Page 33 - Flathead Beacon // 9.3.14

FLATHEADBEACON.COM OPINION UNCOMMON GROUND Mike Jopek
A Young Woman Senator
SEPTEMBER 3, 2014 | 33 It’s Worth the Drive on
MONTANA DEMOCRATS should help U.S. Senate can- didate and state Rep. Amanda Curtis with voter turnout. Not that Cur- tis needs much help building enthusi- asm among young voters. When was the last time that a 34-year-old woman was the candidate for U.S. Senate?
Curtis, a high school math teacher from Butte, has been called many things in her rapid accent into state leadership. East Coast news pundits were quick to paint Curtis as anything from a social- ist to Montana’s version of Elizabeth Warren.
The one current member of the U.S. Senate to ever talk socialism is Bernie Sanders, who recently ushered through the law that builds 27 new clinics for vet- erans, allows veterans in-state college tuition in any state, and lets many Mon- tana veterans visit private healthcare clinics.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren recently told the Rolling Stone magazine that “rising student-loan debt is an economic emer- gency.” Warren says that the $1.2 billion student debt is “stopping young people from buying homes, from buying cars, from starting small businesses.”
Curtis herself has $24,000 in stu- dent loans. Curtis says that she relied on the similar Pell Grants and federal loans to get through college to become a high school math teacher. Curtis told the Bozeman Daily Chronicle that “Daines wants to slash the Pell Grants and isn’t worried about the rates going up.”
Curtis presents a new math chal- lenge for Rep. Steve Daines in midterm elections. It’s not as though early polls indicate that Curtis beats Daines. But what‘s harder to anticipate is how Curtis is electrifying the young, women, and the middle-class voter base in Montana.
Plenty of voters have likely figured out that Curtis represents their one, and only, chance to elect a 34-year-old woman to be a U.S. senator.
If national Democrats were smart, they’d help Curtis promote her online ActBlue fundraising account. Several
thousand people made political contri- butions to Curtis on her first week on the campaign.
In a New York Times column, Gain Collins wrote that a math teacher in Congress would help. Collins wrote the campaign ad for Curtis should be, “Elect somebody who knows how to count.”
Daines recently proposed a health- care fix with Rep. Todd Young that rede- fines full-time work. The Congressional Budget Office said the bill would increase, yes increase, budget deficits by $74 billion and would “reduce the number of people receiving employment-based coverage by about 1 million people.”
My own experiences in carrying the property tax reappraisal bill during the 2009 Montana Legislature reminded me that plenty of legislators don’t much like math.
The political directness of Amanda Curtis is her ability to say it like it is. The GOP was quick to mock her legis- lative video recordings of the last ses- sion. But what the GOP is slowly figuring out is that plenty of young, women and middle-class voters who see Curtis on video only serve to confirm that they are voting for her.
Almost every voter in Montana, heck across the nation, says that Congress is messed up. But polls say that we are likely to elect the same people that shut down the government, slash funding for Pell Grants and cut funding to public research at places like the National Institutes of Health.
The only way that an Amanda Curtis, a 34-year-old high school math teacher from Butte, ever becomes a U.S. senator is if young voters, if women voters, and if middle-class voters say that this is their time.
If you’re tired of business as usual D.C. politics and want Curtis to repre- sent Montana in the U.S. Senate, you’d better fund her campaign today, tell your friends to fund her campaign, and you must volunteer to help Curtis become a voter turnout machine. Voting by mail begins next month.
406-844-3501 23705 Highway 93 S. Rollins, MT
Fall & Winter Hours
6 am - 2 pm daily
THE ONLY WAY THAT AN AMANDA CURTIS, A 34-YEAR-OLD HIGH SCHOOL MATH TEACHER FROM BUTTE, EVER BECOMES A U.S. SENATOR IS IF YOUNG VOTERS, IF WOMEN VOTERS, AND IF MID- DLE-CLASS VOTERS SAY THAT THIS IS THEIR TIME.
Mike (Uncommon Ground) Jopek and Dave (Closing Range) Skinner often fall on op- posite sides of the fence when it comes to political and outdoor issues. Their columns alternate each week in the Flathead Beacon.
FLATHEAD SPEECH AND DEBATE
2ND ANNUAL PARKING LOT
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FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO DONATE call Val 261-6745 or Michelle 253-8034
2699 Hwy 93 S. • Kalispell • 756-8526
Scenic Highway 93!
We’ll be selling hotdogs and baked goods too!