Another trip to Montana, and open thread

I'm heading off to the Montana wilderness to work on the book for a week with Jerome. No Internet access for most of the time, so we'll be forced to get work done. We will, however, be attending the Pearl Jam concert Monday night on behalf of Montana Senate candidate Jon Tester. He's an awesome guy, awesome candidate, the Montana netroots loves him, and he'll win his primary and take out Conrad Burns.

His primary challenger, John Morrison, is, ahem, a DLC rising star. The big knock against Tester? He's a farmer from nowhere in eastern Montana and won't be able to raise the kind of money the slick, polished, Morrison can muster. It's the classic well-connected attorney politician type versus the "real" and "genuine" candidate. But Morrison's only advantage is money. In the past, we know who usually wins these sorts of battles. Hopefully we can all help do something about that.

Now, Tester isn't a bona fide liberal like many of you might prefer. It's Montana, from chrissakes. But he's a good Montana populist with a smile that fills up the room and a heart of gold. Yeah, I'm smitten by the guy. There are candidates I support for pragmatic reasons, then there are candidates I believe in.

I'll be writing more (lots more) about this race when I get back. It's going to be an important one.