Matt Singer first pointed out a recent press release in which Democratic congressional candidate Tyler Gernant labels his primary opponent, and former chairman of the Montana Democratic Party, Dennis McDonald “Palinesque.”
Gernant’s criticism is in response to McDonald’s apparent support of coal mining in Otter Creek and his accompanying comment: “I have been very much in favor of developing all of our resources; coal should be a big part of it.”
In regard to Otter Creek, three of the five Democrats (including Gov. Brian Schweitzer) on the Montana Land Board voted to grant Arch Coal Inc. rights to the coal tracts for $86 million.
Nonetheless, Gernant said of McDonald in a statement: “I thought I was in a Democratic primary, but it sounds like I’m running against Sarah Palin. McDonald is using the same rhetoric to describe his energy policy that Sarah Palin used to describe her backward-thinking ideas for America’s energy future.”
As the June primary approaches it often becomes difficult for candidates in the same party to differentiate themselves from each other. That, however, hasn’t been the case among Democrats running for U.S. Congress.