Jeff Bridges
Appearing on the Howard Stern show today, Jeff Bridges briefly discussed — and appeared to throw cold water on — the notion that he run for the U.S. Senate from Montana.
As we have reported and commented on in the past few days, a Billings-area woman started a Facebook page and a Change.org petition to encourage Bridges to seek appointment as the Democratic candidate to replace Sen. John Walsh. Walsh dropped out of the race against Rep. Steve Daines, R-Mont., amid revelations that he, Walsh, pilfered the writings of others during his time at the War College.
On the show, Bridges was talking to Stern about how his wife often puts the brakes on him when he gets unduly excited about things, those times when “I write checks my ass can’t cash.” (Just like a real senator!) And then he mentioned stumbling across the Facebook page, apparently, and mentioning that to his wife.
After some laughter, he quoted his wife as saying, “Don’t even think about it.”
There may be further references to the subject, but I was damned if I was going to listen to the whole hour and 23 minutes. I came away from what I did hear it with the impression that Bridges thinks it’s mostly a joke and that’s he’s not terribly interested.
But Lizbeth Pratt, who created the Facebook page, was able to scrape this impression up out of what she heard: “He definitely sent up a trial balloon. He thinks it’s exciting.” I’m afraid the references to excitement preceded his remarks about the Senate, and were general in nature.
Not that it matters much. The Montana Democratic Party meets Saturday in Helena to pick a replacement for Walsh, so Bridges would have to do more than make a quick mention of the idea to receive serious consideration.
I believe Pratt was serious about having Bridges run for the position. For my part, I didn’t suppose Bridges would care to run. I was interested only because of what a Bridges candidacy would do to shake up the political scene. I know we are asked to believe in the almighty importance of our august Senate and House, but I don’t feel obliged to take those two bodies seriously, since they don’t do themselves that honor.
Somebody like Bridges would have enough stature away from the Senate, enough of a life outside the Senate, to act independently, to tick off both parties. I sympathize with the notion that a lack of party unity and discipline is part of the problem in today’s Congress, but neither Daines nor a Democratic foot soldier chosen to replace Walsh is going to change that one whit.
Under the circumstances, I would rather have an independent, an unattached man with some intelligence and humor. In short, I would rather have The Dude.
But I think his comments to Stern show he’s not taking the idea seriously, and that his “candidacy” is over before it really began.
The Hill, by the way, also did a brief report on the Bridges-Senate story
