It appears that big things are happening out in Big Sky Country! Check out the intial returns from the Montana Secretary of State’s office regarding absentee ballots (as reported by the Hotline Blog).

100,004 absentee ballots counted.
Result = 57% D to 38% R.

Keep going Montana! Listen to our episode from Montana too…

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Jon Tester, Candidate for U.S. Senate
Democrat from Montana

Governor Brian Schweitzer
Democrat from Montana

Jim Farrell, Executive Director
Montana Democratic Party

Music by Wilco, Marah and Béla Fleck and the Flecktones.

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The Final Push.

Day 39
5:10 PM MT.

Team DoubleSpeak has reached the Continental Divide. We got our first glimpse of the Rocky Mountains and we’re headed up to Missoula for a weekend of recording, production and much tomfoolery. We’re also seeking out our first delicious steak dinner of the trip (though we have had our share of delicious meat cuts).

Here we are, pulled over on the side of highway 200W to mark the passing over of the Continental Divide.

As my brother wrote earlier, today was a peach of a day. We got to hang out with Sen. Baucus, Gov. Schweitzer and Jon Tester at a Montana Farmer’s Union annual meeting in Great Falls, MT.

Montana certainly has a special brand of politics and it’s a brand that could spread and be effective in other regions of America. I get the sense of a very populist politics, racked full of progressive ideas, that also incorporate the more conservative values of the people who live here.

The Governor talked for over an hour about renewable energy and about the advancements that Montana has made in alternative energies that could free America from its grip on foreign oil.

Those are true progressive values. Forget the social wedge issues that shatter the conversation, these Democrats out here are an evolving brand that sells their record of accomplishment on issues that truly effect the 920,000 people that live in Montana. The people here may not be ready for the national Democratic Party, but there is something happening from the ground on up and I’d watch for a dramatic shift out here over the coming years. Especially if Montana keeps producing politicians like Gov. Brian Schweitzer and future Senator Jon Tester.

Enjoy the weekend. More from this American later.

-Peter

Day 39
3:11 PM MT.

Peter and Josh are getting sick of it now because all I can do is talk about how much I love Montana! This state is just so beautiful and all the people we’ve met so far are nice, real people.

We’ve had a great day today- woke up somewhere in Helena, MT and got an early start interviewing the head of the Montana Democratic Party and a really cool guy, Jim Farrell. Then we drove at 90+ M.P.H. up to Great Falls, MT to meet the trifecta- Governor Brian Schweitzer, Jon Tester, and Senator Max Baucus.

Now I know how folks felt when they went down to Arkansas in the 80’s to see then Governor Bill Clinton speak. Gov. Schweitzer, the Democratic Governor of Montana, is like no one I’ve ever met in my life. Today he was speaking to the Montana Farmers Union, a crowd of over 200 people, and he gave a rousing speech on energy independence (without notes or a written speech) and got the crowd to its feet. I had chills running up and down my spine listening to him pound the podium and fire-up the union crowd.

I am now convinced that Governor Schweitzer is the next great hope for Democrats nationally and I am 100% on the Schweitzer bandwagon.

We are all now sitting in the hotel lobby of a Best Western in Great Falls stealing some wi-fi and then we’re headed to Missoula, MT tonight for some production and fun.

Ha- Senator Max Baucus just walked by and we got a picture with him…nice guy.

I love Montana.

-Matthew

Day 38
11:21 AM MT.

We’re here in Big Sky country at Jon Tester for Senate headquarters getting ready for meeting the candidate later today. Unfortunately his plane was delayed and the first event of the day was cancelled but we’re really excited to meet the man that will be the next great Democratic Senator from the Mountain West.

Now to get some lunch and maybe do some cowboy boot shopping. Lots to come later today…

-Josh

“He says our president don’t have a plan. I think he’s got one….[But] we’re not going to tell you what our plan is, Jon, because you’re just going to go out and blow it.”

– Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT), quoted by the Billings Gazette, in a debate with challenger Jon Tester (D) over the Iraq War.

“[Tester] reminds me of a good friend of mine that I had in the United States Senate . . . his name is John Wellst–, er, uh, Wellstone.”

-Sen. Conrad Burns in reference to deceased United States Senator PAUL Wellstone from Minnesota.

Senator Conrad Burns (R-MT) – asleep at the wheel!

When i’m ready for bed, this usually helps:

There is another way forward on November 7th! Jon Tester.

This is a good one! Tester is going to win. His opponent, Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT) hates firefighters!