Michael Lange to run as write-in candidate

There has been plenty of talk about it, but the rumor-mill had reached a point where it was clear that Michael Lange, who garnered the most votes of the "real Republicans' in the Republican primary won by Bob Kelleher, was indeed going to run as a write-in candidate for the U.S. Senate, and would probably make an announcement to that effect this weekend.

And he did.

Even under the best of circumstances, write-in candidacies are a long-shot, and these aren't the best of circumstances. Short of a situation where Bob Kelleher takes votes from Max Baucus's left and where Sen. Baucus simultaneously is found to have some serious scandal, Lange doesn't have a prayer. Of course, in a year like this, who knows?

Patty Lovaas, who came in a distant 4th in the primary, is trying a different approach, planning to try to get on the ballot as an independent, even though Montana law is clear that she cannot. She plans to challenge that law in court. Sorry, but the law that states that a party candidate can't turn around and run on the ballot as an independent is a good one, since it prevents an angry primary loser from playing spoiler in the fall. The fact that this year we had a bad result from the perspective of most Republicans isn't a reason to change a good law. As we have stated before, the fundamental reason we are in this situation is that the Montana GOP failed to recruit a strong candidate with good name recognition, low negatives, and the ability to raise reasonable amounts of money (or, better, that the Republicans who fit that bill failed to step forward.) One doesn't change laws because of something like that. And while there are certainly exceptions, in general we Republicans shouldn't be in the business of trying to use the courts to overturn laws we don't like.

Ms. Lovaas, during her brief stint on the GOP candidate speaking circuit, impressed no-one that we have heard from, and the way she is talking about her attempt at an independent run only reinforces the conviction that she was just part of the the six-ring circus of distractions that helped make this problem happen for the GOP in the first place. The best thing that Lovaas can do for the Republican Party in Montana right now is to get out of the way.

There are really only three reasonable options available -- 1. just write off a Senate race that was already unattainable as a practical matter, 2. have Lange, the 2nd place finisher, run a write-in campaign, or 3. have someone come off the bench to run an independent or write-in campaign. If there was anyone willing to do option 3, that person would have run in the primary, so we are really left with 1 and 2. It is hard to say which would be most helpful to the Republican Party.

The Montana GOP will do well to take a neutral approach to Lange's run, neither supporting nor opposing it. There is no way that the GOP can endorse or support Bob Kelleher, the more one learns about him. But neither will it play well to have the GOP endorse or support a write-in candidate when Montana voters, confused as they probably were when they did it, voted for Bob Kelleher. The rules are that the winner of the primary gets the "R" line on the ballot. Period. The state party is not obligated to help Kelleher just because he has the "R" line, but it would seem a little dicey for the official party organization to come out against the person who won the primary. Best just to stay out of the way and let Lange do his thing.

We'll see what kind of a campaign Lange mounts -- if it is one that promotes Republican ideas and doesn't cause injury to the Republican Party, more power to him. His argument that Montanans need a choice is compelling, and Lange is an articulate and tireless campaigner. He should make the race more interesting, and given the other choices available, it wouldn't be surprising if he ends up setting some sort of record for the number of write-in votes cast in a Montana race.

Home education in Montana

There is a nice AP story about the freedom that parents have to educate their children at home in Montana. We are blessed with some of the least restrictive laws in the nation when it comes to home-schooling, although the education establishment has certainly attempted to introduce legislation to make it more difficult for parents. We can expect that they will be back for another try in the 2009 session, especially if the Democrats control one or both of the houses of legislature.

Knowing human nature and the variations in individual ability and initiative, there are certainly home-schooling parents who don't do a good job educating their children. There are probably kids who would do better in public schools, at least from a strictly academic standpoint.

But then there are undoubtedly children who would do better academically at home with their mother than they are doing in public schools -- should we try to identify those children and make their parents take them out of school to teach them at home?

Billings Public Schools have an abysmal high-school drop-out rate of 20%. Is the rate of teenagers being homeschooled dropping out of education higher than that? Doubtful. And what about functionally illiterate high-school graduates? Anyone want to take a bet on where one might find the most functionally illiterate students -- in the home-schooled ranks or in the public schools?

And there is the talk about socialization. Anyone want to take a bet on where one will find the highest percentage of kids headed for juvenile detention centers -- in the home-schooled ranks or in the public schools?

How about college admissions and graduations? Anyone want to take a bet on which population has the highest percentage of kids admitted to college or finishing college -- in the home-schooled ranks or in public school graduates?

There may be no hard evidence to answer these questions, but based on anecdotal experience being exposed to many home-schooling families, it is hard to imagine that the home-schooled crowd wouldn't come out either equal or on top of public schools in almost any metric you might choose for measuring academic performance and achievement.

Don't take this as an advocacy for home education from Montana Headlines. It takes a special kind of parent to do it, and there are things that are often given up, like involvement in competitive sports, orchestras, and the like (although creative home-school associations provide opportunities for these things and sometimes public and private schools alike welcome home-schooled children into their activities.) And how does one replace having advanced math and science being taught by teachers who thoroughly understand their subjects -- some gifted children might do great at home, while others might be held back by not having access to advanced coursework. On the other hand, if one lives in a city large enough to have such advanced courses, there are also often community colleges that home-schooled teenagers can take advantage of.

The common theme in the Montana Headlines observations of home-schooling families is the sheer creativity and entrepreneurial nature of it all -- something that should warm any free-marketer's heart. They find niches and opportunities, they create associations and swap expertise with other parents, they search high and low for materials that fit the needs and aptitude of a particular child. Their children are invariably articulate beyond their years and relate well both to adults and to their siblings (how many parents would love to have those two things.)

It is hard to imagine why the state of Montana would want to put the brakes on this kind of activity. Our state legislature should resist any calls from the Montana educational establishment to add further restrictions or regulations on home education in Montana.

The young man featured in the AP article spends his days reading books (for a time he read geography 7 hours a day for months to prepare for the National Geographic geography competition, in which he placed 10th in the nation,) training horses, working with a local wildlife biologist, and participating in the local muzzle-loader club. Sounds like Montana Headlines heaven -- put us down as being in favor of leaving kids in heaven for as long as possible.