| Looking over the results in Montana, I'm left scratching my head. I mean...for the statewide races and the PSC, progressive ideas and candidates clearly won.
So, on one hand, I'm tempted to day there's a clear mandate for a progressive agenda.
On the other hand, we suffered setbacks in the legislature. And not just minor setbacks, but some major ones, because, if anything, the Republican legislators should be even more radical and weird this legislative session. I mean, we're talking about a world in which Dan McGee is probably Senate president or Senate majority leader.
I don't get it. I know Montanans are notorious ticket splitters, but generally speaking the state's voters are issue driven. So...they flock to Brian Schweitzer in droves, who touts alternative energy and progressive tax policy...then proceed to vote in a legislature that's anti-alternative energy, dominated by global warming deniers, and overwhelmingly in favor of deregulation and trickle-down economics.
And this year, especially, Democrats up and down the ticket were saying the same things. It wasn't as if Schweitzer, Gutsche, and Brittany MacLean weren't talking about the same things...health care...clean and green energy...smart taxation...etc & co.
So what gives? |
