If you have worked for any length of time as a journalist or blogger in Montana, you have heard the rumors. Many of them were passed along from reliable sources eager to speculate on Gov. Brian Schweitzer’s future after his term ends in two years.
Most of those rumors involved Schweitzer challenging Sen. Max Baucus in the Democratic primary in 2014. Others have guessed he would challenge Sen. Jon Tester in 2012. Still others assumed he would run for Congress if incumbent Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg decided to take his own run at Senate.
Well, veteran political reporter Charles Johnson put many of those rumors to bed over the weekend:
I asked Schweitzer if planned to run against either Tester or Baucus for the Senate, as the rumors have him doing.
“That sounds like silly talk to me,” the governor replied. “I’ve got 2½ years of this job, and it’s the most challenging and most interesting job on the planet. And I really have no interest in being part of the United States Senate. I like to get things accomplished on a weekly and monthly basis, and I know that in the U.S. Senate, it takes a long time to accomplish things.”
I followed up by asking Schweitzer: “So you’re ruling out running for the U.S. Senate.”
“Yeah,” Schweitzer said.
I pressed him further: “So you would never run for the Senate?”
“Never’s a long time, but I have no interest in being in the United States Senate,” Schweitzer said.
It will be interesting to see what Schweitzer does after he leaves office. He will be just 56, and I doubt his political career will be over.