Articles Tagged With: Montana Politics
In Montana, Ron Paul seemed poised to make a statement with a win on the Republican ticket Tuesday. John McCain had long been the presumptive nominee, but the Paul camp had been campaigning heavily. The signs were all over, literally. Ron Paul yard signs grew thick on Montana lawns, and his approach seemed to resonate with conservative independent voters.
After all, Paul took second to Mitt Romney in Montana's Republican caucus in February. Paul handily won some Montana's counties, including Missoula and Flathead. "His values are more in sync with Montana than any other candidate," said supporter Ty Marbut emphatically.
Marbut and other Paul supporters were sanguine Tuesday though. McCain took an overwhelming lead and won.
Looks like presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama is coming to Missoula.
John Adams of the Great Falls Tribune is reporting that Obama will travel to Montana after a visit to South Dakota on April 4, make a stop in Missoula for a rally at the University of Montana, and then move on to Butte for the 30th Annual Mansfield-Metcalf dinner, the Montana Democratic Party’s largest fundraiser. Both Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton will appear at the dinner, as previously reported.
We'll have more information on Obama's visit as it becomes available.
Update: 9:17 pm
Mitt Romney has won a decisive victory in the Montana GOP caucus and claims all of the state's 25 delegates. The results are as follows.
Mitt Romney: 38.34%
Ron Paul: 24.54%
John McCain: 21.96%
Mike Huckabee: 15.03%
Alan Keyes: 0.12%
Check back here or visit mtgop.org for frequent updates. (For county-by-county results, click here.) Final results should be available around 10:00 pm.
The Missoula City Council primary election is today. If you haven't mailed in your ballot, drop it off at one of the following locations by 8:00 p.m.:
- Missoula County Elections Office, 200 W. Broadway
- Rattlesnake School, 1220 Pineview Dr.
- Paxson School, 101 Evans
- Russell School, 3216 Russell
- Hellgate Elementary, 2385 Flynn Ln.
- Cold Springs, 2625 Briggs
For more information, contact the elections office at 258-4751.
Updated: 10:32 MST With results now in from several more counties, including those rural counties in the center and eastern part of the state, Democrat Jon Tester is maintaining his lead over Incumbent Sen. Conrad Burns.
CBS News is reporting with 253 of 867 precicts reporting:
Tester: 54 percent
Burns: 44 percent
According to the Secretary of State's office, the numbers are more favorable to Tester, but there's no percentage on precincts reporting. According to the SOS office the results look like this:
Tester: 64,254 votes, 56 percent
Burns: 46,561 votes, 40 percent
In Yellowstone County Tester leads by about 700 votes. Billings is often thought of as Montana's hinge city and so far, such a big lead in Yellowstone County means good things for Jon Tester. Naturally, he's leading by a huge margin in Missoula County and he's also winning big in Cascade County and Silver Bow, which is fairly predictable.
Burns is leading in Powell, Golden Valley, Granite, Rosebud, Toole, Carbon and Wheatland Counties.
At the Heritage Inn in Great Falls, where Tester supporters have gathered, the scene was one of confidence. In Billings, where Burns and his supporters are spending the evening, folks were saying it's too early to tell who's going to win. Spokesman Jason Klindt said on TV just a second ago that these early returns are mostly from Western Montana, so aren't as indictative.
Sen. Conrad Burns inserted language into the 2007 Interior Appropriations Bill today that would prevent all new oil and gas leases on federal land along the Rocky Mountain Front.
Stoney Burk, a Choteau-based attorney and a member of the Coaliton to Protect the Rocky Mountain Front said quite simply, "I can say without hestiation that we're all very, very excited."
"This is extremely good news -- for us and for Montana," he said. Choteau taxidermist Roy Jacobs added that the news was good "not only for Montana, but for the whole nation."
