Going into the debate between incumbent Sen. Jon Tester and his challenger, Congressman Denny Rehberg, I expected a mostly sleepy discussion. This was, after all, their first debate of many in a room brimming with stuffy journalists in Big Sky for the annual Montana Newspaper Association conference.
But I was mostly wrong.
A half hour before the debate nearly every seat in the conference room at Buck’s T-4 Lodge was filled. Supporters for each candidate came out in force. They were loud, waving signs and wore stickers on top of their politically themed T-shirts.
Early on, the talking points were familiar. Tester touted his record of “responsible spending cuts,” tax cuts and making sure women get equal pay for equal work. Rehberg ripped into President Barack Obama’s administration, criticizing the health care mandate, ballooning federal deficit and increased “taxes, fees and regulations.” He added that, “each step of the way we have had a senator who is a rubber stamp for the president.”
I should point out that Libertarian candidate Dan Cox also participated in the debate. And while he had some good ideas, nearly all of them included the following themes: get rid of government; follow the Constitution; and there is little difference between Tester and Rehberg. He backed up his points with references to “corporate fascism” and “communism.”
But this debate, and this race, is between Tester and Rehberg, who obviously don’t like each other and neither do their supporters.
One woman, who apparently lacked self-control, took it upon herself to be the Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., of the audience. Wilson famously belted out “you lie!” in 2009 during Obama’s speech to a joint session of Congress. This heckler, a Democratic version, yelled “liar!” when Rehberg spoke. She also called him “a corporate puppet” before leaving about two-thirds into the event.
Perhaps the biggest news, at least the lead in the Associated Press story, was the disagreement between Tester and Rehberg over the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, which struck down laws restricting corporate campaign spending.
Rehberg said he agreed with the decision, which is opposed by Montana Attorney General and governor candidate Steve Bullock. “There should be nothing more free than political speech,” Rehberg said. Tester countered, “corporations are not people” and added the ruling “puts our democracy at risk.”
But, to me, that revelation was not surprising, nor were the differences spelled out on just about every other policy issue. What I found interesting, at the debate and in recent political ads, is the candidates’ emphasis on their biographies, their heritages and what makes them more Montanan. Who’s more likable?
The two men have been willing to criticize the way in which the other is presented. When Tester began airing a feel-good campaign ad that showed him packing his own meat to Washington D.C., Rehberg responded with a television spot called “Bologna.”
“Tester takes Montana beef with him to Washington in his suitcase, but he brings Washington bologna back to Montana,” the piece says.
And at the close of last week’s debate, Tester, a self-described “dirt farmer” from Big Sandy, took aim at a key part of Rehberg’s life story, questioning the congressman’s ranching credentials.
“Building houses is not ranching,” Tester said, referring to the Rehbergs subdividing part of their Billings ranch for housing developments. He added, “the congressman hasn’t sold a cow or goat for years and years.”
Rehberg countered that Tester “doesn’t understand the difference between farming and ranching.”
It was perhaps the most tense, and by far the most personal, exchange of the debate – one that is sure to continue as the campaigns move forward. Who better reflects those so-called “Montana values?” Millions of dollars will be spent telling you the answer to that.