Erik Iverson is proud of his work, as he leaves the Montana Republican Party chair position for some undefined job with Tom Siebel:
Iverson, elected state party chairman in June 2007, said Montana Republicans have made "significant headway" the past 18 months, and he was proud to have been a part of these positive changes.
"Montana Republicans consistently buck national trends, and this year was no exception," Iverson said. "The past election was tough for Republicans all over the country, so it was no small feat to retain our 50 seats in the Montana House and win a majority in the Montana Senate."
Other than losing all five seats on the Land Board (a historic and crushing defeat), being utterly humiliated in the gubernatorial race, running a Socialist as the party’s standard bearer in a Senate race, conducting an incredibly unpopular, undemocratic, and pointless caucus for the Presidential nomination, running a nationally embarrassing disenfranchisement scheme, and watching Montana become a competitive Democratic state in Presidential elections, I’d say Iverson did one heck of a job. In fact, I hate to see him go. He’s done nice work for us.
The Montana Democratic Party has led a huge turnaround in the state in recent years, but they couldn’t have done it without the work of Montana’s Republican Party.
Thanks, guys!
Minesota Public Radio has some great images of challenged ballots in the Senate recount, during which Al Franken has already gained 43 votes. Despite the Coleman campaign’s non-stop working of the refs before the game began, crying about fraud, it seems apparent that they intend to steal as many votes as they can. Consider these two votes that the Coleman campaign claims express a clear intent for Coleman:
Coleman knows the recount gives Franken a decent, if not better than 50-50 chance of winning the election. That explains his behavior in the days since the election and the behavior of his campaign during this process. If these ballots are any indication, this is going to be one long process, with Coleman desperate to hold on to his Senate gig and subsidized housing.
Roy Brown thinks he lost the election because he didn’t have enough money:
Republican Roy Brown says he lost by a 2-1 margin to Gov. Brian Schweitzer because the Democrats had more money to spend and used it on false attacks.
His own campaign’s money was primarily used for television spots that built his own image.
I must have missed those ads. Instead, Brown seemed to spend most of his time claiming that Montana’s economy, energy development, and future were much worse than reality. Hard to imagine that message didn’t catch on better.
It looks positive for Al Franken, who has a 1,400 vote lead with over 98% of the precincts reporting. If he ends up winning the amazing thing will be that he will have won on the strength of young voters, the only demographic that went his way (51-34), according to exit polling.
Alaska? Really? Ted Stevens leads by 2%, with 81% of the vote in. Unreal. Look out for Sarah Palin to appoint herself or the Todd to the seat if this race doesn’t turn around in the last quarter of the precincts.
Oregon is a lot close than predicted. Gordon Smith has a 3,000 vote lead with 70% of the votes in.
We could sure use these three seats.
‘Night.
Montana, Montana,
Glory of the West
Of all the states from coast to coast,
You’re easily the best.
Montana, Montana,
Where skies are always blue
M-O-N-T-A-N-A,
Montana, I love you.
I think it’s time to start painting Montana a different color on national maps. Anyone who thinks this is a red state just isn’t paying attention. With 91% of the precincts in, it looks like Democrats are going to have won the races for governor, Superintendent of Public Instruction, Attorney General, and Auditor. While we didn’t choose Barack Obama, there was an enormous swing to the Democratic candidate.
Governor Schweitzer likes to say that Montana is on the move. It’s not just our economy. It’s our politics as well. We are moving back to our political heritage, a state that elects strong, progressive leaders who put the interests of working Montana families first:
- Governor Schweitzer will win tonight with well over 60% of the vote. A landslide.
- Both of our U.S. Senators are Democrats, one a progressive champion.
- Our attorney general, our state auditor, our Superintendent of Public Instruction? All Democrats, all exceptional leaders.
- We supported children’s healthcare and the university system overwhelmingly.
Look out, Representative Rehberg. You’re next.
