U.S. Senate

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GOP Senate hopefuls sound off on major issues

Four Montana Republicans are running in the June 5 primary election for a chance to unseat Montana’s senior U.S. Senator, Democrat Jon Tester, in the Nov. 6 general election. The Montana Free Press surveyed the four candidates to see where they stand on 10 key issues. The candidates were asked to respond in 50 words or less to each question. Below are their responses, edited only for length and style. Continue Reading →

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Daines tours Missoula brewery, dodges waiting citizens

Daines

U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., stopped in Missoula for a quick tour of the Big Sky Brewing facility on Wednesday, where he declined to meet with the two-dozen people who had gathered to participate in what the senator’s office had billed as a meeting with “local officials, community leaders and constituents.” (more…) Continue Reading →

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Prairie Lights: Pushed into a corner, politicians deflect

Trumps

I’m still trying to decide who had the worst response to last week’s political scandals — Roy Moore down in Alabama or Troy Downing here in Montana. Moore is the Republican U.S. Senate candidate who brought the Ten Commandments down from Mount Sinai and presented them to the chosen people of Montgomery, Ala. (more…) Continue Reading →

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Montana Viewpoint: Reflections on a futile filibuster

Jim

The recent attempt by Senate Democrats to keep Neil Gorsuch off the Supreme Court puzzles me, largely because the results were predictable, and even Democratic senators should have been able to see that. First, the tactic the Democrats used, the filibuster, has never been successful in defeating a nominee for associate justice of the Supreme Court. (more…) Continue Reading →

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Decades later, Mansfield’s thoughts on politics ring true

Mansfield

Marc Johnson doesn’t pretend to know how to fix our broken political system, but he figures a good start would be to encourage people to learn about and reflect on our history. That’s why he recently launched a podcast called “Many Things Considered,” the motto of which is “Looking to politics past to make sense of politics present.” (more…) Continue Reading →

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Opinion: How to make the Electoral College work

Bill

Start with history. The framers stipulated that electors vote for two persons, with the first and second top vote-getters certified by the Senate as president and vice president. It seemed elegant until the framers were forced to recognize that when electors vote for two people in one go, the executive branch might split between rivals. (more…) Continue Reading →

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Opinion: Counting down the Senate’s days of shame

EB

Tick, tick, tick. Today we are counting down on the Republican Senate’s days of shame. The GOP-led U.S. Senate is on a summer break. Count them: For 54 days, from July 14 to Sept. 6, both the House and Senate are on the longest summer break since those breaks were first established in the 1960s. (more…) Continue Reading →

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