Terry Badlands
We know from the FEC reports that Rob Quist had $692,000 cash on hand at the beginning of this month.
Gianforte had $542,000.
So Quist is doing better there, with $150,000 more cash on hand than Gianforte.
I’m not sure that’ll do a lot of good. Quist could have $5 million cash on hand and I still think he’s running his campaign the wrong way.
Let’s get into why I think this.
First, he’s going to all the wrong places. I see events in Bozeman, Helena, Great Falls, Billings, Helena, Butte, Billings, Great Falls, Missoula, Billings, Bozeman, Kalispell, Great Falls, Helena.
That covers today to May 6…a period longer than two weeks. And most of those events are actually just supporters gathering, with no appearance from Quist.
Here's a map of where he'll be up to May 6:
Gianforte had $542,000.
So Quist is doing better there, with $150,000 more cash on hand than Gianforte.
I’m not sure that’ll do a lot of good. Quist could have $5 million cash on hand and I still think he’s running his campaign the wrong way.
Let’s get into why I think this.
First, he’s going to all the wrong places. I see events in Bozeman, Helena, Great Falls, Billings, Helena, Butte, Billings, Great Falls, Missoula, Billings, Bozeman, Kalispell, Great Falls, Helena.
That covers today to May 6…a period longer than two weeks. And most of those events are actually just supporters gathering, with no appearance from Quist.
Here's a map of where he'll be up to May 6:
Quist campaign appearances, April 19 to May 6...a period of 17 days
He is going to Manhattan and Bigfork, so that’s good.
It simply won’t be enough, however. Once again, let’s look at the rural blueprint that Gianforte gave us on his Regulation Roundup Tour last year.
Gianforte's 2016 stops on his Regulation Roundup tour
What I’m seeing on this map are places like Hysham, Forsyth, Miles City, Terry, Glendive, Sydney, Wolf Point, Glasgow, Chinook, Havre, Chester, Shelby, Conrad, Stanford, Lewistown, Roundup, Ryegate, Harlowtown, White Sulphur Springs, Townsend, Boulder, Dillon, Deer Lodge, Philipsburg, Thompson Falls.
That’s 25 towns I just listed.
Gianforte visited them all, some more than once.
Why isn’t Rob Quist doing that? He’s got enough cash on hand, after all.
Personally, I feel this is another influence of his out-of-state staffers directing the show.
His campaign manager is from New York, and I see how she’d directing thousands of dollars in campaign spending to her home state.
I don’t know how this helps Quist. I can understand that it might help his campaign manager at a later date, however.
This is the second glaring mistake I see in the campaign – all this out-of-state spending when there’s absolutely no need for it.
We should create Montana jobs with that money.
Remember, the MT Dems – and the National Dems that tell them what to do – typically spend most of their money out-of-state when running a statewide campaign.
And MT Dems typically lose those statewide campaigns.
So why are we still making plays from that old playbook?
Of course, by even talking this way I’ll be viewed as ‘anti-Quist.’
That’s sad.
It’s sad that when point out incompetence and wrongdoing in an effort to help, you’re branded a traitor or a troll and cast out.
Meanwhile, National Democrats continue to ignore Montana, and at the same time that their staffers are laundering Quist’s campaign money to their favorite buddy-firms.
Here’s what Business Insider had to say about Montana last week:
“The national Democratic organizations have largely stayed out of the race. The Huffington Post has reported that the DCCC likely views the race as a lost cause, citing the organization's refusal to run ads in the state.
Two Democratic sources familiar with the DCCC's and the campaign's thinking said the party was hoping to deploy high-profile surrogates to the district as the race winds down. These people said the folk singer was hoping to cast himself as an outsider regardless, focusing on local issues rather than running to oppose Trump.”
In that same report we’re told of the abysmal performance of Jon Ossoff in Georgia.
The guy raised $8.3 million, had 70 paid staffers, and 2,000 volunteers and yet he still couldn’t win his race last night.
I dunno…do you think if the DCCC sent more staffers he’d have won?
They sent him 8 in all.
Clearly, the Dem's message is not working, nor is their strategy.
But you know what? National Democrats will make us think that what happened in Georgia last night was a win.
It wasn’t.
Ossoff getting 50% would have been a win. He didn’t do that, and now the stage is set for National to piss away another $8 million in that race.
That’s money that could have come to Montana, but now it has to go to Georgia as they get ready for their ‘do-over.’
Conclusion
I’ve totally given up on the Quist campaign, myself.
He’s simply not his own man, but controlled by those around him. His tenure in Congress would be no different.
A puppet on a string.
And thank God I unsubscribed from his email list weeks ago!
I was talking with my mom this weekend and she said, “God, they sure send a lot of emails!”
That’s the desperation that we’re seeing.
These Dem staffers that Quist has think that the more money they have, the more they’ll win by.
That’s just not going to happen. Look at Georgia last night.
1 Democrat with $8 million and 2,070 workers against 17 Republicans and he still couldn’t pull it off.
What a fuck-up.
Of course no one will lose their jobs over that incompetence, well…no one that really matters.
Ossoff will lose his job, or at least the one he wants. Those he paid will likely be promoted.
After all, they have so much more experience ‘running’ a race now.
Perhaps some of those Georgia staffers will eventually end up in Montana to ‘help,’ maybe even in time for the 2018 campaign when Dems once again try to take a seat they haven’t held in two decades.
He’s simply not his own man, but controlled by those around him. His tenure in Congress would be no different.
A puppet on a string.
And thank God I unsubscribed from his email list weeks ago!
I was talking with my mom this weekend and she said, “God, they sure send a lot of emails!”
That’s the desperation that we’re seeing.
These Dem staffers that Quist has think that the more money they have, the more they’ll win by.
That’s just not going to happen. Look at Georgia last night.
1 Democrat with $8 million and 2,070 workers against 17 Republicans and he still couldn’t pull it off.
What a fuck-up.
Of course no one will lose their jobs over that incompetence, well…no one that really matters.
Ossoff will lose his job, or at least the one he wants. Those he paid will likely be promoted.
After all, they have so much more experience ‘running’ a race now.
Perhaps some of those Georgia staffers will eventually end up in Montana to ‘help,’ maybe even in time for the 2018 campaign when Dems once again try to take a seat they haven’t held in two decades.
