Bipartisan consensus -- or lack thereof

It seems that this is the week for Billings Blog and Montana Headlines to write about the other's posts.

Today, Mr. Crisp reports on the new ad from the governor touting their "bipartisan ticket." He correctly notes that the governor "has been working this line for four years, and Republicans still haven't found a way to react except by sounding pissy about it."

Fair enough -- hard to argue with either contention. But then Crisp goes on to say this:

But voters' desire for bipartisan consensus is real, and the GOP ignores it at its peril.

Point well taken. But proper responses to this statement include some pointed questions, first among which is this: On exactly what did the governor "work across party lines" (as the ad claims) in the last couple of legislative sessions? Montana Headlines was following it pretty closely, and if there were any significant bipartisan compromise solutions, they must have been done in the dead of night without the press watching.

Far from being engaged in bipartisanship, the governor has basically gotten everything he has wanted, and prevented any meaningful Republican legislation from passing.

Crisp is right that the Republican approach to the Lt. Gov. has been ineffective. There has been little creativity in dealing with the situation, but rather a bit too much public bitterness at the perceived betrayal. Showing anger or spite in public is a sign of weakness.

What creativity there has been has been too little -- or rather too much (wasn't the first suggestion an "invitation" to have Bohlinger endure 90 minutes of public grilling at the Republican Winter Kickoff?) -- or too late (such as inviting Bohlinger to debate Steve Daines at the Republican convention.)

Trying to play the "John Bohlinger isn't a real Republican" card was doomed to failure from the start in a state that doesn't even have voter registration by party and where about a third of voters (a significant majority of whom vote mostly Republican) consider themselves to be independent. It has played into the governor's hands by keeping the Republicans busy trying to chase a rabbit they really don't want to catch with a dog that won't hunt.

What Republicans have failed to do is to demonstrate what real compromise in Montana could have looked like over the last 4 years -- and then compare that vision to what actually did happen.

If there is a single thing that John Bohlinger has done that has had the effect of bringing Republican ideas into the current administration, its has been well hidden. If there is a single example of Bohlinger's presence in the administration affecting policy in a way that middle of the road Montana Republicans would recognize as reflecting their party's ideals, can we hear about it? And if there is a single example where the presence of the Lt. Gov. helped forge any sort of improved relations between Republicans and Democrats, it has escaped notice.

Bohlinger has not been a force for bipartisanship -- he has been a tool of a peculiar sort of triangulation, and a pretty useful one at that. The strategy has worked, and as with most triangulation, the goal is not bipartisanship -- it is the neutralization of the opposition in order to promote the triangulator. There is a difference.

It isn't easy to fight triangulation, but if Crisp is right that Montanans are hungry for "bipartisan consensus," then at least part of the answer for Republicans would have to lie in demonstrating that there is nothing bipartisan about the current administration -- and in articulating specific policies on which Republicans sought compromise from the governor, only to be rejected. It may even involve quietly reminding Democratic legislators that they received offers for discussion and compromise from Republican legislators -- but only marching orders from the governor's mansion.

Still waiting for Lt. Gov. Bohlinger to endorse some Montana Republicans

Montana Headlines has taken the position that Lt. Gov. John Bohlinger, who claims to be a Republican, needs to do some things that it is reasonable for a prominent Republican to do. Like support and campaign for Republicans in hotly contested races. And we would be looking for real help, not "help" that would actually hurt the Republican candidates in question.

Lt. Gov. Bohlinger did admittedly endorse Sen. McCain for President -- at least in the Republican primary. Given that Montana will go easily for Sen. McCain, this isn't particularly bold (although if he continues to support Sen. McCain as Democratic rhetoric ramps up against McCain, can we assume that this is a Bohlinger endorsement of a "third term for Bush?)

But lay presidential politics aside. We have been waiting for Lt. Gov. Bohlinger to speak out in favor of Montana Republicans running for office in competitive races. We can understand it if he doesn't endorse Roy Brown for governor, since he is running on the Democratic ticket. But what about other races? Will Bohlinger endorse Taylor Brown for state senate or other Republicans running in competitive races that will determine control of the state legislature?

Will he campaign against Sen. Baucus? Or will he endorse Grimes for Auditor, Johnson for Secretary of State, Herman for OPI, or the Republican AG candidate?

We can cross the last one off the list, since Bohlinger has endorsed trial lawyer Mike Wheat for AG. Oh well -- he still has quite a few opportunities to burnish his "Republican credentials."

The Lt. Gov. did show up -- good for him, good for us

In the last MH post, we asked the question of whether Lt. Gov. Bohlinger showed up at the Helena caucus in response to GOP Chairman Erik Iverson. The post started with the intent of just asking the question, but as we searched in vain to find any news report, that initial open-minded attitude started to drop away. Mistake.

Wrongly assuming that he had not, given that Google News searches revealed nothing, we made some comments that were erroneous, and went on to others that were snarky at the least -- mean-spirited at the worst. We should have waited for a response to our question before commenting further. We apologize to Lt. Gov. Bohlinger for assuming that he didn't show up. Rather than delete the post, we will leave it up as a monument to the errors of hasty judgments.

Our criticism now would be of the Montana press, which gave wide coverage to the fact that Bohlinger was not able to vote under caucus rules, and in some cases criticized the Montana GOP for its lack of openness. One would think that the following would have been big news.

Here are the responses we received:

From an anonymous commenter who seems to be knowledgeable about the event --

Yes, Lt. Gov. and the brand-new Mrs. Lt. Gov. were among the earliest arrivals (at about 5:15 for an event that started at 5:30) for the Lewis & Clark County caucus.

They were greeted warmly by the Central Committee chair, ushered inside and acknowledged politely by several other attendees. The Lt. Gov. also spoke to the crowd for several minutes extolling the virtues of John McCain. I'm sure that the Senator's third-place finish in the voting can be ascribed to his endorsement. Mr. Bohlinger never made an attempt to vote in the caucus.

Pictures exist of the couple throughout the evening.

And our good friend Jack the Blogger over at Western Word sent us this link. Isn't it odd that only Fox News online seems to have carried this AP story? A search for the text of the above quotation reveals no other links.

We can only be very glad that this cordial meeting took place, and hope that there are many more to come. In the AP article, Bohlinger is quoted as saying this:

“I don’t think that signing on to be Brian’s partner makes me a Democrat,” Bohlinger said, adding he has not given up on the Republican party “and I hope they don’t give up on me.”

The Republican caucus has drawn attention to the fact that Montana doesn't have registration by party, and so the only way that one can be identified with a party is by being on the ballot as a Republican or Democrat -- or by being someone whose actions show a support for the Republican Party.

On the one hand, we would like to have registration by party in Montana -- for a number of reasons.

But on the other hand, there is a sense in which there is something appropriately Montanan about having to prove that one is a Republican or Democrat by one's actions.

There is a way forward for Bohlinger as a Republican, should he choose to take it -- and it involves action. Coming to the caucus and respecting party rules was a good start. It was also a good start for him to be graciously invited by Iverson and courteously received by the gathering.

What can the Republican Party do now? Iverson has already indicated that he will invite Bohlinger to speak at the GOP convention this summer, and that is a good start. It is perhaps not in the best spirit of bridge-building to ask him to have a 90-minute question and answer session -- sort of the political equivalent of a public root canal. But the ground rules should be clear -- conventions are meant to build and boost the Republican Party -- and Bohlinger should respect that and speak in a way that boosts and helps the Republican Party.

What else can Bohlinger do? He can do fundraisers to benefit the Montana GOP or the Republican Legislative Campaign Committee. He can work to get a Republican AG elected and to get Duane Grimes elected as State Auditor. He can take public stands where he sides with Montana Republicans on some issues where most Montana Republicans disagree with the governor.

We think this would be a great thing for the GOP, and a great thing for Bohlinger. Will it help the governor? Maybe -- but we suspect it would be a wash. Sen. Roy Brown will defeat the governor in the coming election based on the issues and on Republican fundamental strengths -- not on how how the governor uses Bohlinger as a tool against Republicans. And if we proactively reach out to the Lt. Gov. and get him to commit to our party and some of our candidates, there will be less of an opportunity for him to be used in that way.

Thanks again to Lt. Gov. Bohlinger for coming to the caucus, thanks again to the forward-looking Iverson for inviting him, and thanks to the Helena gathering for receiving him warmly. May this be the start of something beautiful.

More on L'Affaire Bohlinger

While it might seem that we have been generally criticizing Lt. Gov. John Bohlinger lately, the MH gripe with him has been a pretty narrowly directed one.

Namely, that he signed up to be Sen. John McCain's chairman in Montana -- and then didn't do a blessed thing for McCain. Didn't bother to learn the caucus rules, couldn't be bothered to contact and talk to the state GOP folks like every other campaign head in the state, didn't even bother to find out if he had a vote, and if not, how to get one.

Unless Lewis and Clark County is some gross anomaly (which we doubt,) Bohlinger was probably sitting right in a vacant precinct that he could have applied for. Did he ever contact the L&C County party to find out? Did he ever contact the state party to learn the caucus rules and whether he had a vote? We somehow doubt it.

Bohlinger not having a vote doesn't make him special, by the way. There are Supreme Court justices, district court justices, city council members and mayors and other non-partisan elected officials who probably consider themselves to be Republicans, but who weren't elected with an "R" beside their name on the ballot. And unlike the Lt. Gov., most of these folks in non-partisan offices who consider themselves to be Republicans have furthermore probably worked for and contributed to Republicans and have probably never worked to defeat Republicans at the ballot box. None of these elected officials get a vote in the GOP Presidential caucus, though, because they weren't elected as Republicans.

Do we wish that there were a way to have a larger group of caucus voters? Yes. But it is certainly understandable why the GOP arrived at the solution that they did. One way of putting it is that everyone in the state who is on record with the government as being Republican is going to vote in this caucus.

We hope that there will be changes made in the future -- for starters we'd like voter registration by party that would allow for a broader group of Republican caucus voters, or we could have an agreement with Democrats to caucus on the same night (so people would have to choose that night whether to be a Republican or a Democrat,) or we could pass the legislation proposed by Republicans in the last session to move up the Presidential primaries for both parties.

But ultimately, the rules for determining a political party's delegates are -- according to Montana law -- made by the parties themselves. Lt. Gov. Bohlinger of all people should have been sophisticated enough to find out what those rules were, especially if he aspired to lead a Presidential campaign effort in the state.

Bohlinger has announced that he plans to appear at his local caucus to make a speech for McCain and then make a stink about not getting to vote (does he want to make doubly sure that McCain doesn't get any votes? What does he have against poor Sen. McCain, anyway?)

He did this several days after the deadline had passed for certifying voters at the caucus -- which indicates either that someone in the governor's office knew exactly when the deadlines were that everyone else had to follow and then made a point of waiting until after they had passed, or it means that the Lt. Gov. couldn't be bothered with finding out the caucus rules.

GOP Chairman Erik Iverson handled the situation well by sending Bohlinger a letter that (much more diplomatically) explained the above to the Lt. Gov.

Iverson personally invited Bohlinger to come to the caucus in Helena and to speak on behalf of John McCain, although he pointed out that he couldn't give Bohlinger a vote without breaking rules that everyone else in the state GOP has had to follow and ignoring deadlines that everyone else in the state GOP had to meet.

Still, perhaps the Montana GOP could have been a little more proactive about dealing with Bohlinger and the GOP caucus. Couldn't we see this one coming from 10 miles away? This was a wedge tactic that one didn't need a crystal ball to see coming.

Someone at state party central could have written Bohlinger long ago, spelling out the process and offering to guide him through it. The party could have offered to show him how to sign up to being a precinct committeeman, a position where he could work for Republican victory and with which he could have a vote at the caucus.

Regular readers of MH will know that it is not a new opinion around here to advocate being more active and less reactive when it comes to the Lt. Gov.'s attempts to play the Republican game.

But again, Iverson responded politely and positively, inviting Bohlinger to work with him to elect Republicans here in Montana. No word yet on whether Bohlinger has offered to take Iverson up on his invitation.

Lt. Gov. Bohlinger off to a good start by endorsing Sen. John McCain

Montana Headlines has been offering helpful suggestions to Lt. Gov. John Bohlinger on how he can burnish his Republican credentials.

We recently suggested that the most important thing he could do would be to start to endorse and campaign for Republican candidates, especially in tough election year like 2008 is shaping up to be.

We're not saying that Lt. Gov. Bohlinger reads Montana Headlines, but he seems to have taken the advice -- or at least taken a first step in that direction, by endorsing Sen. John McCain for President.

It is encouraging to see Bohlinger endorse a pro-life Republican candidate for President like John McCain, especially since it is the strong pro-life position of modern Republicans that according to local reports seemed most to sour the Lt. Gov. on the Republican party he claims to belong to (even though he made a point of saying, at the time of the last election, that he was a "pro-life Catholic" who disagreed with the Democratic Party platform on only two points, one of which was abortion.)

David Crisp wonders if this will "take the heat off" Bohlinger. Probably not, for reasons that will be made clearer in this post.

We first would remind readers that we pointed out that to make it meaningful, a Bohlinger endorsement has to come in a competitive race, and no-one believes that John McCain will be competitive in the Montana GOP caucus. Having Lt. Gov. Bohlinger sign up at the 11th hour won't be of much help to McCain, who right now has little chance of winning the caucus. As we pointed out yesterday, Romney will win the caucus in a walk -- Ron Paul and/or Mike Huckabee could turn in surprisingly strong performances, but a win by either would be nothing short of astounding.

Lt. Gov. Bohlinger is even later to the party, and is facing the fact that the state GOP has recommended that precinct position elections be held on Jan 8th across the state in preparation for the Feb. 5th caucus. Bohlinger, in other words, has less than 2 weeks to recruit Republicans to sign up -- and to be helpful, he has to actually find Republicans who like him (and who like John McCain,) and who are willing to sign up to work for the GOP and the GOP slate of candidates throughout the coming election cycle. This should prove a challenge.

After those two weeks are up, it will be a matter of his selling McCain to pre-existing precinct people and to elected Republican officials across the state, most of whom Bohlinger campaigned against, either directly or indirectly. Problematic, to say the least. One could make the case that Bohlinger's endorsement will actually hurt McCain's vote totals in Montana's caucuses.

Bohlinger, interestingly, won't get a chance to vote for McCain in the caucus, since he is unlikely to be elected to a precinct position himself (and he would be unlikely to try, since someone in that position is essentially making a promise to work to elect Republicans up and down the ticket -- something Bohlinger would be unwilling to do, for obvious reasons.)

And only Republican office holders who were elected as Republicans get to vote in the caucus. Bohlinger appeared on the state ballot as a Democrat, as Gov. Schweitzer's running mate, so he doesn't qualify.

Also problematic at this stage is that Bohlinger's endorsement is taking place in the context of a primary election -- when Republicans are running against other Republicans. We will need to see Bohlinger endorse and campaign for Republicans who are running against Democrats in competitive elections in order for us to be fully convinced that Bohlinger still wants to get back to being a Republican in good standing.

Something that could make all of this very interesting is that while casual observers of internecine GOP politics have written off John McCain's chances of winning the nomination, those chances have risen sharply of late, as MH predicted they would, nearly a month ago.

Indeed, McCain's fortunes have risen so sharply that not only is he threatening to knock off Gov. Romney in New Hampshire -- a state that with its "suburban Boston" status was once thought to be an easy lock for Romney -- he has even returned to the frozen fields of Iowa, sensing a surge in momentum that could allow him to slip into 3rd place ahead of a lagging Fred Thompson and an absent Rudy Giuliani.

In other words, Lt. Gov. Bohlinger could indeed find himself stuck with backing the eventual GOP nominee for President -- which would make things a little more interesting, even though there is still the problem of Presidential races in Montana not being competitive, brave talk from the left notwithstanding.

So, congratulations and thanks to Lt. Gov. Bohlinger -- it's a start. We're still waiting for his endorsements in competitive key legislative races and in races for statewide office, especially any that promise to be competitive.

Bohl'ing them over -- Erik Iverson style

It seems that Erik Iverson is taking advice from Montana Headlines -- well, probably not, but perhaps great minds just think alike.

Back in the summer, when Lt. Gov. John Bohlinger wanted to attend the Republican state convention (the first that he would have attended in many years -- just happening to be the year before his re-election campaign with the Democratic governor,) we thought that the GOP made a mistake in not welcoming him with open arms, and had this to say:

So what should party central have done? Well, Lt. Gov. Bohlinger is one of a handful of Republicans holding state-wide office right now, and when he expressed a desire to attend the GOP convention, he could have been invited to come and give a major address to the convention.

...Bohlinger, as a self-described good Republican, would doubtless have been more than happy to get up and give a speech advocating the importance of gaining Republican majorities in the state House and Senate. He could have talked about the importance of defeating Sen. Baucus, and of keeping Rep. Rehberg and Sec. State Johnson in office. He could have publicly lamented the Tester Senate victory.

Bohlinger wants to be an active Republican again? Then for heaven's sake don't give him the cold shoulder. Tell him "welcome, back, John -- we're excited -- we need all the help we can get to get the governorship back!"

Give him a place of honor, publicize it widely that Lt.Gov. Bohlinger wants to help the GOP win elections. The prodigal son has come home -- so kill the fatted calf, put a ring on his finger, let the dancing begin. All the men could show up in bow-ties. All the ladies could wear vintage dresses from Aileen's.

Well, now the good Lt. Guv has his opportunity -- but it seems that he's not able to take advantage of it due to being on his honeymoon in China.

Too bad, because Chairman Erik Iverson not only was inviting Bohlinger to attend, but to be a major speaker.

Iverson wrote to Bohlinger that he was offering him --

...the opportunity to hold a ninety minute "Question and Answer" session with the Republican delegates in attendance. This session will be a great opportunity for you to reconnect with members of the Montana Republican Party.

Reconnect, indeed. We had the opportunity to hear Bohlinger some time ago on YPR -- when he articulated what it meant to him to be a Republican, it was pretty much straight Democratic talking points, and nothing that anyone from any of the various wings of the GOP would recognize as Republican.

But perhaps the most important thing about being a member of a political party -- particularly a leader in a political party -- is loyalty to that party.

Like all Republicans, we know people of a variety of persuasions within the GOP who feel that the party mainstream has left them behind. That is part of the reality of large coalition parties such as our two major parties in this two country.

One can have one of several responses to feeling left by one's party -- one can switch to another party (and unlike Lt. Gov. Bohlinger, be a man about it and admit it,) one can decide to remain nominally in the party but withdraw from active political involvement until such time as one can support it again, or one can remain active in the party and remain loyal to the ticket, while hoping and working to change the party to become more to one's liking.

All of these are honorable responses. It would have been nice if Lt. Gov. Bohlinger could have come to the GOP's winter meeting here in Billings -- his home town, no less -- to talk to the GOP party faithful about why a path that seems dishonorable to most Republicans is honorable in his eyes. Or even better -- maybe we would see a new John Bohlinger, one that was rooting for Republican victories in legislative races and statewide races.

Now that would be news -- and it would solidify Bohlinger's claims to be a Republican.

In his letter, Erik Iverson reminded Bohlinger of his own words -- Bohlinger said he wanted to attend the GOP state convention last summer because "it would be very important to certify my Republican credentials..."

But do not fear that all is lost because Bohlinger is out of town for this big GOP meeting -- there will be more opportunities for him to "certify his Republican credentials." Many more.

As campaign season heats up, we hope that Bohlinger will be invited to Republican fundraisers and rallies all over the state. In fact, all Republican candidates should make a point of sending him a fundraising letter asking for contributions -- starting with Roy Brown.

As a good Republican who can afford to honeymoon overseas, we expect he will gladly write checks to help Republican candidates in close races against Democrats. And our biggest race this year is Sen. Brown's race, so since Bohlinger is a good Republican, we expect that he will dash off a $500 check to Roy, and encourage his wife to do the same.

He should be invited to every Lincoln-Reagan Day Dinner in the state and asked to help rally the troops to win victory for the GOP in the fall. He should be invited to speak at those dinners, and be told that he will be expected to comport himself as a good Republican, urging people to contribute to the Republican party, volunteer to work for Republican candidates, and vote for Republicans. We, after all, want to help him "certify his Republican credentials."

We look forward to seeing him in the audience at the Lincoln-Reagan Day Dinner in Billings, rising with the rest of the Republicans in attendance to give Roy Brown a standing ovation -- cheering him on to victory in the governor's race. It will be great -- and the cameras will be there to catch Bohlinger's smiling face and enthusiastic expression as he applauds Roy.

And if he shows up and advises the attendees to vote Democratic or implies that they should -- well, now, that will be quite the "certification of his Republican credentials," won't it?