I am doing the modern day version of ‘Flowers on the Wall”. Countin’ flowers on the wall That don’t bother me at all Playin’ solitaire till dawn with a deck of fifty-one Smokin’ cigarettes and watchin’ Captain Kangaroo Now don’t tell me I’ve nothin’ to do I cleaned my garage today. Made two trips to the dump, where I saw the [...]

Mason-Dixon has the race as a dead heat: 47-47. The poll was in the field from October 31-November 2. The Rasmussen poll that had Tester up 4 was taken November 1. The Zogby poll showing it a 1 point race occured between October 24 and October 31. The reality? We’re tied — at most, 1 or [...]

We are all sharing an important moment here. Montana has the power to make a change, a real change. This opportunity doesn’t come to Montana that often, so we should seize the day. We have a real opportunity here and we must not squander it. Conrad Burns has claimed a number of times that he [...]

This is a close race. It was always going to be and it is. The last time a Democrat defeated an incumbent Republican for federal office was 1974 when Max Baucus captured the Western Montana U.S. House seat. That was 32 years ago. No one said it would be easy. Some people thought defeating Burns would [...]

Rasmussen has moved the Montana Senate race back to “Lean Dem” from “Toss Up.” They’ve got Tester up 50-46. Pulling out leaners, Tester is up 48-43. 60% of Tester voters say they’re voting for Tester. 32% say they’re voting against Burns. 66% of Burns’ backers say they’re voting for Burns. 32% say they’re voting against Tester. Meanwhile, [...]

I used to go to Salon.com for the meanest reviews of movies. They are now somewhat easier on films, but the reviews are still always good. I plan to se Borat tonight, but I thought I would take a peek at what Salon had to say. The review does gush, and there is a [...]

One of the funny things about getting into an election is that some of the original reasons for doing it can get muddled along the way. Back in April or May of 2005, when chatter about Tester running for the Senate was heating up, I remember going over his voting scores from various interest groups [...]

Don’t people in Ohio have anything better to do? Apparently this is over the fact that Tester hasn’t had a hunting license in a long time. That’d be because sport shooting is frowned upon in Montana. Or something. Shorter GOP message: Butchering cattle: Bad. Sport shooting: Bad. Making a living as a farmer: Bad. Selling out to D.C. lobbyists: Good.

The Free Enterprise Fund has been running an ad called “Brokebank Democrats” that manages to tie together gay-baiting with rightwing economic lies. It’s really quite brilliant in its ridiculousness. That said, it goes way over the top. They actually ask people to call Jon Tester’s home phone number. That seems a bit out of control to [...]

If you’re interested in knocking doors tomorrow morning at 11:00 AM with myself and a few other people, we could still use a little more help. Shoot me an email at singer@leftinthewest.com with your contact info and we’ll get you plugged in. Danke.

It got raised in comments and I think I’ve got confirmation: Republican lawyers are allegedly trying to identify low-income precincts to attempt voter intimidation tactics. Frankly, I’m all for defining voter intimidation as treason, finding a couple witnesses, and stringing these folks up — in a republic, trying to deny eligible folks the right to participate [...]

Scandals, bribery and greed follow Burns like dust followed Pigpen on Peanuts. It’s all over him like a cheap suit (or white on rice). This isn’t really new, but it is rearing its head again. I have never seen his Washington office, but I am pretty sure that Burns has a sign outside his [...]

I went to the Tester/Schweitzer/Baucus rally tonight — the room was too damn small. It only fit 300 people. Honestly, in Missoula, you can expect double that for the next Senator from Montana. I heard that the Kalispell event was huge. Pablo apparently also had a standing-room only crowd. Good things I’m hearing. I also just [...]

Remember that John Tester will be holding a “Rally for Change” along with Governor Scweitzer and Max Baucus at the Capitol Rotunda Friday at 10:00 am. Also, he will be in Bozeman with Baucus Saturday evening at 6:00 pm at the Wilson school gymnasium. While I was telling people that on the phones tonight, I [...]

Rasmussen has a new poll (for members only) that is apparently Tester up by 4 — 50-46. Rasmussen has a better track record than Zogby. This is essentially unchanged from the last Rasmussen poll, which was Tester 51-47. This is all about turnout.

I had a hunch this would be the case. An internal Tester poll has the campaign way up among early voters. Early voters will comprise as much as 1/3 of the electorate in some counties. Most importantly — this makes the GOTV operation a whole Hell of a lot easier on Election Day for the [...]

Yeesh. Talk about bad news. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is saying productivity growth was equal to zero last quarter. Put another way: we’re not increasing more for the same amount of resources. Productivity growth is the only true form of long-term economic growth. It’s also one of the big goals of supply-side economics: give entrepreneurs [...]

Zogby is polling it as a 1-point race: Tester leading 47-46. The last poll Zogby did had it as 46-42. That was in early October. Zogby’s been polling it closer than most, but this just goes to show: this is a damn close race. Get to work.

Since Jay spends so much time putting together those great links pages, I am afraid that no one is linking to some of his better work. He has a couple of posts recently that are must reads. Jay talks about the conservative thought police in an interesting piece about recent trends from the right. He questions [...]