So why did Stephanie Schriock, a former top campaign staffer for Senator Jon Tester (D-MT), really decide not to run for US Senate in Montana
A Tweet from Time magazine’s political reporter Zeke Miller begins our “Political Trough:”
Stephanie Schriock on why she didn’t run in MTSen: “I don’t actually live there right now”
— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) August 9, 2013
Peggy Noonan has a piece in Friday’s Wall Street Journal on how Obama wooed the middle class:
The Obama campaign decided not to make the campaign about the state of the economy but about who could look after the interests of the middle class in a time of historic transition. At the same time they decided to go after Mitt Romney hard, and remove him as a reasonable alternative. His selling point was that he understood the economy and made it work for him: He was rich. They turned that into a tale of downsizing, layoffs and rapacious capitalism. An Obama adviser: “He may get the economy, he may know how to make money . . . but every time he did, folks like you lost your pensions, lost your jobs.”
Somehow the Romney campaign never saw it coming.
Republicans, now and in 2016, should remember the colorful but not at all high-minded approach of Obama campaign manager Jim Messina. “My favorite political philosopher is Mike Tyson,” he told Mr. Balz. “Mike Tyson once said everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don’t have a plan anymore.” Obama’s people punched first, and hard.
More from The Wall Street Journal: Washington’s Latest Special Favor Of the nation’s 143 refineries, one was exempted from the EPA’s ethanol mandate. Why?
For a glimpse at the secret, special-favors factory that Washington has become under President Obama, check out this week’s big news out of the Environmental Protection Agency. Or rather, look beyond the headlines to the corporate handout hidden within.
The big news was that the EPA issued—finally—its infamous annual quota for renewable fuels. That mandate tells the nation’s refineries how much renewable fuel (ethanol) must be blended annually into gasoline, a quota that is becoming a pernicious driver of gas prices. The EPA was supposed to release the 2013 quota last November but decided to leave the industry in panicked uncertainty until now.
Daines unlikely to support Tester’s wilderness bill? Here’s what a Bozeman Daily Chronicle reporter tweeted out:
Daines not likely to support Tester Forest Jobs bill. Prefers his own when it comes to providing logging jobs. http://t.co/D9F9RS2VcY #mtpol
— L. Lundquist (@LLundquist) August 8, 2013
From the piece:
When asked whether he would support the Forest Jobs and Recreation Act, Daines said his bill would do more for Montana and would stimulate the logging industry.
“The path of the House will be different than the Senate, but I continue to maintain a dialogue with Jon (Tester),” Daines said. “The wilderness issue can be problematic for some. But it’s looking at how we can put in place legislation that is good policy not just for the next 5, 10 or 15 years, but something that will last for generations to come. With Jon’s bill, the timber harvest sunsets in 15 years.”
Washington Times: Administration will fix huge increase in health care premiums for Congress
The Obama administration detailed Wednesday how the government can keep contributing to health care premiums of members of Congress and their staffers even as they purchase coverage through state exchanges tied to the president’s health care law.
Guidance from the Office of Personnel Management follows up an announcement last week that Congress and its staffers won’t face massive increases in their health care premiums next year, as many feared, because of a clause in the Affordable Care Act that compels them to buy insurance through the exchanges.
(Sen. David Vitter) “The Obamacare statute states very clearly that all Members of Congress and their staffs are to procure their health insurance through the Obamacare Exchange,” his letter said. “Just as clearly, it does not reconstitute government support of their present coverage under the separate Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan (FEHBP) as payment toward the Exchange. … Until Obamacare is fully repealed, those elected by the public must abide by the same law Americans are being forced to live with.”
Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/aug/7/opm-fleshes-out-congresss-obamacare-subsidy-rule/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Heritage%2BHotsheet#ixzz2bO3Rkkp9
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The Hill: Obama in center of fight over bald eagle deaths
Wildlife conservationists are battling an Obama administration rule that would give wind energy companies lengthy permits for wind farms that end up killing bald and golden eagles.
Hundreds of thousands of birds are killed every year after they fly into gigantic wind turbine blades.
Existing permits allow green energy companies to put up wind farms as long as the Fish and Wildlife Service declares they use “advanced conservation practices” to protect birds. The Obama administration is considering a rule that would extend the permits from five to 30 years.
Great Falls Tribune: Barry Beach Facebook Page Deleted
The Facebook page for Barry Beach, the man returned to prison in May after 18 months of freedom, has disappeared from the popular social networking site.
Beach’s Facebook profile, which was located at Facebook.com/barryabeach.mfj, was taken offline sometime early Monday, according to one of the three women Beach gave permission to maintain the site when he returned to prison.
“I have no idea how Barry’s page was deactivated, and when I spoke with Barry about it, he was very upset as well,” Austin said. “I don’t feel it’s in Barry’s best interest to speculate on who exactly was able to pull this off, but I feel that we should move on.”
KGVO’s Jon King: City Stiffing Missoula Family with $4,000 Bill Sidewalk Improvement
An argument over who should pay for an expanded sidewalk and other damages has resulted in a lawsuit against the city of Missoula. The suit, filed on July 29 in U.S. District Court argues that Robert Hubble should not be required to pay the $4,001.82 bill for the replacement of his sidewalk, a sidewalk that his lawyer claims was fully functional and only a few inches shorter than it is now after the city replaced it.
“It seems like fairness would dictate that if you’re going to benefit the entire community you should ask the entire community to fit the bill, to shoulder the burden of those benefits,” Rhoades said.
In the running for quote of the week-Rep Doc Moore seeking Missoula city council seat, per The Missoula Independent:
After running an unsuccessful 2010 bid to topple incumbent Tim Furey in the largely rural House District 91—a Democratic stronghold for more than a decade—Moore managed to win the seat by just 22 votes last year. Already the boundaries of his district have shifted, due to the legislature’s recent redistricting. It’s no longer HD 91. It’s HD 92.
“It takes Rock Creek out of my district, which is terrible,” Moore says. “No man should have a Blue Ribbon trout stream taken from his district.”
Will it soon be ok to shoot down drones in one town in Colorado? From CBSNews.com:
A tiny town in Colorado’s Eastern Plains is declaring war on drones. The town of Deer Trail plans to begin issuing drone hunting licenses if a controversial ordinance passes Tuesday night, CBS Denver reports.
Deer Trail resident Phillip Steel, whose house is surrounded by no trespassing signs, wrote the ordinance to protect individual privacy rights.
Fields says the proposed ordinance is “kind of real, kind of tongue-and-cheek.” He sees the ordinance as an opportunity for revenue. He says 157 people have already signed up to be the first to get a drone hunting license at $25 each. He also thinks drone hunting could bring tourists and souvenir shops to Deer Trail.
The idea of shooting down drones was also prominently featured in a 2012 election campaign ad in Montana paid for by Democratic dark money firm Hilltop Public Solutions. Hilltop was recently profiled in The Billings Gazette:
The conservative political blog Media Trackers claims that Hilltop has resorted to using “questionable methods” for pushing a liberal agenda in Montana.
Last year, Kaiser also received national attention for his membership in Montana Hunters and Anglers, an independent organization that paid for advertisements supporting libertarian U.S. Senate candidate Dan Cox. Cox received 30,000 votes in a tight race between Tester and his Republican challenger, former Rep. Denny Rehberg. Many believe that Cox’s strong showing was the deciding factor in a close election.
Montana’s political practices commissioner also is investigating a complaint that Gov. Steve Bullock’s 2012 campaign illegally coordinated activities with third-party groups, including Hilltop. Kaiser denied there was anything illegal between the Bullock campaign and Hilltop.