Fresh off a re-election victory for his congressional seat, Montana Congressman Denny Rehberg would also defeat Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) in a head to head matchup according to a new poll being touted by the liberal news website Huffington Post.
You can find the Huff Post article by clicking here, below are the poll numbers for the potential 2012 Senate race matchups in Montana.
2012 Senate
48% Rehberg (R), 46% Tester (D)
37% Dainee (R), 48% Tester (D)
35% Livingstone (R), 46% Tester (D)
49% Racicot (R), 42% Tester (D)
Meanwhile, Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) continues to take the brunt of the hit from Montana voters after his role in helping to craft the federal health care bill. Baucus’ approval rating, which has hit the 60’s in past years, is down to 38%.
See full poll results by clicking here.
Tester’s re-election battle is already gaining national attention, as Politico has labelled him one of the most vulnerable Senators seeking re-election in 2012. The Washington Post is also showing interest.
What does that mean back here in Montana? Expect the Montana press corps, knowing of Sen. Tester’s vulnerability, to begin writing as many puff pieces about Sen. Tester as possible.
Need recent examples? How about this headline from NBC Montana stating how Sen. Tester “grills” bankers. Yes, that’s right- it was cut and pasted from a Tester press release. Not the first time the media has cut and pasted the Tester “grills” Wall Street headline either, hoping to paint him as a hard-charging fighter for the little man. Of course, last week The Helena IR noted that Sen. Tester was “grilled” by 1st graders with this article. Wait, wasn’t that article written by a former staffer to Democratic Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND)? Could be, unless this is a different Sanjay Talwani. Not that there’s a problem with that, several former staffers to Senators have gone on to work in journalism (I did as well). Some of the more noteworthy ones are former Meet the Press host Tim Russert and current MSNBC host Chris Matthews. It’s just funny to me that it only seems to be an issue if someone used to work for a Republican.