Jhwygirl has the news that Ken Miller will be announcing the selection of conservative
education opponent activist and Republican House candidate Billie Orr as his running mate in his futile bid for the governor’s chair. (Correction below)
Republican legislative candidate Billie Orr is certainly going to have some explaining to do when it comes to her views on education.
I can’t wait to hear Ms. Orr come out against the “education establishment,” given her record as someone who took millions of dollars from the federal government, enriching herself and misappropriating taxpayer dollars during the education reform racket that President Bush’s misguided No Child Left Behind legislation ushered in.
A lot of details below the fold.
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Senator Tester, on NPR’s All Things Considered, today:
“Well, I think corporations are a whole lot different than people. I don’t know corporations that can be put in prison. I do know people that can be put in prison. I mean, it’s a totally different entity. I don’t think the forefathers envisioned when this country was setup that we would have corporations that had the same rights or more rights than people…
“It’s ridiculous and it’s not what our forefathers sought and it really goes against our democracy. It goes against what this country is built upon.”
Representative Rehberg, after cashing his $10,000 check from the group that wants to turn multinational corporations into people:
Paints a pretty striking contrast, doesn’t it?
Surely Montana newspapers have to report that Rehberg took money from Citizens United, right?
Credit should be given where credit is due: well done, Mr. O’Hara, Republican candidate for Governor. This morning the Great Falls Tribune featured a fairly long piece on Mr. O’Hara’s decade long strategy to win the Republican nomination for Governor.
Mr. O’Hara, of Fort Benton, has one strategy to win this year: paint and erect billboards in each of Montana’s 56 counties depicting each county’s respective court house. Below these pieces of art it reads “Jim O’Hara | Governor | oharagov.com.”
According to the Tribune, O’Hara “expects to appear on “The CBS Evening News” in a feature segment hosted by Steve Hartman either this Friday or Feb 10. The national news program featuring Scott Pelley is broadcast at 5 p.m. weekdays on KRTV in Great Falls.”
Will Jim O’Hara’s campaign get the all-too-famous “billboard bump”? Probably not. However, while O’Hara is all but certain to not win the GOP nomination (look at his fundraising numbers, his low name recognition, and, well, the polling), he can put one thing in the win column as of today: earned media.
Oh, and it should be noted that according to O’Hara’s Facebook page, he plans on announcing his running mate soon. Maybe someone who is willing to campaign?
Looking over differ House candidates’ positions on the ‘issues’ of the day, something is noticeably absent – only Franke Wilmer and Melinda Gopher say anything about foreign policy. I’m not saying that makes Daines, Gillan, Strohmaier, etc. bad candidates. It means we as voters have fallen down on the job We should be demanding that our candidates speak on what action they will take on issues that cross our borders.
Instead, we apparently by and large vote on party affiliation, lack of media-covered scandal, time spent on TV, some intangible measure of Montana authenticity, and number of children/dogs/guns a candidate is photographed with.
So, here I am doing my part to make up for it – candidates will have a hard time getting my vote if I they haven’t thought enough of about foreign policy to add a blurb to their website. I understand wanting to elect the authentic Montanan propping up the head of a lifeless deer, but if the electorate doesn’t also ask that same candidate to learn about and consider their position on international affairs, they will have no reason to do so. And if they haven’t considered and researched the international issues that will face them directly or indirectly as lawmakers, they will be far more susceptible to ‘information’ provided to them by lobbyists.
Highlighting some of the most interesting and provocative posts in the past week at 
Montana blogs.
D Gregory Smith discussed why Senator Tester seems to be so much harder working than Representative Rehberg.
Montanafesto authored a heartfelt farewell to Jeff Essman’s unlamented, unfunded campaign for governor.
Montana Cowgirl offered eight reasons Montana voters should follow the lead of the Democratic Party on economic issues and highlighted the Fanning-Baldwin strategy of appealing to “bigoted morons.”
Lizard argued for more focus on understanding the relationship between alcohol and homelessness.
PolyMontana laid out the laughable claim that Ken Miller is a liberal. No, really. Ken Miller. A liberal.
Over here, we wondered why teachers pay a higher tax rate than a capital vampire like Mitt Romney, speculated that Tim Fox was more than ready to jump into the Montana Attorney General race, took a critical look at Melinda Gopher’s unusual strategy in the US House race, and wondered who Denny Rehberg wouldn’t take money from.
education opponent activist and Republican House candidate Billie Orr as his running mate in his futile bid for the governor’s chair. 
