Madison River
We know that 29,324 more people voted for Matt Rosendale for State Auditor than voted for Jesse Laslovich in the June primary.
Looking at the September 1 C-5 campaign finance reports we see that Laslovich has $223,015 in the bank.
Matt Rosendale has $50,177 in the bank.
Also, Rosendale continues to report and receive money for the primary. According to his C-5 he’s raised and spent no money for the general election.
Rosendale paid $906 to Helena’s Special Projects for his bookkeeping work. Most Republicans use this outfit.
Laslovich spent $1,178 on a plane trip to Boca Raton in August and $234 to stay at a Marriott there.
Why?
Simple – fundraising.
Laslovich also got a $100 donation from Lola Zinke in August.
Weird.
Anyways, I’m not sure all that fundraising will be enough.
Matt Rosendale must be chuckling to himself, watching Montana-native Laslovich raise all that money but still come up so short in turnout in June…and that when Bernie Sanders was on the ballot!
Come November we’ll have Hillary-fatigue and many people will stay home. Others will vote one or two races and skip down-ballot races…especially if they’re #5 or #6 down the line.
That doesn’t bode well for Laslovich.
Of course, Trump could turn off even more Republicans over the next 60 days and turnout for Rosendale could go down.
At this point I feel Laslovich is banking on putting out a shit-ton of TV ads and lots of mailers in swing areas.
Or was he just going to hang onto that money and smile?
What else is there to spend the money on besides TV ads and mailers, maybe a bit of radio?
Not much.
He sure as shit isn’t going to get out on some barn-storming tour of the state.
How would you do that anyways…go to Vanada or Dodson or Stockton and set up a table at a busy intersection and sit there looking like a schmuck all day?
Even going to places like Great Falls or Billings or Kalispell…what can you do besides rely on locals that know how to get a small venue and a handful of ‘supporters’ to show up?
It’s not like you can announce you’re coming and a big crowd will descend on the park.
No one gives a shit, and that goes for Laslovich and Rosendale and just about every other statewide race.
We’ve all seen the candidates put images of their ‘rallies’ on social media.
My God it’s sad.
You see a few local legislators, perhaps a mayor or city council member, and then some die-hards.
Doesn't matter what party it is, that’s about all the support you see at local events.
Is it any wonder, therefore, why our candidates raise so much money – sometimes in Florida, like Laslovich did last month – so they can spend it all on ads and mailers?
What other options do they have?
That’s our crappy system, folks, and my how we despise it.
Looking at the September 1 C-5 campaign finance reports we see that Laslovich has $223,015 in the bank.
Matt Rosendale has $50,177 in the bank.
Also, Rosendale continues to report and receive money for the primary. According to his C-5 he’s raised and spent no money for the general election.
Rosendale paid $906 to Helena’s Special Projects for his bookkeeping work. Most Republicans use this outfit.
Laslovich spent $1,178 on a plane trip to Boca Raton in August and $234 to stay at a Marriott there.
Why?
Simple – fundraising.
Laslovich also got a $100 donation from Lola Zinke in August.
Weird.
Anyways, I’m not sure all that fundraising will be enough.
Matt Rosendale must be chuckling to himself, watching Montana-native Laslovich raise all that money but still come up so short in turnout in June…and that when Bernie Sanders was on the ballot!
Come November we’ll have Hillary-fatigue and many people will stay home. Others will vote one or two races and skip down-ballot races…especially if they’re #5 or #6 down the line.
That doesn’t bode well for Laslovich.
Of course, Trump could turn off even more Republicans over the next 60 days and turnout for Rosendale could go down.
At this point I feel Laslovich is banking on putting out a shit-ton of TV ads and lots of mailers in swing areas.
Or was he just going to hang onto that money and smile?
What else is there to spend the money on besides TV ads and mailers, maybe a bit of radio?
Not much.
He sure as shit isn’t going to get out on some barn-storming tour of the state.
How would you do that anyways…go to Vanada or Dodson or Stockton and set up a table at a busy intersection and sit there looking like a schmuck all day?
Even going to places like Great Falls or Billings or Kalispell…what can you do besides rely on locals that know how to get a small venue and a handful of ‘supporters’ to show up?
It’s not like you can announce you’re coming and a big crowd will descend on the park.
No one gives a shit, and that goes for Laslovich and Rosendale and just about every other statewide race.
We’ve all seen the candidates put images of their ‘rallies’ on social media.
My God it’s sad.
You see a few local legislators, perhaps a mayor or city council member, and then some die-hards.
Doesn't matter what party it is, that’s about all the support you see at local events.
Is it any wonder, therefore, why our candidates raise so much money – sometimes in Florida, like Laslovich did last month – so they can spend it all on ads and mailers?
What other options do they have?
That’s our crappy system, folks, and my how we despise it.
Turning our attention to the Secretary of State race we see that Monica Lindeen has about $52,000 in the bank and Corey Stapleton has $130,480.
They both raised about $20,000 last month.
A lot of Stapleton’s money came from various Republican county committees. Yellowstone County, for instance, gave $2,500, though most counties were like Rosebud with about $400.
Tim Fox gave him $100 and Greg Gianforte gave him $330. Chuck Denowh gave him $100 while Shelby Demars gave him $500.
Stapleton’s largest expenditures were $675 for online advertising with a Billings company and $410 for mailers, again from a Billings company.
Lindeed did damn well with a Big Sky pass the hat event, garnering $345 for that often depressing process.
That’s actually one of the larger amounts for a ‘pass the hat’ I’ve seen this cycle. Well, they can afford it in that area of the state.
Throughout the month we have Lauren Caldwell giving her $100 and Jacque Helt $50. Evan Barrett gave the strange amount of $73.33.
Lindeen went with Billings’ Spotlight Productions for her TV ads, spending $42,820 for them.
Yes, you can get TV ad production in Montana!
Besides that she spent $1,224 on 4,750 invitations for Missoula fundraising events.
Moving on to Attorney General we see that Tim Fox has $209,000 in the bank and Larry Jent has $27,000.
The Fergus County Democrats gave Jent $100, and I kind of feel sorry for them – isn’t that a waste of money?
Besides that, Dorothy Bradley gave him $100, Pam Bucy gave him $35, Chris Goodridge gave him $100, Jessica Karjala gave him $75, Terry Trieweiler gave him $320, and Dave Wanzenried gave him $200.
I see that Tim Fox is relying on Special Projects for his bookkeeping as well, to the tune of $906.
Besides that we mainly get printing, which is being done in Billings. I see no reason for Fox to do any TV ads as Jent has virtually no chance in this race.
When we get to the OPI race we see that Melissa Romano has $76,000 in the bank and Else Arntzen has $102,000.
Arntzen lists $33,000 in debt to herself while Romano has remained debt-free, opting to only spend what other people give her.
Arntzen spent $4,500 for two TV ads last month, using Billings’ Out in the Cold Productions for that. She also spent $2,000 with Helena’s Pioneer Solutions for communications consulting.
Conclusion
So what kind of conclusion can we put on this?
Maybe it will – Laslovich is about as exciting as Rosendale, which is to say I’d rather watch a slow game of chess, baseball, or even the paint on the neighbor’s garage as it starts to dry.
Hell, with the right kind of beverage or smoke or sugary concoction, that last one doesn’t sound so bad.
But to get excited about any of these candidates? I’m sorry, but I just don’t see it.
People got damn excited about Bernie Sanders, I’ll tell you that because I saw it firsthand in Missoula when 9,000 showed up to see him.
That guy’s old, in his 80s, and he’s cantankerous and curmudgeonly to boot.
But hot damn – he said the right things and got people fired up.
He had a rally in the park, and by God, people showed up.
It’s because of the message.
He had a good one.
Jesse Laslovich and Matt Rosendale don’t, the same as the rest of these candidates.
They’re boring, and their message is boring.
No one cares.
Oh, maybe 10% of the population and then perhaps 40-50% more come election day…but even then I don’t think they really care.
They’re certainly not fired up, I’ll tell you that.
And maybe these statewide candidates should just accept that.
They’re not Bernie Sanders, after all.
Maybe they could be, but with 60 days to go...why change now?
It’s too late for reinventions and I doubt anyone is going to get at all interested at this point.
No, it’s too late, but honestly, there was never a chance.
None of these candidates are exciting.
You don’t seek them out and you’re not waiting for their next speech.
So it’s ‘good luck’ and we’ll see what happens.
Either way, it doesn’t really matter to me – the message that keeps the candidates boring is the same that fails to convince me that there's any difference between them.
But enough from me today – let those guys and their money figure things out.
- How about our system is rotten and it takes a shit ton of money to try and make this country better?
- How about if you’re not good at fundraising or cozying up to party insiders, you don’t have a chance in hell of winning?
- How about these candidates substitute money for excitement and enthusiasm, then they actually think it’ll carry ‘em through?
Maybe it will – Laslovich is about as exciting as Rosendale, which is to say I’d rather watch a slow game of chess, baseball, or even the paint on the neighbor’s garage as it starts to dry.
Hell, with the right kind of beverage or smoke or sugary concoction, that last one doesn’t sound so bad.
But to get excited about any of these candidates? I’m sorry, but I just don’t see it.
People got damn excited about Bernie Sanders, I’ll tell you that because I saw it firsthand in Missoula when 9,000 showed up to see him.
That guy’s old, in his 80s, and he’s cantankerous and curmudgeonly to boot.
But hot damn – he said the right things and got people fired up.
He had a rally in the park, and by God, people showed up.
It’s because of the message.
He had a good one.
Jesse Laslovich and Matt Rosendale don’t, the same as the rest of these candidates.
They’re boring, and their message is boring.
No one cares.
Oh, maybe 10% of the population and then perhaps 40-50% more come election day…but even then I don’t think they really care.
They’re certainly not fired up, I’ll tell you that.
And maybe these statewide candidates should just accept that.
They’re not Bernie Sanders, after all.
Maybe they could be, but with 60 days to go...why change now?
It’s too late for reinventions and I doubt anyone is going to get at all interested at this point.
No, it’s too late, but honestly, there was never a chance.
None of these candidates are exciting.
You don’t seek them out and you’re not waiting for their next speech.
So it’s ‘good luck’ and we’ll see what happens.
Either way, it doesn’t really matter to me – the message that keeps the candidates boring is the same that fails to convince me that there's any difference between them.
But enough from me today – let those guys and their money figure things out.
