year from people linked to Norman Hsu, a New York clothing executive who helped raise more than $1 million for Democratic candidates in the past four years. Tester received no money from Hsu...

In narrowly winning her seat last year, Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri ran hard against what she saw as a flawed approach in Congress to dealing with illegal immigration. Ms. McCaskill, a Democratic newcomer, says she is not about to change her view now. “I hope this never wears off, but I like to keep my word,� said Ms. McCaskill, part of a triad of moderate Democratic freshmen balking at the proposed immigration overhaul and complicating efforts by President Bush and Senate leaders to pass it this week. Her compatriots in opposition are Senators Jim Webb of Virginia and Jon...

Office Space Much of the intrigue in Congress these days is found off the House and Senate floor... in the scramble for the best congressional offices. With some top members on the way out, junior members stuck with low-status offices grab prized spots with monument views, passing the leftovers down to the freshmen. Among the changes? Vice President Dick Cheney loses his unofficial office on the House side of the capitol, while Nancy Pelosi will abandon her current office — occupied by former Democratic speaker Tip O'Neill — to take up residence in current speaker Dennis Hastert's digs. Meanwhile, new...

Congratulations to The Weak-ly Standard. The "conservative" magazine did a wonderful job promoting Democrat senatorial candidates Jim Webb, Harold Ford Jr., and Jon Tester in it's last two issues immediately preceding Tuesday's election. The Standard wrote a long tribute to Webb, calling him a "blood and soil conservative". Despite Harold Ford Jr.'s very low ACU lifetime congressional voting record of 19, the Standard tried to portray him as being similar to his conservative opponent Bob Corker on the issues. Apparently, the magazine was enamored of the notion of having little Harold in the U.S. Senate. But, most outrageously, the last...

MT Senate Race seems to be still in play

Yellowstone provided 1100 votes for Burns, leaving Tester 3100 votes ahead. Two counties are still out ... Maegher which gave Bush a 500 vote margin in 2004, and Beaverhead which gave Bush a 1900 vote margin. I don't think Burns will catch up when these two counties are added in. Funny isn't it, how one or the other party seems to win all the close ones in Senate races.

Burns's campaign is saying the uncounted votes are from their strenth areas. This could still go either way!

HELENA - Republican Sen. Conrad Burns may be facing the political fight of his life, but calm GOP operatives believe they have a secret weapon that will push him over the top in Tuesday's vote. For the first time, Republicans in Montana are putting into place the national party's vaunted 72-Hour Task Force for the final three days of the campaign, state GOP executive director Chuck Denowh said. It may be the party's ace in the hole. The highly sophisticated targeting, voter identification and get-out-the-vote program, or GOTV, was developed in the wake of the extremely tight 2000 presidential race....

HELENA - Montanans say they are slightly more likely to vote for Republicans than Democrats in the state's legislative races, a new Gazette State Poll shows. By a margin of five points, 47 percent to 42 percent, voters said they were more likely to vote for Republicans. That edge is greater than the poll's margin of error - plus- or minus-4 points - but not so large that Republicans have a clear lead. Only 11 percent of those surveyed said they weren't sure which party they would support. The split reflects the makeup of the Montana Legislature. Currently, the state's...

HELENA - After months of campaigning and millions of dollars of advertising, it all comes down to this: Republican Sen. Conrad Burns and Democratic challenger Jon Tester are running dead even, a new Gazette State Poll shows. A telephone poll of 625 registered and likely Montana voters shows each man favored by 47 percent of respondents. Five percent of the voters are undecided, while Libertar-ian Stan Jones was the pick of 1 percent. The poll was taken from Oct. 31 to Nov. 2 by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research of Washington, D.C, for the Gazette State Bureau. It has a...

Democrat John Tester The campaign of Republican Senator Conrad Burns has inched forward in recent few weeks. But the third Rasmussen Reports poll this month of Montana's closely watched U.S. Senate race shows that Democrat Jon Tester is still slightly ahead, 51% to 47% (see crosstabs). When leaners are included, it’s Tester by three, 51% to 48%. Montana remains in the Toss-Up category for our Senate Balance of Power summary. Tester led by seven points on October 11, and by just two on October 18. We have polled this race more than a dozen times in 2006 and Senator Burns...

One must be careful to make too much of a given Senate candidate appearing broke at the 3rd-quarter FEC filing time. After all, the national parties and major donors can rescue a strong candidate’s foundering finances. And certain costs, such as advertising, may even still have been paid up front. But when so many candidates from one party, who have been very strong, are suddenly out of cash, while the other party is cash-rich, something may be afoot. In this case, the Republicans continue to use their strategy which produced surprise wins in 2002 and 2004: They are keeping their...

Rasmussen Reports now has Burns within 3 points of Tester - basically margin-of-error. Although a tie may be too good to be true at this time, this seems to coincide with the slow and slight tweak in Burns' direction seen in recent MT polls. In other words - striking distance. GOTV will have to be perfect, as the Democrats have a pretty damn good GOTV machine in Montana. Also updated - Fleming now has Chafee down just 4 points in RI. This is again a sign of a very small and overcomable deficit. GOTV in RI could also be key....

HELENA, Mont. - Democratic Senate candidate Jon Tester said the U.S. needs stronger diplomatic efforts to deal with North Korea and Iran, while incumbent Conrad Burns argued in Thursday's debate that Cold War methods of deterrence work best. Tester, who has a slight edge in the race four weeks before the election, differed sharply with Burns on issues ranging from the federal deficit and the war in Iraq to tax cuts and ethics. Burns, who is seeking a fourth term, said the U.S. can handle the threat of terrorists coming out of Iran and North Korea's apparent development of a...

WASHINGTON — Democrats are slightly ahead of Republican incumbents in three election battleground states that will help determine control of the Senate, a series of polls released Sunday showed. In Montana, Democrat Jon Tester had the support of 47 percent of registered voters, while incumbent Republican Sen. Conrad Burns had the support of 40 percent. In Ohio, Democrat Rep. Sherrod Brown had 45 percent of registered voters, while incumbent Republican Sen. Mike DeWine had 43 percent. In Tennessee, Democratic Rep. Harold Ford Jr. had 43 percent, and former Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker, the Republican Senate nominee, had 42 percent. Democrats...

HELENA - Tom Ridge, the former and first head of the federal Department of Homeland Security, took after Democratic Senate candidate Jon Tester on Wednesday, saying his call to repeal the federal Patriot Act is "ludicrous." Ridge, who said he was asked by former Republican Montana Gov. Marc Racicot to share his views with Montana reporters, said Tester's recent call to repeal the Patriot Act is "unfathomable, almost inexplicable." Tester, a Big Sandy farmer and current president of the Montana Senate, is challenging U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont. In a debate with Burns in Butte on Saturday, Tester said he...

HELENA - Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Jon Tester's campaign filed a complaint Tuesday charging that a corporate sponsor with close ties to Republican Sen. Conrad Burns received premium reserved seats at a Butte debate in violation of federal election law. Montanans for Tester filed the six-page complaint with the Federal Election Commission over what happened in a debate between Tester and Burns Saturday night in Butte. The Montana Standard, Resodyn Corp. and Rhodia Chemical Co., sponsored the debate, with Resodyn and Rhodia each paying $200 to help rent the theater, while the Standard kicked in the other $100, plus some...

This poll is still on Rasmussen premium, but RCP leaked the numbers. Tester (D) .... 52 percent Burns (R) ..... 43 percent Undecided ..... 5 percent 500 Likely Voters, finished on September 12th, 2006.

Because Conrad Burns has been a reliable Conservative in the Senate and more attention needs to be focused on saving this Senate seat. Burns' ratings: NARAL: 0% National Right to Life Committee 100% American Civil Liberties Union: 0% U.S. Chamber of Commerce: 94% National Education Association: 0% League of Conservation Voters: 5% Christian Coalition: 100% Cato Institute: 70% National Rifle Association: A American Public Health Association: 10% American Land Rights Association: 100% AFL-CIO: 29% Rick Santorum is a hero of mine, and deserves the attention he's getting from Freepers and Conservative blogs. But let's not overlook the less-often heard Conservative...

HELENA - A new poll shows GOP incumbent U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns locked in a statistical tie with Democratic challenger Jon Tester. The USA Today/Gallup Poll released Friday shows likely voters favor Tester 48 percent to Burns' 45 percent, inside the poll's margin of error of 4 percentage points. Registered voters favored Burns 44 percent to 42 percent, again inside the margin of error. The telephone survey of 870 registered voters was taken Aug. 23-Aug. 27, and included a subsample of 641 people deemed most likely to vote in November.

Tester routs Morrison, will challenge Burns By CHARLES S. JOHNSONGazette State BureauHELENA -- Jon Tester, a populist farmer, won a decisive victory over John Morrison in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate on Tuesday and will face three-term Republican incumbent Sen. Conrad Burns, who won his primary handily, in November. Tester, outspent by Morrison by nearly a 2-to-1 margin, led almost from the start of the vote counting Tuesday evening. He ended up defeating Morrison, the state auditor, by about 25 percentage points in the five-way primary. Although Tester was considered an underdog in the five-candidate Democratic Senate race,...

In his bid for re-election, Republican Senator Conrad Burns currently attracts 51% of the vote and holds a double digit lead against two potential challengers--State Senate President John Tester and State Auditor John Morrison.The first Rasmussen Reports Election 2006 survey in the state finds Tester earning 38% of the vote and Morrison 39%.Against both Democrats, Burns leads by more among men than he does among women.Burns attracts more than 80% of conservative votes against both Democrats while losing more than 70% of liberal votes. Moderate voters are evenly divided. Burns is viewed favorably by 55% of Montana voters and unfavorably by...

Ask me about my latest bug. Honk if you love to crash software. My other car is a bug. Have you hugged your software tester today? Software Testers: Always looking for trouble. Software Testing is Like Fishing, But You Get Paid. Software Testers: "Depraved minds...Usefully employed." Software Testing: Where failure is always an option. Software Testing: When Your System Actually Has to Work Software Quality: Don't ship without it. I don't make software; I make software better. Improving the world one bug at a time. Software Testing: You make it, we break it. Software Testers don't break software; it's broken...

I heard on Paul Harvey this morning that there may be an AIDS vaccine. Testing on animals has been promising enough that human volunteers are now testing the vaccine.There may be some news stories available online.