The Senate seat occupied by Senator Max Baucus is considered a safe Democratic seat. After all, Baucus won re-election in 2002 with 62.74% of the vote, and enjoys a 67% approval rating. The NRSC tried to recruit former Governor Mark Racicot and GOP Rep. Denny Rehberg, both of whom could launch a decent challenge against Baucus. But with neither Racicot or Rehberg taking the bait, the GOP had to make do with some less attractive options.
There were six candidates in yesterday's GOP primary vying to take on the Baucus juggernaut. The battle was supposed to be between long-time politico Michael Lange and engineer Kirk Bushman. Lange is a three-term member of the Montana House of Representatives and the former House Majority Leader. If you recall, he was also caught on tape telling Governor Schweitzer to "stick [the state budget] up his ass." Other GOP candidates included Anton Pearson, who ran "a campaign on faith" and who argued on the trail that we should "holding college professors accountable for treason."
But it wasn't Lange or Bushman who won yesterday's primary. It was Bob Kelleher, a sometimes Democrat, sometimes Green Party, now running in the GOP primary candidate who beat his opponents by 13 points yesterday, winning the right to challenge Baucus in the fall.
Kelleher has been described as a "frequent candidate." He ran against Baucus in 2002 -- as a Green candidate. He won 2.2% of the vote.
You can check out his website here. His number one issue is poverty. He calls the Iraq war a "waste of money and blood." He also has some more, um, interesting ideas. More on Kelleher:
HELENA - Bob Kelleher is a man who has lost a lot of elections - but he's still running, this year as a Republican for U.S. Senate.
Since 1964, Kelleher, an 85-year-old Butte attorney, has run for public office 15 times, losing all but once. His single victory came in 1971, when he was elected as a delegate to the 1972 convention that rewrote Montana's state constitution.
Kelleher's lone rallying whoop then - as now - probably has something to do with his extended losing streak: Kelleher wants to do away with America's unique system of representative democracy and replace it with a parliament.
Kelleher beat out five Republicans in yesterday's primary. And he didn't just eek out a victory. He crushed them by 13 points. And as for the GOP's hopes of at least saving face in this race? Well, I think it's safe to say that train has left the station.
Update: Flashback to 2002. The Daily Show correspondent Stacey Grenrock-Woods interviews Mr. Kelleher. Enjoy.