Straight Shooters
A couple of blunt talkers face off in a key Senate race
MISSOULA, MONT.-Jon Tester, the Democratic U.S. Senate candidate, fits right in amid the sea of barbecue grills and beer at this tailgating party outside the opening University of Montana football game. A burly farmer wearing a Grizzlies team T-shirt and his signature flattop haircut, Tester doesn't resemble most politicians. He's probably the only Senate candidate who took six days off from campaigning recently to harvest grain-on his farm near Big Sandy. Political observers thought it was a little crazy to give up prime campaigning time against three-term incumbent Republican Sen. Conrad Burns in one of the country's premier Senate races. But Tester just shrugs: "I'm a farmer, not a politician. I'm running to get honest representation back in Washington, D.C."
That down-home attitude is clearly appealing to many Big Sky Country voters and has Burns facing the toughest test of his career. Burns's job is also one the national Democratic Party is eyeing hungrily in its quest to gain six seats and win back the Senate. The most recent polling put Tester, president of the Montana state Senate, slightly ahead-a shocking turnabout for the incumbent.
Those poll numbers probably reflect the generally sour mood of voters nationwide, as well as the particular ethics problems facing Burns because of his relationship to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Burns thought he could count on the fact that Montana likes Republicans-especially those who bring home federal dollars. President George W. Bush carried the state 59 to 39 percent over John Kerry in 2004, and Burns has brought back billions to a state dependent on ranching and farming aid. And that still makes for a substantial advantage: Burns's campaign war chest-which is more than four times Tester's-will enable him to flood the airwaves with ads against his challenger. "A lot of this race is about who Tester is and which campaign will be successful in defining him," says Christopher Muste, a political science professor at the University of Montana in Missoula. "Everyone already knows who Burns is at this point."
Tainted money. Which may or may not be a good thing. The publicity over Burns's relationship with Abramoff, who pleaded guilty in January to corruption-related charges, knocked him off a clear path to an easy re-election victory. Burns received $150,000 in contributions from Abramoff and his Indian tribe clients. Burns later said he would return the money, but he's had a rough time explaining why Abramoff told Vanity Fair, "Every appropriation we wanted [from Burns's committee] we got."
Ethics issues took center stage at the most recent Burns-Tester debate in Hamilton, Mont., in the heart of the Bitterroot Valley in the western part of the state. When Burns asked a rhetorical question about who was holding up a bill in Congress, a Tester supporter shouted out: "Abramoff!" Burns laughed with the audience, but later Tester said to raucous applause, "It is well documented what's gone on with my opponent in relationship to lobbyists back in Washington, D.C. Senator Burns has changed. He's not the same guy he was in 1988 ... Washington has changed him."
The tobacco-chewing Burns also has an uncanny knack for putting his foot in his mouth. In July, the senator told firefighters they had a done a "poor job" fighting a wildfire-this in a state indebted to firefighters for quenching abundant blazes. Burns later apologized. While Burns's verbal gaffes have long been a part of his supposedly straight-talking character-seven years ago in a speech about energy he called Arabs "rag heads," apologized, and was re-elected-there's a sense that voters may be growing weary. Burns himself acknowledges that he is fighting his own tongue. "I can self-destruct in one sentence," he said a few months ago.
Burns's strategy now is to appeal to those who voted for Bush and paint Tester as too liberal for Montana. A current television advertisement sponsored by Burns points out that Tester wants to eventually withdraw from Iraq and opposed the Patriot Act. "We are going to define Jon Tester," Burns told supporters at a recent campaign barbecue. "What he stands for will not sit well with the people of Montana."
Burns, a former marine and livestock auctioneer, is also getting a lot of help from his GOP friends. First lady Laura Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist all came to Montana in August to raise campaign funds for him.
Tester, on the other hand, has not had any big Washington Democrats come and stump for him. That would contradict his image as a Washington outsider. But Tester does appear in a number of his ads with popular local Democrat Gov. Brian Schweitzer. Many see Tester as a folksy variation of Schweitzer, who lost to Burns by 4 percentage points in the last Senate race. Both tout a populist vision that appeals to Montanans-calling for the promotion of more alternative fuels, particularly ethanol, lower gas prices, and more investment in education and healthcare.
The main challenge to Tester's campaign is simply getting out to meet as many people as possible across the large, sparsely populated state before November. "I need to do more like what I'm doing today," he says at the tailgating party in Missoula. "People just need to meet me to know what this third-generation Montana farmer is all about."
This story appears in the September 25, 2006 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.