I can understand why Montana Republicans want to turn Bob Kelleher into a literal side show at their convention, but I'm with Dave Crisp:
Let's see. We have a candidate for the U.S. Senate whom we never wanted but who won fair and square. We can:
1. Give the guy the five minutes at the convention podium that he has earned and then let everybody have dessert.
2. Turn our dissatisfaction into a front-page news story that makes us look more divided and inept than ever.
(Iverson, on putting Kelleher into a side room: "We're not turning Bob Kelleher away. I'm going to come in and visit him." Golly, that's sure some consolation prize!)
To be fair to Iverson, Kelleher doesn't fit the mold of a typical Montana Republican. On the other hand, 26,789 Montanans pulled for Kelleher in the Republican primary. Surely a few of them will hear of Iverson's clumsy treatment of Kelleher.
Frankly, the Republican Senate race is a mess. Electing Kelleher to challenge Baucus was bad enough. Now it looks like Lange's write-in candidacy and Patty Lovaas' legal challenge to allow her to run as an independent promise to keep this race in the headlines. (Check out MH's take on Lange's and Lovaas' challenges for a rightie's perspective.)
I'm sure Iverson would like to stick all of these folks in a side room, the electoral equivalent of the back table at a wedding, where you hide your embarrassing relatives. |
