UPDATE: This is the second business day that former Sen. Conrad Burns has been chairman of the John McCain campaign in Montana.
A full-time campaign coordinator has already been hired, and that individual is already contacting caucus-voters, sending out materials, and generally running a campaign.
State Minority Leader Cory Stapleton (R-Billings) has endorsed McCain.
If any further proof is needed that Bohlinger needed to be replaced, the contrast between the nothing that Bohlinger did over the course of a month and the sudden flurry of meaningful activity in just a couple of days should provide it.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Bad form in the Bohlinger saga
We don't get by 4&20 BB as often as we used to, ever since Jay departed that site. But we did note that there was a recent "tut, tut, for shame" directed at the GOP because of Sen. Conrad Burns replacing Lt. Gov. John Bohlinger as the titular head of the McCain campaign in Montana.
Republicans, we learn, are meanies for having done such a thing to the good Lt. guv while the latter is on his honeymoon.
Conveniently ignored is the fact that Bohlinger needed to be replaced -- because he was not only not helping McCain in Montana, he was hurting him. If the Lt. Gov. isn't enough of a politician to understand that -- honeymoon or no -- then that's his problem. We somehow doubt that if the McCain camp hunted him down in a casino in Macao or someplace like that to give him the news -- well we doubt that he was surprised.
Let's again review:
Bohlinger apparently neglected to tell the McCain campaign a few things when he took on chairmanship of the McCain campaign. What should he have told them?
a. "I'm going to be spending all of my time between now and the caucus at which Montana's delegates will be awarded preparing for my wedding, being at my wedding, and being on a lengthy overseas honeymoon."
b. "I'm not going to put together a campaign team made up of respected Republicans to work for Sen. McCain while I'm otherwise occupied with my pre- and post-nuptual activities."
c. "Not that I actually intend to do anything for your campaign, but you should know that the reason I won't be able to put that team together is that I'm intensely disliked amongst Republicans here in Montana."
d. "Pretty much all of the people who currently eligible to vote in the caucus think I'm a traitor and treat me like a pariah for running as a Democratic governor's running mate and because I campaigned against pretty much all of them for the last two election cycles. I will almost certainly cost you far more caucus votes than I will earn you."
e. "For the above mentioned reasons of time and attention and not having a plan to put together a team, I won't be recruiting your supporters in the state to fill precinct positions. Besides, I'm not sure how many of your supporters would talk to me."
f. "My running mate, Gov. Brian Schweitzer, believes that we should bring the troops home from Iraq now, and forcefully spoke against the surge, calling it 'more of the same.' And I am the governor's number one fan and apologist -- he can do no wrong. I know that the fact that you had the foresight to push for a surge in troop numbers in Iraq is your number one issue, but you don't mind our deviation on that, do you?"
g. "If you get the nomination, you may have to work to win Montana -- yes, Montana -- if I am the head of your campaign, because of how much I am disliked by the Republican base.
In summary, I'm endorsing you because of what it will do for me and for the Montana Democratic Party, not because of what it will do for you."
Now, maybe the Lt. Gov. told McCain and his staff all of this -- but somehow we doubt it. A major clue to the fact that McCain's campaign hadn't the foggiest notion about the situation on the ground in Montana was that the intial press release from that campaign said that they were looking forward to Bohlinger's advice.
In summary, someone has indeed acted in a heartless and cynical fashion surrounding this affair -- but it wasn't McCain, Burns, or anyone in the GOP. Anything they might do pales in comparison to Bohlinger saying he would help the McCain campaign in the first place.
4&20 recommends that Bohlinger should leave the Republicans and become a Democrat, where he is wanted. Somehow we imagine that this will not be advice that Bohlinger will take, because the minute Bohlinger did that, he would no longer be of any use to the governor and the Montana Democratic Party.
No, Bohlinger will continue to call himself a Republican -- at least through election day. He will probably remain as a nominal member of the McCain team (i.e. nothing will change in that regard,) and the governor's office will try to continue to find ways to use Bohlinger as a wedge wherever possible.
A miracle might occur, and Bohlinger might begin actually to work constructively to advance the interests of the Republican Party in Montana -- i.e. to be a Republican. But we're not holding our collective breath waiting for it to happen.
Republicans, we learn, are meanies for having done such a thing to the good Lt. guv while the latter is on his honeymoon.
Conveniently ignored is the fact that Bohlinger needed to be replaced -- because he was not only not helping McCain in Montana, he was hurting him. If the Lt. Gov. isn't enough of a politician to understand that -- honeymoon or no -- then that's his problem. We somehow doubt that if the McCain camp hunted him down in a casino in Macao or someplace like that to give him the news -- well we doubt that he was surprised.
Let's again review:
Bohlinger apparently neglected to tell the McCain campaign a few things when he took on chairmanship of the McCain campaign. What should he have told them?
a. "I'm going to be spending all of my time between now and the caucus at which Montana's delegates will be awarded preparing for my wedding, being at my wedding, and being on a lengthy overseas honeymoon."
b. "I'm not going to put together a campaign team made up of respected Republicans to work for Sen. McCain while I'm otherwise occupied with my pre- and post-nuptual activities."
c. "Not that I actually intend to do anything for your campaign, but you should know that the reason I won't be able to put that team together is that I'm intensely disliked amongst Republicans here in Montana."
d. "Pretty much all of the people who currently eligible to vote in the caucus think I'm a traitor and treat me like a pariah for running as a Democratic governor's running mate and because I campaigned against pretty much all of them for the last two election cycles. I will almost certainly cost you far more caucus votes than I will earn you."
e. "For the above mentioned reasons of time and attention and not having a plan to put together a team, I won't be recruiting your supporters in the state to fill precinct positions. Besides, I'm not sure how many of your supporters would talk to me."
f. "My running mate, Gov. Brian Schweitzer, believes that we should bring the troops home from Iraq now, and forcefully spoke against the surge, calling it 'more of the same.' And I am the governor's number one fan and apologist -- he can do no wrong. I know that the fact that you had the foresight to push for a surge in troop numbers in Iraq is your number one issue, but you don't mind our deviation on that, do you?"
g. "If you get the nomination, you may have to work to win Montana -- yes, Montana -- if I am the head of your campaign, because of how much I am disliked by the Republican base.
In summary, I'm endorsing you because of what it will do for me and for the Montana Democratic Party, not because of what it will do for you."
Now, maybe the Lt. Gov. told McCain and his staff all of this -- but somehow we doubt it. A major clue to the fact that McCain's campaign hadn't the foggiest notion about the situation on the ground in Montana was that the intial press release from that campaign said that they were looking forward to Bohlinger's advice.
In summary, someone has indeed acted in a heartless and cynical fashion surrounding this affair -- but it wasn't McCain, Burns, or anyone in the GOP. Anything they might do pales in comparison to Bohlinger saying he would help the McCain campaign in the first place.
4&20 recommends that Bohlinger should leave the Republicans and become a Democrat, where he is wanted. Somehow we imagine that this will not be advice that Bohlinger will take, because the minute Bohlinger did that, he would no longer be of any use to the governor and the Montana Democratic Party.
No, Bohlinger will continue to call himself a Republican -- at least through election day. He will probably remain as a nominal member of the McCain team (i.e. nothing will change in that regard,) and the governor's office will try to continue to find ways to use Bohlinger as a wedge wherever possible.
A miracle might occur, and Bohlinger might begin actually to work constructively to advance the interests of the Republican Party in Montana -- i.e. to be a Republican. But we're not holding our collective breath waiting for it to happen.
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