The 2020 Democrat with a full-fledged Republican fan club

[brooklynite]

Politico

HELENA, Mont. — Gov. Steve Bullock — perhaps the one potential 2020 Democratic presidential candidate with a fan club of elected Republicans back home — presented his state as a model of governance in an era of D.C. dysfunction during his final State of the State address Thursday night.

“Now, you and I both know that the distance between Helena, Montana and Washington, D.C. is measured by more than the 2,150 geographical miles,” he told the Republican-dominated state legislature. “We see each other as neighbors first. When making political decisions we still share a common set of facts. By and large, we treat one another with respect, even when we disagree. Our politics are more than a sport, or a zero-sum game.“

Sticking to the form of such speeches, Bullock ticked off perceived accomplishments and set priorities for the upcoming legislative session set to end on May 1. Bullock will likely wait until then before making a final decision on a White House run. But he's been laying groundwork for more than a year, making visits to Iowa and New Hampshire along and courting donors and national media.

His pitch to national audiences who don’t know him is that he won reelection in 2016 in a state Donald Trump won by 20 points and passed Medicaid expansion and campaign finance reform in a state legislature dominated by Republicans. In short, he says he’s a Democrat who can get stuff done and heal partisan wounds.

I met with him in December; he's not as appealing as John Hickenlooper, but he's not afraid of talking about implanting "progressive" policies in a State that voted for Trump in 2016.

[manor321]

1. Montana has only about 1 million people, 90% white. Less than 0.5% black.

It is not representative of the country he'd try to represent. And we don't need to "heal partisan wounds". Voters don't want that. Dipshit organizations like Politico think that is what is needed. What they mean of course is that liberals should give up their goals and act like Republicans.

[brooklynite]

2. Do you have a SPECIFIC complaint about Bullock's policies?

Or did you decide to complain without actually researching them?

[dalton99a]

3. Who caused the partisan wounds?

Which party demonized Democrats 24/7 for decades?

[DFW]

4. I have met neither Bullock nor Hickenlooper

I do know some who have meet Hickenlooper, and I have seen him on TV interviews. I was less than overwhelmed. I'd certainly be willing to listen to what Bullock has to say. In my position, I'm heavily oriented to foreign policy and economics, but competent people who are fast learners are fine with me, in case those are not his strong points. A governor of Montana would necessarily have had priorities than differ from those of a Southerner who lives and works overseas, and has never set foot in Montana. My dad was a friend of Mike Mansfield, but none of that ever rubbed off on me.