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Anti-candidate John Driscoll runs low-key campaign

Anti-candidate John Driscoll runs low-key campaign
Anti-candidate John Driscoll runs low-key campaign

Editor's note: This is the second of a three-part series on the U.S. House candidates.

When Tom Schneider heard that his former colleague John Driscoll was trying to run a campaign for the U.S. House without money, Schneider called and said he was going to send him "a great big contribution."

"He said, 'I won't take it,' " recalls Schneider, who served with Driscoll on the state Public Service Commission in the 1980s. "He has a different way of looking at things."

Six weeks before the election, Driscoll has yet to accept a penny in campaign funds -- and says he's been equally diligent about not spending any money in his Quixotic quest to win a seat in Congress.

"I didn't feel that a person could really be effective in Congress if it took money to get there," he says. "That's why I decided not to take any money at all."

Driscoll, 62, is the Democrat challenging Montana's only congressman, Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg, who's up for election to a fifth consecutive term. Libertarian Mike Fellows of Missoula also is in the race.

Driscoll hasn't run any advertising, has a Web site he got for free, and appears at campaign-related events only if he doesn't have to travel or it coincides with a family trip he's already taking.

A former state representative and public service commissioner from Hamilton, Driscoll now lives in Helena, where he lives on his state and military pensions and runs a book-selling business out of his garage.

He shocked the Montana political world in June by winning the Democratic primary, defeating a well-funded opponent while spending no money of his own.

Could he pull off another stunner this November, against the well-funded and well-known Rehberg?

"I think it's 50-50," Driscoll says of his chances. "It will take a lot of votes. People vote by party; there will be a big turnout, and that bodes well for a guy like me.

"If I get elected, it will have very little to do with me; it will have more to do with political numbers."

Friends and acquaintances chuckle about Driscoll's unusual approach, with the clear implication that they doubt it will work.

"In some respects, I admire it," says Helena attorney Mike Meloy, who served in the Legislature with Driscoll during the 1970s. "But it's left me scratching my head as to why you would put that much effort into a campaign that probably has not much of a prospect of winning."

Yet they also say it's vintage Driscoll, taking an idealistic stance that challenges conventional wisdom against long odds.

"He's very much an individual; I've never met anyone like him," says Schneider, who now lives in Salt Lake City. "Nothing he does surprises me. There aren't too many people like that in the world. The status quo never meant anything to John."

While Driscoll may be unknown to many voters, he has a political resume that stretches back four decades in Democratic Montana politics.

He was the initial campaign manager for Democrat Max Baucus's first run for Congress in 1974; he ran against Baucus in the 1978 Democratic primary for U.S. Senate; he was speaker and majority leader of the Montana House in the mid-1970s, when Democrats commanded large majorities and pushed through landmark environmental legislation.

Driscoll then won three consecutive terms on the Public Service Commission, which regulates utilities. He stepped down in 1992 after 12 years on the commission and has dabbled in politics since then, running unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in 2000 and 2002.

Driscoll, a 28-year veteran of the National Guard, rose to full colonel in the Guard and was in the Pentagon during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack. He spent nearly four years in Washington, D.C., from 1999-2002 as a full-time adviser to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, working on training to coordinate Guard and active-duty military personnel.

He also has master's degrees in public affairs, business administration and international affairs.

When it comes to political positions, Driscoll doesn't mince words.

He wants to withdraw all U.S. forces from Iraq immediately, saying U.S. presence in the Middle East has stretched the military to the breaking point and is without any clear strategy.

Any real, long-term military strategy can't be developed unless the country revamps its energy policy, he says, and that means moving away from oil consumption and toward other, home-grown forms of energy.

Driscoll advocates moving to a renewable-energy future, with electric cars and electric trains powered by solar, wind, nuclear power and other non-oil sources. He also practices what he preaches, as his modest home in south Helena uses electricity only from his own solar-powered system.

He supports basic health coverage for all citizens guaranteed by the government, probably in the form of a public health system that is available first to those who commit to some type of public service.

Driscoll's political views and positions can be found on his Web site, as well as several other sites to which he provides Internet links, such as Project Vote Smart.

"It's fine to work within the constraint of no money," he says. "But it's not fine not to tell people what you think, so I've tried to tell people exactly what I think. There's not a person in Montana who won't be mad at me if they go to that Web site. But there's going to be a lot of things that they agree with me on.

"I'm just not the type of guy who's going to go around patting ourselves on the back and saying we're OK, because we're not OK. I like America, but our situation is not OK."

Yet, in the end, Driscoll says the crux of his campaign is about money in politics -- and sending a message that it's possible to win without it.

Too much of modern politics is raising enough money to scare off potential opponents, he says, taking away the time that representative should spend working on the country's their constituents' concerns.

"We have this mindless (political) system that is victimizing everybody, including the country," Driscoll says. "The first step to make a change is to get there a different way."

Brief bio

Political party: Democrat

Office sought: U.S. House

Office salary: $169,300

Age: 62

Birthdate and place: July 17, 1946, Los Angeles.

Home: Helena.

Occupation: Semi-retired; operates book-selling business.

Family: Wife Kathy, two daughters, one stepson and one stepdaughter.

Education: Graduate of Hamilton (Mont.) High School, 1964; bachelor's degree in political science, Gonzaga University, 1968; master's degree in international affairs, Columbia University, 1970; master's degree in public administration, Harvard University, 1979; master's degree in business administration, University of Montana, 1983.

Past employment: 2002-present, semi-retired, operates book-selling business from home; 1999-2002, joint education planner for Joint Chiefs of Staff, Washington, D.C.; 1992-1999, worked on research and writing projects based in Butte; 1981-1992, public service commissioner representing southwest Montana; 1981-1993, held various jobs in the Bitterroot Valley, including forest firefighter, smoke-jumper, manufactured-home salesperson and contract representative for plastics manufacturer.

Political experience: Montana public service commissioner, 1981-1993; ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in 1978, 1990, 2000 and 2002; state legislator from Hamilton, 1973-1979; briefly managed Democrat Max Baucus' 1974 campaign for Congress in western Montana district.

Military: Spent 28 years in the Army National Guard, retiring as full colonel in 2002; active duty in reserve officers corps for the Army, 1970-1972, working in strategic intelligence for the West Indies and Africa.

Click here to visit Driscoll's Web site.

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