At almost precisely the same time King George appeared in Billings, MT to try to save Conrad Burns from the harsh reality of having to feed himself (instead of being fed by Jack Abramoff) Jon Tester, Gov. Brian Schweitzer, Sen. Max Baucus and Jag the Dog were in Kalispell (and later, Missoula, though I can't report about that event, I'll bet Matt Singer will).
Anyway, the turnout in the Flathead Valley was fabulous. A packed room, and serious enthusiasm. Two excellent public speakers (Tester and Schweitzer) and one adequate (Baucus) and the Mayor of Kalispell, (Pam Kennedy, who is pretty much a live wire herself) as the vibrant Master of Ceremonies.
Observations after the jump.
Observations:
Both Brian and Jon know and remember the names of nearly every person in the room. I know it's a salesman's trick, and a politician's trick but I'm still awed by the ability to travel an entire state and remember everyone's name.
Jag the Dog has probably met most of these people too. What a life: Ears scratched by about 300 people at every stop!
Wow, Brian's lost a lot of weight. How do you diet while campaigning (as he has been for Tester), eating Sweet Miss Martha's huckleberry pie at every campaign stop? The guy must be running from town to town along with Jag. He looks great, like maybe he's about to run for some other office?
Max Baucus, of course, is a real road runner and he is in excellent physical condition. Jon Tester will need to take up physical running, real soon after the election, or maybe go back to his farm and shovel some grain prior to heading to Washington as Montana's new Senator.
On substance, this was just your basic GOTV event, solidifying the voters (and it turns out that when asked the question of how many had already voted, roughly 2/3s of the folks in the room had done so).
Brian was innovative in employing a visualization technique, asking everyone to close their eyes and mentally list five people they could call to get out and vote. "Now make me a deal! You will call each of the people you just listed in your mind! You have a contract with me!"
What a joy to be around candidates with talent and potential such as these. Tester only needs good GOTV to win.
Schweitzer? Hillary likely cowers in fear every time she sees him. An Obama/Schweitzer ticket? Brings tears of joy to my eyes.
In short, Tester is an amazing candidate, and if the Bush visit to Billings pulls Burns out of the fire (let's not mix too many perverted images here, one could get lost in Burning Bush concepts) I'd be surprised.
Best bumpersticker lately? "Dick Cheney, please take Conrad hunting."