In the home stretch of Montana’s U.S. House race, underdog Democrat Kim Gillan is saying don’t write her off – and that front-running Republican Steve Daines isn’t being honest with voters about his “extreme positions” and business record.
“There is a clear choice in this election and Montanans deserve to know the truth about what that choice is, when deciding who they want to represent them in the U.S. House,” she said this week.
Gillan, 60, a state senator and workforce-education coordinator from Billings, has lagged behind Daines, 50, a former business executive from Bozeman, in most recent public polls.
Libertarian Dave Kaiser, a business consultant from Victor, also is in the race, but has been polling in the single digits.
Gillan said Daines has extreme positions on reforming Medicare, making abortion illegal and supporting tax cuts for millionaires, and that his former employer, RightNow Technologies, benefited from government contracts – in contrast to Daines’ position that government does nothing to help create jobs.
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Daines is mostly ignoring Gillan’s jabs, noting that he’s been endorsed by business groups and repeating the “more jobs, less government” theme of his campaign.
“Steve’s message throughout his campaign has been consistent; we need more jobs and less government,” said his campaign spokesman, Zach Lahn. “That starts by electing more experienced job- creators and fewer career politicians.”
Daines spent 12 years as an executive for RightNow Technologies, a Bozeman-based software firm that employs about 1,000 people and recently was purchased by Oracle.
In the run-up to next Tuesday’s election, Gillan and Daines have been traveling the state to campaign.
Gillan said Wednesday the most important number in recent polling is the high number of undecideds, indicating the race for Montana’s open U.S. House seat is up for grabs. The seat is open because the Republican incumbent, U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg, is challenging U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont.
Daines, however, has enjoyed a big financial edge in the race, having campaigned for nearly two years. He initially started running for the U.S. Senate, but then switched gears to the U.S. House race when Rehberg decided to challenge Tester.
Daines has raised about $1.94 million in campaign funds, compared to $820,000 by Gillan.
Some of Daines’ conservative positions haven’t always been prominent in his campaign material, but he’s spoken freely with news media about his thoughts on Medicare, abortion, taxes and other issues.
He says he’d consider the latest GOP proposal to revise Medicare into a program where senior citizens could choose to buy a private health-coverage plan, subsidized by the government, or stick with the traditional government option. Daines says any changes would affect people younger than 55, and that he wants to preserve Medicare into the future.
He also says he thinks abortion should be outlawed, except when the mother’s life is in danger, and he opposes raising taxes on anyone, including the wealthy.
Gillan says Daines is aligning himself with Tea Party radicals in Congress, noting that he had House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in Montana for a recent fund-raiser, and that she is a practical “problem-solver” who can help break the gridlock in Congress.
“We don’t need more extreme rhetoric to add to the fighting and gridlock in Washington,” she said.
