Trego's Mountain Ear

The US Senate is a place where there is a bit of job security is enhanced by our (the voters) desire to throw the bums out. At the county level, here in Lincoln County we elect County Commissioners for six years – a long enough term for them to realize which county employees are blowing hot air just in time for the courthouse crowd to vote them out in the second election.

Still, the Senate is the place where being elected at the right time can result in a long career. A couple years after I took the job at SDSU, I was at a conference where colleagues from other states were explaining just how dumb South Dakota voters were to vote out Tom Daschle, the Senate’s Majority Leader. On the spot, I defended the voters, explaining that they disagreed with Tom. Now John Thune, the man who defeated Tom Daschle, is the Senate Majority Leader.

Since I’m writing in Montana, I’d like to use Jon Tester’s career to illustrate how our desire to throw the bums out resulted in a 17 year career in DC. He won the 2006 election – because the scandals around Conrad Burns (anybody remember Jack Abramoff?) on tribal casinos had created a sizable movement to throw the bum out. In 2012, Barack Obama’s coattails were long enough to help a little – and Denny Rehberg, once Montana’s Lieutenant Governor, then sole Congressman, brought back memories of a boating accident on Flathead Lake – a significant part of Tester’s support were people who just didn’t like Denny. Jon Tester’s 2018 election came along with a lot of anti-Trump emotion, and a midterm vote against the incumbent President. For the first time, Jon Tester pulled over 50% in a statewide election. In 2024, the world had changed – four years of Joe Biden motivated the nation to throw the bums out, and Kamala Harris had no coattails. The career was over.

I don’t put down Jon Tester – his political career is outstanding (my election results are far less impressive). I write to point out how our desire to throw the bums out provides just enough help to keep a 2 party system going – Conrad Burns was the second Republican elected to the Senate from Montana. It is worth remembering that the first was Wilbur Sanders – better known for his role with Montana’s Vigilantes – as one of the five who first organized the Alder Gulch committee, and prosecuting George Ives, was elected by the legislature rather than popular vote. Burns defeated John Melcher, in another “Throw the bums out election,” and became the longest serving Montana Republican Senator.

I tend to vote to throw the bums out. I’m not nearly so likely to endorse a candidate as to oppose one.