Politics & Guitars
Tester in Missoula, Could Pearl Jam Be Next?
By Courtney Lowery, 5-25-05
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| Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament listens to Jon Tester's candidacy announcement in Missoula. | |
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When you find things you thought were no longer possible, it's hard not to get excited. Wednesday afternoon, I came across two such things -- a political candidate I actually like and the possibility of hearing actual music in Montana.
It seems we're lacking both these days, so to see Jon Tester and Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament standing together in the mid-afternoon Missoula sun with a tractor-trailer in the background was enough to give a person hope.
Tester was in Missoula to announce his candidacy for U.S. Senate. (He started his announcement tour Tuesday, read Chuck Johnson's full piece on the announcement here). Ament was there to support him sporting a white T-shirt with "Tester 2006" written in black marker across the chest.
The connection here is that both of them are from Big Sandy (a small farming community on the hi-line) both have watched the fabric of Montana change as the agriculture economy dropped and small businesses struggled, both want to get Conrad Burns out of the U.S. Senate and both think Jon Tester is the man for the job.
And they both may be right. Tester is in for a tough run, even in the primary. State Auditor John Morrison has already put in his bid for the Democratic ticket and there are rumors former Missoula Mayor Dan Kemmis may join the fight. This makes for a tough pool of good Democrats to wade through, but in my humble opinion (I'm no strategist. Hell, I'm not even a Democrat), if the Dems want a fighting chance against Conrad Burns, Tester is the one they want.
If you just look at the guy, you'll know why I say that. He's a tall, old farmer who thinks progressively, but acts traditionally. He's got a farmer's flatop and a farmer's belly, but he's refined enough and savvy enough to play ball with the big boys in D.C. without looking like a hick. He looks you in the eye when he tells you he knows how to represent all of Montana in the U.S. Senate and you believe him -- and he rarely spits out a canned quote. (Which I can spot from a mile away)
Sure, Morrison is a great guy with wide appeal, and I have no doubt he'd be a great senator, but he's pretty slick from an outsider's point of view. Conrad Burns has the ag contingency cornered in Montana. As a senior Senator, he's brought a lot of pork home and his folksy style resonates with the "red" Montana voters, so to win, you've got to beat Conrad at his own game. You've got to look people in the eye, you've got to really relate to them, you've got to talk small businesses and education in rural schools and agriculture reform. Tester does all of these thing and he does them well.
I asked Tester if he thought voters were ready to put another Democrat in the U.S. Senate after shooing Burns in for so many years.
"Montanans are ready to put the right Democrat in the U.S. Senate," he said.
I next asked him if he thought he could possibly get Burns' rural contingency.
"I'm going to pull some of the same base as Conrad does," he said.
Here's why I asked: I've said this before, but I always use my old farmer Dad as a litmus test for how a Democrat is going to fare in Montana. My Dad is the old guard of the real family farmer and if you want to be a Democrat and win in Montana, you've got to appeal to the Clyde Lowerys of the world. My Dad and Jon Tester would be friends. They would spot each other in a room and talk for hours about the weather. My Dad wouldn't know what to do in a room with John Morrison.
But I digress. The real news here for Missoulians is that Ament has thrown his superstar weight behind Tester and that, my friends, could mean a lot for Jon Tester (and even possibly a benefit concert from Pearl Jam.) Ament said there's a lot of things to be worked out (like campaign donation laws and whatnot) but he and the boys are going to help out in anyway they can, "I want to do it and the band is totally behind it," he said. The band is going on tour in Canada this fall and their working on finishing an album, so there's a lot to be ironed out still.
Pearl Jam is famous for their philanthropy and one of Ament's pet issues is aid to family farmers. He said the band has contemplated doing Farm Aid shows in the past, but it never quite fit. By supporting Tester, Ament says he feels like he's still supporting family farmers.
"The thing that gets me most excited about Jon being involved on a federal level is that I think he could turn the farm program around," he told the small crowd. He later told me that "we have to keep rural Montana alive." Tester, he said, is the best chance.
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Comments
Keep up the great work.
As far as Tester having the "persona" to beat Burns, most Montanans will need more evidence than provided.
Give us facts: What does Tester promote that is different or better than Burns? How will Tester promote Montana's agricultural products domestically and internationally? How about tourism? And other Montana concerns?
Most Montanans are more savvy than liberal journalists believe. Just give us the facts, Jack!
James: As to "just the facts, Jack," I appreciate your sentiment, but I was not purporting to do the straight-up Tester announcement/platform story here. Every newspaper in the state had that story in it that day -- with many of the answers to the questions you asked. I directed you to the most complete and thorough story I saw out there for "just the facts" and rather than rehash them for my readers, I would rather give you a larger look at the story and some honest discussion about it. In general, some of what we hope to do here at New West is be a value-add to the news that is out there by taking a different approach to the story to give it more context and to connect the dots for ourselves and our readers -- such as asking whether or not Tester will have enough appeal with Burns' contingency to make this a race.