As you know, I follow the news very closely.
Today I thought we could go over a few of those news stories, with the main focus being on Missoula and the big events coming up.
Today I thought we could go over a few of those news stories, with the main focus being on Missoula and the big events coming up.
Missoula will be hosting Pearl Jam on Monday night.
Around 25,000 people are expected to pour into Washington-Grizzly Stadium for the event.
This will be the sixth time that the band plays in Missoula. Their first appearance was in 1993.
The band formed in 1990, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017, and has sold about 60 million albums worldwide.
The lead singer of the band, Eddie Vedder, is estimated to have a net worth of $100 million.
The Montana connection comes through bassist Jeff Ament, who grew up knowing Jon Tester.
Hence the political aspect of the concert, and the Missoula show (the band is only playing three other shows this year, two in Chicago and one in Boston).
Missoula has a jam-packed schedule of events to coincide with the concert.
Take this one:
Yeah…an ice cream social.
I can’t imagine Daines or Gianforte doing an event like this, something that’s open to the public.
Yep, you can actually go downtown for an hour on Monday and chat up Tester about anything.
When you compare that to the optics of the disastrous Gianforte Hamilton event last week, you can see that Tester is more politically savvy.
On top of that, Tester will be doing a public forum with Jeff Ament on Sunday night in Missoula, with Mayor Engen moderating.
This is a big weekend for Tester, and people will get pumped-up for him.
I’m not sure how that will translate into votes come November. Missoula has a very poor turnout record, especially amongst the young.
By November, few will be talking about this concert weekend.
One thing I’ve noticed today is this comment on MT Cowgirl:
This person hits the nail on the head.
Why in the hell is this site talking about silly stuff when they could be talking-up Tester and Williams each and every day?
I mean…hello – Pearl Jam in Missoula…talk about that in relation to Tester!
I just don’t get it.
Matt Rosendale gets it.
He’s been doing a stellar job of getting images of his outings up on social media.
I’ve seen most of his images on Twitter, but I thought I’d head over to his Facebook page today and see what he has there.
Here are a few that stood out to me:
A wonderful image that supporters will love, detractors will hate
Matt in Libby
Matt in Polson
Matt in Missoula
Matt at the Western Montana Fair in Missoula
As you can see, Rosendale is getting out there. I think this is resonating, despite the nasty comments he gets on those Facebook posts.
As you saw, Rosendale was at the Western Montana Fair here in Missoula.
You might have heard that we had an accident at the fair on Thursday, with a young girl flying off one of the rides.
There are no regulations in Montana law concerning carnival rides.
I’ll add that issue to my list of bills needed in the 2019 Montana Legislature.
You probably haven’t heard, but there are currently 152 draft bills up for the 2019 Legislature already.
This is up from the 80 or so that I saw a week ago.
The legislature will start up again in 146 days.
The legislature will end its session about 250 days from now.
We already know how it will go:
- Democrats will have a lackluster showing in the legislative races.
- Republicans will once again control both chambers of the legislature.
- Bullock will constantly play defense, his veto pen being his only real power.
- Everyone will be fighting about the money we have, and the revenue estimates for the coming two years.
- Republicans will go home happy, getting most of what they wanted, mainly through smaller spending bills, not large ones.
- Democrats will go home licking their wounds, doing their best to talk-up their modest successes while assuring each other that next session will be different.
It’s the same old story year after year.
The legislature has a much bigger impact on your daily life than what Tester does in Washington, but you wouldn’t know it the way Democrats act.
It’s one of the main reasons Democrats typically lose in this state – they’re out of touch.
And with that, I’ll let you get back to your weekend.
