unsavory connections
McCain and Obama Campaigns Go Negative in Home Stretch
Now it’s getting ugly. As the campaign heads into the home stretch with Democrat Barack Obama pulling ahead into a solid lead, the candidates are going after each other’s character with attacks over unsavory figures in each man’s past.
Republican John McCain is attacking Senator Obama on his connection to former anti-Vietnam War radical William Ayers and convicted influence-peddler Antoin “Tony” Rezko. But Obama isn’t responding by just explaining (again) his relationship with both men – which he has long played down. He is going after the GOP nominee on an episode that Senator McCain has called worse than his 5-1/2 years in a Hanoi prison: the Keating Five banking scandal.
Voter Challenge
Dems File Lawsuit to Stop GOP Voter Challenges
BILLINGS – The Montana Democratic Party has filed a federal lawsuit to block Republicans from challenging the registrations of about 6,000 voters in the state.
Republicans last week challenged the eligibility of the voters in seven Democratic-leaning counties. As a result, voters with out-of-state or out-of-county addresses will receive an affidavit asking them to verify their current address.
Kalispell and Whitefish City Councils
On the Agenda: Emergency Services Center, Valley Ranch PUD
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At a 5:30 p.m. work session held tonight at City Hall, the Whitefish City Council will get its initial look at the design plans for the city’s new emergency services center, which will house the city courts, police department and fire department along Baker Avenue. Then at its regularly scheduled 7:10 p.m. public meeting, the council will discuss text amendments to the critical areas ordinance clarifying its application to existing lots.
At a work session following tonight’s formal Kalispell City Council meeting at 7 p.m., the planning department will present a proposed planned unit development (PUD) for the Valley Ranch subdivision, an 80-acre development on the east side of U.S. Highway 93, about a mile and a half north of the intersection of West Reserve Drive.
Voter Registration
Monday is Last Day You Can Register Early to Vote
HELENA – Monday is the last day Montanans can register early to vote, allowing voters to go to the polls Nov. 4 at their local precinct — but it's not the last day you can register to vote in this election.
In Montana, state law allows you to register up to and on Election Day.
Guest Commentary
The Candidates’ Views: Senate District 2
What's Important, Anyway?
By Ryan Zinke, Republican
As I read the editorials and ads written by incumbents that take credit for something they did not do, or by their opponents who assail them for something that they did do, I wonder if we have lost sight of what’s really important? What is important to me is that it’s hard for working families to make a living here. It’s not from lack of jobs, but rather from the lack of good paying jobs. The fact of the matter is we live in a state where small business owners are saddled with a tax on equipment, high workers compensation rates and are penalized for investing in capital improvements.
Montana Will Lead the Way
By Brittany MacLean, Democrat
Even as a young child, growing up in Whitefish, I knew I was living in a special place. Montana is, after all, the last best place. As newcomers or natives, we never doubt this, and we’re thankful each day we’ve chosen it – or it’s chosen us.
What we may sometimes forget is this: last best place actually means last best chance. It is, in many ways, our nation’s last best chance to set things straight.
Read the rest of the columns written by the candidates for Senate District 2 after the jump.
State Fund
State Fund Down About $26 Million in Market Tumble
GREAT FALLS – A spokesman says the Montana State Fund lost $26 million in late September when the stock market tanked.
At about the same time, Montana voters received a pamphlet describing Constitutional Amendment 44. Approved by the 2007 Legislature, it would allow up to 25 percent of all state trust fund assets to be invested in stocks.
U.S. House Race
Congressional Candidates Square Off in Helena
HELENA – Democratic U.S. House candidate John Driscoll said Saturday he plans to keep his word and vote for his Republican opponent, Rep. Denny Rehberg, in the upcoming election.
"I promised yesterday that if Congressman Rehberg voted against the bailout package that he had my vote, and this morning the first thing I said to him was, 'Thank you. You've got my vote,'" Driscoll said. "However, I'm not endorsing Congressman Rehberg."
Commentary: Like I Was Saying ...
The EPA’s Fatal Indifference to Libby
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The accusations are damning, yet the accused aren’t likely to be held accountable for anything.
As the lungs of Libby residents choked on asbestos, as 200 of them died, as 2,000 more fell ill, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sat on its bureaucratic hands.
