A view from Montana about why the Democrat lost.

[pnwmom]

And it wasn't because Montana would have preferred an inexperienced progressive.

Link to tweet

[WellDarn]

1. Is that the famous K Street in Missoula?

I just wonder because this sounds like a lot of DC-esque "expertise" being shared.

The comparison between Bullock vs. Gianforte and Quist vs. Gianforte is pure desperation.

I'll start with the fact that the Twitter storm gushes over Bullock's ability to attract Big Money in his race and then heavily outspend Gianforte, yet overlooks the fact that Bullock's association with Big Money got him only a fraction of the money the GOP was FORCED to spend to beat the populist Quist. That same bucket of money would have left even Bullock heavily outspent if he had faced Gianforte in THIS race for the Montana House seat.

Let's go on to the small difference that BULLOCK WAS AN INCUMBENT.

Then there was the small fact that Gianforte was a complete political unknown when he ran against Bullock. By the time he ran against Quist, Gianforte had been campaigning for almost a year and a half. Quist had campaigned for less than 5 months.

Oh, and even with the incumbency, the big bucks, and the great political connections, Bullock barely won.

Finally, our friend from K Street completely ignored that this very seat was up for grabs in November. In that election, the prototypical centrist, Denise Juneau, the well known Montana Superintendent of Public Instruction, a candidate many described with the word "protege," ran for that very same House seat and lost by twice the margin as Quist.

I know it's hard for some to see the dramatically better that predicted results obtained by "populist" candidates in these special elections (heck, Democratic wins with "populist" candidates in New York and Connecticut have been next to ignored), but if we are going to have a real discussion on the future of this party, this denial needs to stop.

Oh, and one other small thing. Quist was the Democratic candidate. He was backed by the Montana Democratic Party. The Democrats in Montana worked hard in this campaign. Remember that.

[leftstreet]

3. +1

Outstanding! Thanks for this



Every time this happens we're forced to listen to gibberish about the importance of moving right to gain seats. But every time a centrist Democrat loses an election or gets booted from a seat...the voters get the blame

[LBM20]

5. Many good points. All in all, a pretty good showing for Quist given the uphill battle.

[Demsrule86]

7. I think the showing was surprising and shows with the right candidate, we could take that seat.

[msongs]

2. Gianforte reflects Montana family values. he has attributes the majority of voters prefer nt

[LBM20]

4. I assume you are being sarcastic.

[leftstreet]

6. Possibly. But he also has to lie to sound more populist

Nowhere in his campaign did he discuss his ideas for abolishing SS and Medicare, because Teh Bible doesn't talk about retirement. He had to hide his nuttiest nutcase self from voters, and largely just did what Trump did - attacked eVil LiBErALS!!!!