In this story that recently ran in both the Houston Chronicle and San Franciso Chronicle, and ones I’ve read elsewhere, journalists seem to be getting a bit ahead of themselves in turning Montana into swing state when it hasn’t, in a presidential election, swung much:
Democratic Sens. Jon Tester and Max Baucus of Montana – a bellwether Western state carried by Obama – warned they would “strongly oppose any legislation that will infringe upon the rights of individual gun owners.”
First, McCain carried Montana 49 to 47 percent. Second, the state has voted for the Republican presidential candidate in every election in the last 40 years except one – not exactly a bellwether.