OK, to be fair, Montana Senate candidate Bob Kelleher isn't really an example of lousy GOP recruitment.
He's technically an example of whacked-out former Democratic and Green Party perennial candidates beating actual NRSC recruits in GOP primaries.
Still and all, I can't see how the Montana GOP or the NRSC is pleased with their candidate. To wit:
State Republican Chairman Erik Iverson decided not to allow Kelleher to speak during one of the meals at the (state Republican) convention, as other statewide candidates were allowed to do. Iverson said it appeared that the only plank of the Republican platform Kelleher agrees with was opposition to abortion.
"We have limited time," Iverson said earlier this week. "We are reserving it for our other statewide candidates."
Hmm..."limited time" means that your U.S. Senate candidate can't make it to the podium? Gosh, sounds like a real winner we've got here.
Well, if the state party itself doesn't have much confidence in our man Kelleher, what about the candidate himself? Surely he must be upbeat, right?
Before he went to the side room, Kelleher admitted to one Republican, "It would be a lot better if I lost. I didn't plan on winning."
Oh, dear.
I must say this for Kelleher; no one can deny that he has a truly bold plan for change in American government:
Nonetheless, Kelleher lived up this end of the bargain. He set up in the side room, making available copies of the speech he had been prepared to deliver and a paper outlining his support for replacing the U.S. form of government with the parliamentary system used many countries, such as Great Britain. Under a parliament, country's prime minister is chosen from the legislative branch, as are the cabinet members.
He put up a sign in the room that said, "Outlaw lobbyists. Vote Kelleher U.S. Parliament." Kelleher laid out some newly minted, union-paid red, white and blue buttons for supporters.
And let no man be so churlish as to inquire about the constitutionality of this idea!
Montana generally being a reliably Republican state, the state GOP has certainly had a history of relative success. But suffice it to say that this time out...those suckers got served.