Well…it happened again:
Eager Dems and GOPers headed up to the Capitol to file for office and hold their press conferences on the rotunda floor.
Around the state, working Dems and GOPers headed to their local courthouses to do the same.
Here are some images of the big day:
Eager Dems and GOPers headed up to the Capitol to file for office and hold their press conferences on the rotunda floor.
Around the state, working Dems and GOPers headed to their local courthouses to do the same.
Here are some images of the big day:
Lynda Moss was the first in line today, eager to pay $1,700 to lose to Gianforte in November...though I think the consensus is that she'll lose to either Heenan or Kier in the primary.
California Troy was the first GOPer to show up to pay money to run against Tester.
Gallatin County Democrats were the only group around the state to share their courthouse kickoff on social media.
At noon, Dems gathered together to tell us how they want to make our lives better.
I wish these folks luck. Some are old hands, having run for office before, and perhaps they even have a few wins under their belts.
Some are new, filing for the very first time…full of optimism and enthusiasm and the will to get things done.
Over the next 2 months, many more will file. After all, it only costs $15.
Some might even raise some money during that time, or get some campaign materials printed up. Some of the old hands might even hire some staff.
And then come mid-March, we’ll know which candidates are running in which districts, who has primary fights on their hands, and who is going to have a tough general.
By early-June many of these optimistic and enthusiastic candidates will have been defeated. The general races will be set. The real fundraising can begin.
Over the 5 months from June to November, the remaining candidates will put up yard signs, knock on doors, send out mailers, do lots of Facebook ads, and perhaps even advertise on radio, maybe even TV.
Money will be spent. Media companies, consulting businesses, and printers will make bank.
Then in November, we’ll know who’s won and how hasn’t and who’s going to be in Helena come January 2019.
The 66th Montana Legislature will kickoff with lots of high talk about working together, and by April it’ll have descended into chaos and acrimony.
By April 20th when it all ends, the former-candidates and now-legislators will go home, licking their wounds and formulating how they’ll spin what happened to their benefit.
Meanwhile, most of the state will have gone from today to then without giving a damn, and without feeling much of an impact at all.
You see…most Montanans give money to the government; they don’t get money from it.
Government doesn’t have a whole lotta affect on our lives.
I wish it did – our side roads here in Missoula haven’t been plowed in weeks! The water treatment plant here makes a whole section of town smell like shit at least once a day…and that with clean air laws!
No, when it comes to things that actually matter to you – and which the government is supposed to do – you won’t find the government anywhere.
When there’s something trifle that can be argued about (making money for the political hangers-on in the process) then government is all over it.
I guess that’s why Montana votes the way it does.
