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constitutions and in statutes which empower them to respond decisively and quickly to coordinate relief efforts legislators obviously respond by passing appropriations and emergency legislation to address the crisis but it is the responsibilities of executives to put those directives and appropriations to work as a result with all eyes focused on the crisis governors simply get more media attention and that attention is very often positive the sheer act of moving of doing to make people feel safe can generate goodwill from the public governors also provide information from the many executive agencies they lead and which are responsible for addressing the crisis legislators simply get lost in the shuffle there are too many and while their response can be just as crucial it can seem by comparison less dramatic and direct how does this matter for the u s senate race here in montana it could very well matter a lot why because in a period where electioneering is challenging at best governor bullock is dominating earned media and that earned media is overwhelmingly if not exclusively positive steve daines on the other hand is receiving almost no coverage by comparison how do i know i ran the numbers here at montana state university i have access to access world news a database of news coverage spanning the globe very simply i selected media coverage in montana from april 2019 through the march 30 2020 searching for bullock and daines respectively i also did a similar search for former governor brian schweitzer between april 2011 and march 2012 to provide a baseline comparison to governor bullock s coverage the results are reported in figure 1 which reports the trend in coverage by the total number of articles mentioning bullock daines and schweitzer by month i simply counted all articles including editorials and letters to the editors figure 1 mt media mentions april 2019 2011 to march 2020 2012 under normal circumstances one might expect that governor bullock to receive minimal coverage after the conclusion of the legislative session when for all intents and purposes he s a lame duck this should also be the case for schweitzer who was in a similar position at the end of his second term if one compares governor bullock s coverage to governor schweitzer s that seems to be the pattern for both of them until march there s a spike in may 2012 and may 2019 for each schweitzer responded to a series of terrible floods in the state while bullock announced his presidential run senator daines coverage is a bit lower than governor bullock s during this period but not appreciably so in fact he even receives more mentions in january and february of 2020 and then the corona virus hits the us and governor bullock goes from 184 articles mentioning him in february to 809 in march while senator daines stays essentially the same a closer look at march in figure 2 maps this even more precisely at the beginning of the month daines and bullock had a near parity in media coverage up to and including the day bullock declared his intention to contest daines senate seat but as the covid crisis hit america bullock s coverage began to take off while daines remained steady 36 stories on march 12 28 on the day governor bullock announced the state s first covid cases 51 on march 16 36 on the day bullock extended school closures march 24 and 69 the series high when the governor announced his shelter in place order figure 2 mt media mentions in march 2019 by comparison daines best day was 16 articles on march 17 when the senate came back into session to discuss the house covid 19 relief package the nature of the global pandemic has upended daily life it certainly has turned electioneering upside down how does one campaign when you can t hold rallies hang out with voters pop in to tv studios for interviews or raise money it may also have changed some of the dynamics in the montana senate race giving governor bullock a crucial early advantage in the spring that under normal circumstances he would not have posted by david parker at 10 22 pm no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest saturday february 1 2020 the profound ignorance of senators lamar alexander and steve daines note i re titled the blog after watching senator daines recent comments on impeachment on the senate floor the ignorance extends to him as well apparently senator lamar alexander s explanation for who should decide what to do about the president s actions in ukraine is absurd and represents fundamental ignorance about the founders in an interview with chuck todd senator alexander suggests that while he found the actions by president trump concerning the withholding of aid to ukraine inappropriate the were not impeachable and furthermore that whether they merit removal is a judgment best left to the people here the link to the clip https www nbcnews com politics 2020 election lamar alexander says senate should not substitute its judgment voters n1128286 let s address the final point first the people and not the senate should decide in the forthcoming election whether the ukraine allegations merit removal hogwash first the founders were not democrats small d but republicans small r all kinds of checks and balances are put in place to insulate government institutions from the voice of the people because the founders feared mob rule particularly mob rule swayed by a demagogue the founders created the electoral college with voters casting votes for electors who according to the scheme laid out in the constitution were supposed to exercise independent judgment when selecting the president furthermore the founders expected wrongly it turns out that it would be challenging for any candidate to achieve a majority of votes in the electoral college thus the house of representatives would often decide who would serve as president all of these factors point quite clearly to the notion that will of the people is really to be refined by several institutional checks and filters so to alexander s point no it s up to the senators to decide whether the act is impeachable or not not the people in elections that represents a profound ignorance of the constitution and the situation facing the founders to the second point about to what constitutes a high crime and misdemeanor it is absolutely clear that the founders were petrified about foreign influence in elections and the conduct of national affairs this is why the citizenship and residency requirements exist for the presidency to prevent a european puppet from taking the throne i have to assume at some point senator alexander read president washington s farewell address which cautions the nation about entangling foreign alliances seeking foreign involvement in an election is precisely what president trump did and alexander does not contest this point which is precisely what the founders thought was dangerous and to be plain it is exactly the senate that should decide these issues because they are supposed to be removed from the passions of the people given their longer terms and at least at the founding their indirect election i read the federalist papers in college did they then there s the stubborn fact as john adams would write that the president broke the law his withholding the aid in the first place was an illegal impounding i cover this in my presidency and congress class congress appropriates and the supreme court has upheld this repeatedly and he was accepting aid to assist in his reelection breaking those silly campaign finance laws put into place after massive abuses by the nixon campaign forces that had little to do with watergate finally the issue of removal from office and the ability to run for president in the future yes a grave action indeed but again given the fear of kings and demagogues again this is precisely why the senate must have this ability the danger is a president who is supported by the majority of the people that pesky majority tyranny that madison warned against who must be removed from the ballot because they can manipulate the popular will to retain office and work their will to oppress the minority the senate is a check on this as hamilton himself wrote and congressman schiff quoted during the senate trial when a man unprincipled in private life desperate in his fortune bold in his temper possessed of considerable talents having the advantage of military habits despotic in his ordinary demeanour known to have scoffed in private at the principles of liberty when such a man is seen to mount the hobby horse of popularity to join in the cry of danger to liberty to take every opportunity of embarrassing the general government bringing it under suspicion to flatter and fall in with all the non sense of the zealots of the day it may justly be suspected that his object is to throw things into confusion that he may ride the storm and direct the whirlwind here s the link https founders archives gov documents hamilton 01 12 02 0184 0002 on a personal note i worked as a field staffer for senator alexander fresh out of college more than twenty years ago on his presidential campaign to say that i am disappointed in his position and behavior is a gross understatement america deserved better from him and the rest of the republican caucus in the u s senate if you are upset you know what to do vote like your life depends on it because it does posted by david parker at 7 27 pm no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest monday april 2 2018 carhartt bloodlines and place of birth the recurrent battle over who s the most montanan this is a special guest post by kal munis a ph d candidate at the university of virginia kal is a lifelong montanan and is an alum of both montana state and the university of montana i expect to feature his work often here with the 2018 midterm elections just a little over seven months away candidates have begun to ramp up efforts to distinguish themselves from one another in addition to the various typical dimensions on which we might expect those aspiring to represent us to stress their unique qualifications such as prior political experience policy positions and past accomplishments there is another conspicuous characteristic upon which political candidates in montana attempt to out maneuver one another successfully conveying that they possess an authentic montanan identity typically candidates try to signal to voters that they share with them various attachments to the customs values and lived experiences particular to their geographical constituency they do so in numerous ways including in video advertisements mailers press releases emails social media postings and other campaign media it should be noted that these activities don t stop at election day indeed many politicians will continue to cultivate their image of place based authenticity as a component of what political scientists refer to as their home style candidates in montana and elsewhere clearly engage in this behavior cycle after cycle due a belief in the campaign community that it is an effective practice in a content analysis of all video based advertisements that were paid for by campaigns during the 2012 and 2014 u s senate elections i found that these types of ads are widespread throughout the country with the highest level of usage being clustered in western states such as montana despite their seeming ubiquitousness it remains unknown whether campaigns decisions to deploy these appeals are evidence based or the product of folk wisdom based inertia irrespective of their effectiveness however some pundits and voters see the comments on this ad have remarked that excessive hand wringing over which candidate is the most montanan borders on xenophobic particularly when such concerns are tied to place of birth at the same time however it seems widely accepted that the success of many candidates in montana particularly democrats senator jon tester and governor steve bullock as well as former governor brian schweitzer has been largely predicated on their ability to connect with voters on the basis of place in large part the mechanism through which this connection has been fostered in montana as well as that upon which many campaign appeals based on place identity are made is the candidate s birthplace for successful democratic candidates in montana it seems that part of the litmus test has been whether they re a native of the state for a recent example look no further than governor bullock s successful 2016 reelection bid against then republican gubernatorial candidate and current u s representative greg gianforte in that race the bullock campaign was able to successfully paint gianforte as an outsider with deep connections to california and new jersey so out of touch with montana was gianforte according to bullock s campaign that he was willing to try to run roughshod over that which many montanans hold to be most sacred public lands the narrative was simple bullock a native montanan respects and maintains montana values whereas gianforte a californian multi millionaire by way of new jersey does not the result meanwhile was shocking as returns revealed that bullock defeated gianforte by 4 points all while gianforte s co partisan in the presidential race donald trump crushed his democratic foe by a staggering 22 points as part of the 2018 midterm elections tester will defend his senate seat and multiple republicans are competing in their party s primary to challenge him currently most observers regard matt rosendale as being the front runner among these challengers and if recent advertisements are any indication it would seem that several left aligned groups including the montana democratic party consider him to be the front runner as well in a recent advertisement the mtdp makes an overtly place identity charged indictment of maryland matt rosendale namely that he is an outsider who doesn t share our montana values in the ad the mtdp takes a don t just take our word for it strategy by relying mostly upon statements made by or on behalf of prominent montana republicans as well as upon a compilation of footage of rosendale himself butchering the pronunciation of the state he is running to represent in washington the statements which are attributed variously to current u s senate primary opponent russ fagg former u s house primary opponent and current secretary of state cory stapleton and to a pac that supported ryan zinke in the 2014 republican primary for the u s house of representatives all suggest that rosendale s non native born status should be viewed as a deficiency in the eyes of voters of these statements stapleton s makes the case against rosendale s non native status most powerfully stating we don t need that east coast value here in montana we don t need somebody from the east coast representing us in montana we need a montanan representing us on the east coast this...