BOZEMAN – The first debate of the campaign season between incumbent Republican Congressman Denny Rehberg and Democratic challenger Dennis McDonald was the first time I have ever seen the two men in the same room. It appears that they don’t much like each other.
In front of an audience of 100, about a quarter of whom were newspaper men and women attending the Montana Newspaper Association conference in Bozeman, the two men established themes that will only become more familiar as November approaches. But not before taking personal digs each other.
McDonald, the first to speak, questioned Rehberg’s work ethic and even alleged that his opponent was a fake rancher. “He’s not a rancher,” McDonald said bluntly. “He’s a land developer.” The latter was a bit of an awkward opening salvo, but assured that the debate would veer off traditional talking points.
Rehberg countered that he is the only member of Montana’s U.S. delegation that has consistently hosted open town halls on everything from health care legislation to Sen. Jon Tester’s wilderness bill. He said McDonald, if elected, would simply be a “yes man” for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Barack Obama. And he dismissed McDonald’s attacks as “cutesy stories.”
Stories from both men’s past, however, surfaced again when the moderator asked McDonald about his time as a California attorney representing Jimmy “The Weasel” Fratianno, a notorious mobster and murderer.
McDonald’s response: “I did the right thing. I took a career criminal and turned him into a government witness. … I didn’t take the easy way out. I did what’s right.” That’s been McDonald’s defense all along, but expect the GOP to continue to hammer him for his “ties” to the mob.
Rehberg was asked about last summer’s Flathead Lake crash and whether he was irresponsible for boarding Kalispell Republican Sen. Greg Barkus’ boat after a night of drinking. Barkus smashed into a rocky outcropping at Wayfarer’s State Park near Bigfork, injuring Rehberg and four others. Prosecutors say Barkus’ blood-alcohol level was .16 at the time, or twice the legal limit.
Rehberg has maintained that Barkus didn’t look drunk that night and did so again at the debate. “We were part of an accident. If you talk to my staffers, they will say he didn’t looked impaired.” Still, expect Democrats to continue to question Rehberg’s character and use the boat crash as an anecdote to sway public opinion.
Often, the debate – which included Libertarian candidate Mike Fellows – was predictable. The other party is to blame for the BP catastrophe. The other party is to blame for the financial meltdown. And the other party is to blame for the division over health care legislation.
Where this campaign is different than, say, two years ago, is that Rehberg is stumping as a member of the “alternative” party since the House, Senate and White House are all controlled by Democrats.
Rehberg is the opposition, while his opponent will walk “lockstep” with the current administration. The incumbent tried to sell himself as the candidate above beltway partisanship and even echoed the Obama of two years ago. “(This country’s) not red and blue. It’s red, white and blue.”
As for McDonald, expect him to keep emphasizing jobs and charging that his opponent puts the interest of corporations above those of his constituents. In his closing remarks, McDonald said, “If you invest in ordinary citizens, you’ll realize an extraordinary return.” It was the third time he used the phrase during the course of the first congressional debate that marked the beginning of the general election season.