Montana's Tester, Bullock raising cash for Dems

Montana is the water tower for parts of two countries essential to reintroducing bison and critical habitat in efforts to rewild the western Missouri River basin. She hates the proposed Powder River Training Complex airspace grab, too.

Following policy and politics there is a necessary part of understanding the Eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains. Since the GOP has chosen to plunder the West we have to support Democrats working to preserve her for future generations.

Montana's Democratic US Senator and governor have been elected to key fundraising posts: Sen. Jon Tester is chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and Gov. Steve Bullock was recently elected to lead the Democratic Governors Association.

For his part, Bullock is unapologetic about his role as DGA chair. “When it comes to the spending of corporate dollars, look, I don’t think there’s any governor in the country that’s fought harder to make sure our elections didn’t have corporate dollars in them. I took it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court,” Bullock said. “But this is going to be the law of our land, at least until we get a new Supreme Court. That doesn’t mean Democrats should just roll over.” [John S. Adams, Bullock criticizes, is criticized over ‘dark money’]

Of course, the GOP is raising a stink: they're being outraised.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee raised more than its Republican counterpart in January, bringing in $4.5 million as it begins its efforts to take control of the Senate in 2016. Despite being in the minority, the DSCC said this haul is its best ever in the January of a non-election year. The committee had more than $2.6 million in cash on hand and had $15 million in operating debt at the end of the month. [Alexis Levinson]

Montana and the legislature is being flooded with cash from Koch-backed 'Americans For Prosperity' in a state where the far right-wing is pushing the legislature to seize federal lands to mine, log, graze, whatever to pay back their benefactors.

It's been said countless times that The Last Best Place is not Oregon (even though the states show commonality in the white nationalist bloc) and elects Democrats with Blue Dog credentials: both Tester and Bullock believe that with vigilant environmental oversight they would support TransCanada's tarsands enema beginning in Montana.

Montana's Left has a hard-on for what it perceives as Democrats being GOP-lite who have deserted progressive ideals just to woo centrist voters.

We can stand for that: practical choices beat Democrats in the 2014 because our candidates ran away from President Obama, marriage equality and cannabis rights. But unless money is raised the earth haters of the GOP will keep defining our priorities and buying elections.

Democrats still enjoy overwhelming campaign support from Hollywood: interesting intersection as University of Montana grad JK Simmons wins an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in the 87th Academy Awards and Jeff Bridges once toyed with running for a Senate seat there.