Politics Seattle Tested
For all the Democratic Party hacks and wonks who are tracking the run-up to this fall when the Democrats are supposedly going to take back the House & Senate, there’s a Seattle connection to this week’s exciting news out of Montana, where a grassroots, insurgent D, Jon Tester, scored a momentum-building win in Tuesday’s primary.
Tester beat the establishment Democrat, conservative John Morrison, for the chance to take out the incumbent Republican senator, Conrad Burns. Tester, who was outspent 3 to 1, won by more than 25% in the primary. Here’s DailyKos on Tester’s win last Tuesday night.
Tester’s TV ads (a cute spot that hyped Tester’s “flat top” farmer’s haircut) and Tester’s mail were done by two Seattle-based consultants, Dan Kully & Christian Sinderman respectively. Sinderman also advised Tester’s team on the their campaign ground game and sent two of his staffers out to Montana for the week leading up to the primary…to do some serious GOTV work.
The grass roots Democratic surge in Montana is ready for round two. Bring on Burns.
Burns is a poster child for the Culture of Corruption. Between 2001 and 2004, while the chair of the Interior Subcommittee on Appropriations, Burns received nearly $150,000 in campaign contributions from lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Abramoff’s clients, and other donors connected to Abramoff. He’s also an archconservative, scoring zero ratings from NARAL and the ACLU (w a 5% rating from the League of Conservation Voters.) Meanwhile, he scores 100% w the Christian Coalition and a 94% from the National Chamber of Commerce.
My ulterior motive for posting this: Maria Cantwell, get your shit together, and tap local talent. Right now, as opposed to Tester, you’ve got about as much momentum as a Richard Conlin committee meeting.
yay, Montana!
feel the tidal wave!
love the tidal wave!
surf the tidal wave!
wash the West clean!