Bu Hao: Baucus Holding on To Leftover Campaign Cash

Aaron Flint posted on October 27, 2014 16:14 :: 1288 Views

This probably isn’t sitting too well with Senator Baucus’ (D-MT) former Democratic Senate colleagues, especially after they helped confirm him as US ambassador to China…

National Journal: Amid Battle for Midterms, Several Retirees Sit on Their Campaign Cash

Max Baucus, who left the Senate early this year to become Ambassador to China, has also given significant funds to Democratic causes,, contributing roughly $1.2 million this year to groups such as the DCCC, the Montana Democratic Party, and the state’s chapter of the AFL-CIO. But as things have gotten worse for Democratic prospects in Montana, Baucus has kept his wallet closed.

The former senator still had nearly $1.1 million in his account at the end of September, and Baucus hasn’t made a single contribution from his campaign account to candidates or political committees since February.

“As a nonelected official now and as an ambassador, as opposed to a politician, he thinks it’s best to let that money sit until he’s back into the private world in some fashion,” Baucus’s campaign treasurer, Shane Colton, explained in a phone interview.

I imagine former Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D-MT) will be shaking his head over a glass of whiskey on Georgetown Lake when he reads that article this afternoon. Roll Call also has this: 10 Moments That Won or Lost Senate Control

Schweitzer Shocks Democrats (July 13, 2013)

Heading into the state Democratic Party convention, former Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer was widely expected to announce he would seek the seat of retiring Sen. Max Baucus. But on a Saturday morning in the middle of the confab, Schweitzer declared  he would not run, leaving Democrats in a lurch and giving Republicans the upper hand. Had he run, most or all of the events that followed would never have happened: Democratic Lt. Gov. John Walsh entered the race, GOP Rep. Steve Daines entered the race, Baucus resigned, the governor appointed Walsh to the seat, The New York Times uncovered extensive plagiarism by Walsh in a graduate school paper, Walsh dropped out of the race.

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