For more information see the Montana Democratic Party's website

”The fact is, health care touches all of our lives in a profound way. So it is only natural that this debate is an emotional one. And I know there’s been a lot of attention paid to some of the town hall meetings that are going on around the country – especially those where tempers have flared. You know how TV loves a ruckus.

”But what you haven’t seen – and what makes me proud – are the many constructive meetings going on all over the country. Earlier this week, I held a town hall in New Hampshire. A few thousand people showed up. Some were big supporters of health insurance reform. Some had concerns and questions. And some were downright skeptical. But I was glad to see that people weren’t there to shout. They were there to listen. And I think that reflects the American people far more than what we’ve seen covered on television these past few days. And I thank you for coming here today in that spirit. But before I take your questions, I want to talk about what health insurance reform will mean for you.

”First, health insurance reform will mean a set of common-sense consumer protections for folks with health insurance.

”Insurance companies will no longer be able to cancel your coverage because you get sick. This is what happened to Katie. Think about this. You do the responsible thing. You pay your premiums each month so that you are covered in case of a crisis. And then that crisis comes. You have a heart attack. Or your husband finds out he has cancer. Or your son or daughter is rushed to the hospital. And at your most vulnerable – at your most frightened – you get a phone call from your insurance company. Your coverage is revoked. It turns out, once you got sick, they scoured your records looking for a reason to cancel your policy, and they found a minor mistake on an insurance form you submitted years ago.

“One report found that three insurance companies alone had canceled 20,000 policies in this way over the past few years. One man from Illinois lost his coverage in the middle of chemotherapy because his insurer discovered he hadn’t reported gall stones he didn’t know about. Because his treatment was delayed, he died. A woman from Texas was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer and was scheduled for a double mastectomy. Three days before the surgery, the insurer canceled the policy. Why? In part because she forgot to declare a case of acne. By the time she had her insurance reinstated, the cancer had more than doubled in size.

”Insurance companies will also be prohibited from denying coverage because of your medical history. A recent report found that in the past three years, more than 12 million Americans were discriminated against by insurance companies because of a preexisting condition. No one holds these companies accountable for these practices. But we will.

”And insurance companies will no longer be able to place an arbitrary cap on the amount of coverage you can receive in a given year or a lifetime. That will help 3,700 households in Montana. We will place a limit on how much you can be charged for out-of-pocket expenses, too, because no one in America should go broke because they get sick. And finally we will require insurance companies to cover routine checkups and preventive care, like mammograms and colonoscopies. That saves money and that saves lives.

This is what health insurance reform is all about. Right now we have a health care system that too often works better for the insurance industry than it does for the American people. And we’re going to change that.

Now, if you’re one of the nearly 46 million people who don't have health insurance, you will finally have quality, affordable options. If you do have health insurance, we will help make that insurance more affordable and more secure. If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health plan. If you like your doctor, you can keep seeing your doctor. This is important: I don't want government bureaucrats meddling in your health care – but I also don't want insurance company bureaucrats meddling in your health care either

You can listen to a live audio feed from Montana over at OFA’s blog. We’ll have a round up of the event once it’s over.

Tomorrow President Obama will hold a health insurance reform town hall in Grand Junction, CO. The focus of discussion? Exorbitant out-of-pocket expenses, co-pays and deductibles.

President Obama is committed to passing health care reform that lowers costs, protects choice and expands access to quality, affordable care -- and making it happen by the end of the year. The interim goal is to pass legislation in the House and Senate before Congress goes into recess on August 8th.

Five Congressional committees (three in the House – Energy & Commerce, Ways & Means, Education & Labor; and two in the Senate – HELP and Finance) have jurisdiction over health care legislation. Given all the moving pieces and how quickly things are moving it can be difficult to keep track of where the legislation is in each committee, and what it means for the overall process.

Here’s a quick primer on what our Democratic Congressional leaders are working to do before the August recess:

In the House

- The three House committees with jurisdiction have released a "tri-committee" version of their legislation. Mark-ups (debating, amending, rewriting the legislation) in each committee are expected to begin next Monday.

- The full House is expected to vote on its version of the bill before the August recess.

Key players: Energy & Commerce, Ways & Means, Education & Labor Committee members, Chairman of Energy & Commerce Henry Waxman (CA), Chairman of Ways & Means Charlie Rangel (NY), Chairman of Education & Labor George Miller (CA).

In the Senate

- The Senate HELP Committee released its version of the bill late last week. They are currently in “mark up”.

- The Senate Finance Committee is expected to release its version of their bill as early as this week, and start its own “mark up” process as early as next week.

- Its expected that the HELP and Finance Committees will combine their versions of the bill, and bring one bill to the floor for a full Senate vote before the August recess.

Key players: HELP and Finance Committee members, Chairman of HELP Ted Kennedy (MA), Senator Chris Dodd (CT), Chairman of Finance Max Baucus (MT).

Once the House and Senate have passed their versions of health care reform legislation, Congressional leaders will work to create a combined version of the bill -- if the schedule above holds, this is the step that will happen during August recess.

Have you told your Congressional leaders where you stand? Have you signed a declaration in support of President Obama’s three principles? Have you shared your personal health care story? We've talked about health care reform for more than 50 years, now it's within our reach. Do your part to make it happen.

“…The plans you are discussing embody my core belief that Americans should have better choices for health insurance, building on the principle that if they like the coverage they have now, they can keep it, while seeing their costs lowered as our reforms take hold. But for those who don't have such options, I agree that we should create a health insurance exchange – a market where Americans can one-stop shop for a health care plan, compare benefits and prices, and choose the plan that's best for them, in the same way that Members of Congress and their families can. None of these plans should deny coverage on the basis of a preexisting condition, and all of these plans should include an affordable basic benefit package that includes prevention, and protection against catastrophic costs. I strongly believe that Americans should have the choice of a public health insurance option operating alongside private plans. This will give them a better range of choices, make the health care market more competitive, and keep insurance companies honest.

“I understand the Committees are moving towards a principle of shared responsibility -- making every American responsible for having health insurance coverage, and asking that employers share in the cost. I share the goal of ending lapses and gaps in coverage that make us less healthy and drive up everyone's costs, and I am open to your ideas on shared responsibility. But I believe if we are going to make people responsible for owning health insurance, we must make health care affordable. If we do end up with a system where people are responsible for their own insurance, we need to provide a hardship waiver to exempt Americans who cannot afford it. In addition, while I believe that employers have a responsibility to support health insurance for their employees, small businesses face a number of special challenges in affording health benefits and should be exempted….”

Here’s a link to the full letter from the President on the Organizing for America blog.

Republican John McCain has history on his side in Montana; Democrat Barack Obama has 19 campaign offices.

Montana is typically safe territory for Republican presidential candidates—President Bush won the state by about 20 points in both 2000 and 2004, and only two Democratic presidential candidates have carried the state since 1948.

But Obama staked out Montana early as a potential battleground state and he's sticking with it to the end. McCain, confident of winning the state and its three electoral votes, is virtually ignoring it, although the Republican National Committee will begin airing ads in Montana for the first time Wednesday.

Obama's campaign didn't back off when the state appeared to be a shoo-in for John McCain in September. And now McCain's lead appears to be in doubt. A recent Montana State University-Billings poll showed the race within the margin of error, with Obama at 44 percent and McCain at 40 percent among likely voters, and 10 percent undecided.

Senator Hillary Clinton (D-New York) energized the Pepsi Center with an incredible speech and was introduced by daughter, Chelsea. Senator Clinton declared: "No way. No how. No McCain."

Democratic Senatorial candidate and former Governor Mark Warner (D-Virginia) delivered a great keynote address.

Governor Brian Schweitzer (D-Montana) fired up the room and rattled off an unforgettable line about drilling in all of John McCain's many, many backyards, including the ones he cannot remember.

Watch more videos from the Democratic National Convention here and at 3pm Mountain, catch live streaming video in the most crystal-clear HD that this blogger has ever seen on the tubes.

When I ran for governor of Montana, I had never before held elected office. I chose a Republican, John Bohlinger, to be my lieutenant governor, with the simple proposition that we could get more done working together than we could fighting. Because Montana really isn’t a red state or a blue state. As Senator Obama might put it, we’re a united state.

And so in three-and-a-half years, working together—Republicans and Democrats in Montana—we have cut more taxes for more Montanans than any time in history, increased energy production at the fastest rate in the history of Montana, invested more new money in education than ever before and we created the largest budget surplus in the history of Montana. That’s the kind of change we brought to Montana, and that’s the kind of change President Barack Obama is going to bring to America.

Like Senator Obama, my family has roots in the Great Plains. My grandparents were immigrants who came to Montana with nothing more than the clothes on their back, high hopes and faith in God. My family didn’t have much in our little house. But a few things stand out in my memory: a crucifix and, on our kitchen wall, a framed picture of President Kennedy. My parents never even graduated from high school, but President Kennedy’s idealism and spirit of possibility inspired them to send all six of us children to college. And when he said, “we’re going to the moon,” he showed us that no challenge was insurmountable.

A generation later, we face a great new challenge, a world energy crisis that threatens our economy, our security, our climate and our way of life. And until we address that energy crisis, our problems will only get worse. For eight long years, the White House has led us in the wrong direction. And now Senator McCain wants four more years of the same.

Can we afford four more years? Is it time for a change? When do we need it? And who do we need as the next President of the United States of America? That’s right. Barack Obama is the change we need!

Right now, the United States imports about 70 percent of its oil from overseas. At the same time, billions of dollars that we spend on all that foreign oil seems to end up in the bank accounts of those around the world who are openly hostile to American values and our way of life. This costly reliance on fossil fuels threatens America and the world in other ways, too. CO2 emissions are increasing global temperatures, sea levels are rising and storms are getting worse.

We need to break America’s addiction to foreign oil. We need a new energy system that is clean, green and American-made. And we need a president who can marshal our nation’s resources, get the job done and deliver the change we need.

That leader is Barack Obama. Barack Obama knows there’s no single platform for energy independence. It’s not a question of either wind or clean coal, solar or hydrogen, oil or geothermal. We need them all to create a strong American energy system, a system built on American innovation.

After eight years of a White House waiting hand and foot on big oil, John McCain offers more of the same. At a time of skyrocketing fuel prices, when American families are struggling to keep their gas tanks full, John McCain voted 25 times against renewable and alternative energy. Against clean biofuels. Against solar power. Against wind energy.

This not only hurts America’s energy independence, it could cost American families more than a hundred thousand jobs. At a time when America should be working harder than ever to develop new, clean sources, John McCain wants more of the same and has taken more than a million dollars in campaign donations from the oil and gas industry. Now he wants to give the oil companies another 4 billion dollars in tax breaks. Four billion in tax breaks for big oil?

That’s a lot of change, but it’s not the change we need.

In Montana, we’re investing in wind farms and we’re drilling in the Bakken formation, one of the most promising oil fields in America. We’re pursuing coal gasification with carbon sequestration and we’re promoting greater energy efficiency in homes and offices.

Even leaders in the oil industry know that Senator McCain has it wrong. We simply can’t drill our way to energy independence, even if you drilled in all of John McCain’s backyards, including the ones he can’t even remember.

That single-answer proposition is a dry well, and here’s why. America consumes 25 percent of the world’s oil, but has less than 3 percent of the reserves. You don’t need a $2 calculator to figure that one out. There just isn’t enough oil in America, on land or offshore, to meet America’s full energy needs.

Barack Obama understands the most important barrel of oil is the one you don’t use. Barack Obama’s energy strategy taps all sources and all possibilities. It will give you a tax credit if you buy a fuel-efficient car or truck, increase fuel-efficiency standards and put a million plug-in hybrids on the road.

Invest $150 billion over the next 10 years in clean, renewable energy technology. This will create up to 5 million new, green jobs and fuel long-term growth and prosperity. Senator Obama’s plan will also invest in a modern transmission grid to deliver this new, clean electricity from wind turbines and solar panels to homes, offices and the batteries in America’s new plug-in hybrid cars.

My Indian policy starts with honoring the unique government to government relationship between tribes and the federal government and ensuring that our treaty obligations are met and ensuring that Native Americans have a voice in the White House.

Indian nations have never asked much of the United States, only for what was promised by the treaty obligations made by their forebears. So let me be clear: I believe that treaty commitments are paramount law, I’ll fulfill those commitments as president of the United States.

Read more about Senator Obama and his strong commitment to the American Indian community, and Obamamania in the Crow Nation.

State parties will publish their delegate selection rules and clearly explain how to participate in the summer of 2007.

Montana Democratic Party
303 N Ewing
Helena, MT 59601
406-442-9520
406-442-9534 (fax)

District-Level Delegates: 10
At-Large Delegates: 4
Pledged Party Leader & Elected Official (PLEO) Delegates: 2
Unpledged Delegates: 8
TOTAL Number of Delegates: 24

Alternates: 4

TOTAL DELEGATION SIZE: 28

System type: Primary

State convention page: Available
State plan: Plan Available (PDF)
State filing form: Not available online. Please contact the state party to receive a copy.

** This information is prepared by the DNC's Office of Party Affairs and Delegate Selection and may be subject to change. For more information, please call 202-863-8000.

Romney’s decision to keep the press out of last night’s speech follows an embarrassing string of goofs, gaffes, and flip-flops during his previous forays into foreign policy. From calling the capture of Osama bin Laden “insignificant,” to saying he would shift U.S. troops to military bases in Saudi Arabia—bases the United States closed four years ago—to offending Cuban Americans by misquoting Fidel Castro’s communist rallying cry and echoing stereotypical portrayals of Cuban immigrants, Romney’s foreign policy blunders reveal his lack of experience or knowledge of key issues. Worse still, while the American people overwhelmingly want a new direction in Iraq, Romney has consistently failed to offer a plan or outline his vision for how he would handle the war if elected.

“If Mitt Romney expects the American people to trust him to lead our country in a time of war, he should respect them enough to publicly outline his views on the issues, not try to spoon-feed them canned quotes and empty slogans,” said Democratic National Committee spokesman Damien LaVera. “Smooth talking Mitt may have hit a bumpy road in talking about national security, but the American people deserve candidates who offer real leadership and vision, not more of the same failed Bush policies. The American people already elected one inexperienced governor with no foreign policy credentials, no plan for Iraq, and a consistent pattern of foreign policy blunders, they’re not about to do it again.”

ROMNEY’S GOOFS, GAFFES AND FLIP-FLOPS ON FOREIGN POLICY

Romney Takes Checklist Approach to Foreign Policy to Cover Lack of Experience. The Associated Press highlighted Romney's "checklist" approach to winning the Republican nomination: “As Mitt Romney transitions from one-term governor to presidential candidate, he has been ticking through a presidential checklist, sometimes with perilous results. Where he lacked foreign policy experience, his staff arranged one-day visits to Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Check, check, check." [Associated Press, 3/26/07]

Romney: Catching Osama “Insignificant,” Said It’s “Not Worth Moving Heaven and Earth” to Capture bin Laden. In an interview with the Associated Press on Thursday, April 26, 2007, Republican Presidential Nominee Mitt Romney said, “the country would be safer by only ‘a small percentage’ and would see ‘a very insignificant increase in safety’ if al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was caught because another terrorist would rise to power. ‘It's not worth moving heaven and earth spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person.’” [Associated Press, 4/26/2007]

Romney: We Can Move U.S. Troops to Our Bases in Saudi Arabia. Trying to smooth talk the voters into thinking he has an Iraq plan, Romney claimed the United States “can have a presence in the region” without permanent bases in Iraq because the U.S. “has bases in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar.” [Associated Press, 6/7/07]

• FLASHBACK: U.S. Closed All Bases in Saudi Arabia in 2003. Romney apparently forgot that President Bush withdrew virtually all U.S. troops and closed all U.S. bases in Saudi Arabia in 2003, a gaffe that highlights his lack of the foreign policy knowledge and experience. [Foxnews.com, 4/29/03]

Romney Flip-Flops on Iraq Benchmarks. In April, Romney opposed public timetable for Iraq, saying on Good Morning America that “The president and Prime Minister al-Maliki have to have a series of timetables and milestones that they speak about. But those shouldn't be for public pronouncement.” [Good Morning America, ABC News, 4/3/07] Weeks later, Romney said President Bush should disclose benchmarks and milestones, telling the AP that “If you don't publish any kind of milestone or benchmark,” Romney said, you leave people thinking “you're only telling us the things that you wanted to tell us.” [Associated Press, 6/7/07]

In China, “Romney Stumbled Over Relatively Straightforward Geopolitical Issues.” Reporting on Mitt Romney’s trip to China, the Boston Globe wrote: “Romney stumbled over relatively straightforward geopolitical issues: Romney had to ask the US Embassy staff accompanying him the value of the Chinese renminbi to the US dollar, despite the fact that this is one of the hottest economic issues between Washington and Beijing.” [Boston Globe, 12/9/06]

Romney Misquotes Castro, Offends Cuban Americans with Stereotypical Comments. Romney delivered a speech to the Miami-Dade Republican Party that was heavy on anti-communist rhetoric but full of errors. First, he condemned the Venezuelan president who has embraced Castro. Romney said, ''Hugo Chávez has tried to steal an inspiring phrase -- Patria o muerte, venceremos. It does not belong to him. It belongs to a free Cuba.'' Actually, the quote belongs to Castro who is abhorred in the Cuban American community. The quote, for many Cuban Americans, represents the oppressive regime of Fidel Castro. Then, “he punctuated his speech with 'Libertad, libertad, libertad!’ to show his support for freedom in Cuba. But to some, he was echoing a line from Scarface, a movie notorious for its stereotyped portrayal of Cuban immigrants.” [Miami Herald, 3/19/07]

(Via MyDD)

The angry tirade by the Republican House majority leader in Montana has been called "a low point in the history in the body." He has apologized to the House, but is that enough?

When he joins the United States Senate in January, big Jon Tester — who is just under 300 pounds in his boots — will most likely be the only person in the world’s most exclusive club who knows how to butcher a cow or grease a combine.

All his life, Mr. Tester, 50, has lived no more than two hours from his farm, an infinity of flat on the windswept expanse of north-central Montana, hard by the Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation.

For all the talk about the new Democrats swept into office on Tuesday, the senator-elect from Montana truly is your grandfather’s Democrat — a pro-gun, anti-big-business prairie pragmatist whose life is defined by the treeless patch of hard Montana dirt that has been in the family since 1916.

It is a place with 105-degree summer days and winter chills of 30 below zero, where his grandparents are buried, where his two children learned to grow crops in a dry land entirely dependent on rainfall, and where, he says, he earned barely $20,000 a year farming over the last decade.

Read the whole thing and meet one of your newly elected Democratic Senators.

Stacey Parenteau (who was one of our original DNC State Partnership Project organizers out here) is the Coordinated Campaign Native Outreach Director and is doing a tremendous job working with all the organizers to insure turnout on the reservations. She has taught me so much about the Native American citizens in Montana and the politics in the Indian Nations.

Last week we had a string of GOTV events across the state, including seven in the Indian Nations with Jon Tester, Governor Brian Schweitzer and Senator Max Baucus. Turnout at all the events have been incredible state-wide. Montanans are ready for a change, and ready for a new U.S. Senator! (See one of my pics from the Kalispell Rally last week).

The race out here is extremely tight, and you can feel the energy at headquarters here in Helena, and across the state. There are the early morning message meetings, wonderful volunteers in and out of headquarters all day and night, the endless pot of coffee all day and pizza dinners every night. Last week we had volunteers in here every day until midnight putting precinct packets together and finishing final mailings. It's a lot of hard work, but I am helping out a group of amazing staffers who have been working tirelessly for an incredible candidate who will hopefully become our next U.S. Senator from the beautiful Great State of Montana.

We'll know tomorrow!

"Republican leaders showed their true colors this week by putting the interests of their party ahead of the interests of our country by campaigning for numerous ethically-challenged candidates," said Democratic National Committee Press Secretary Stacie Paxton. "Americans are tired of the GOP's culture of corruption and ready for a new direction. Democrats believe in protecting the interests and values of the American people and remain committed to real ethics reform."

Bush Campaigns In Texas To Hold DeLay's Old Seat. "After his rally in Georgia on Monday, Bush flew here to stump for the GOP candidate trying to succeed former House majority leader Tom DeLay (Tex.), who won his seat by 14 points two years ago before resigning amid the Jack Abramoff scandal. There was no sign of the man who once relished his Capitol Hill reputation as 'The Hammer' on Monday's visit. ... 'The fact that Republicans are working hard to hold on to one of the most Republican districts in the country -- that tells you the depth of the Republican struggles around the country,' said Amy Walter, who tracks House races for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report." [Washington Post, 10/31/06]

Bush and Cheney Stumped for Burns. "President Bush, fighting to help Burns and thus avert the loss of GOP control of the Senate, campaigned here Thursday at the start of a 10-state tour that will carry him from Colorado to Florida before Election Day." Vice President Dick Cheney also traveled to Montana on Wednesday to campaign for Burns, the second time since August. [The Missoulian, 11/3/06; Los Angeles Times, 11/3/06]

• Burns Took More Money From Convicted GOP Lobbyist Jack Abramoff And His Clients Than Anyone Else In The Senate. "Burns took more money than any other senator from Jack Abramoff and Abramoff's clients. The convicted former lobbyist, quoted in Vanity Fair magazine about the Abramoff-owned restaurant Signatures, says Burns and his staff openly enjoyed the largesse: 'Every appropriation we wanted [from Burns' Senate committees], we got. Our staffs were as close as they could be. They practically used Signatures as their cafeteria. I mean, it's a little difficult for him to run from that record.'" [NPR, 10/24/06]

Bush Stumped For Gibbons In Nevada. "Bush campaigned with Nevada's Republican gubernatorial candidate, Rep. Jim Gibbons. In the wake of allegations against Gibbons that have surfaced recently -- including a cocktail waitress' accusation that he assaulted her last month in a Las Vegas parking garage, and an ethics question involving campaign contributions from a defense contractor -- Gibbons' lead has shrunk from 9 percentage points to 4." [Los Angeles Times, 11/3/06]

Governor George Pataki And Rudy Giuliani Stumped For GOP Rep. John Sweeney On Friday.

• Sweeney's Wife Told Police That Sweeney "Grabbed Her By the Neck and Pushed Her Around the House." "The wife of U.S. Rep. John Sweeney called police last December to complain her husband was 'knocking her around' during a late-night argument at the couple's home... [A] state trooper from Clifton Park who filed a domestic incident report after noting that the congressman had scratches on his face...Gaia M. Sweeney, 36, told the trooper that her husband had grabbed her by the neck and was pushing her around the house, according to the document." The trooper filed a domestic incident report. [Times Union, 10/31/06]
  
  
• Sweeney Won't Answer Questions; Promised to Release Documents, But Has Not Yet. Sweeney continued to refuse to answer any questions Thursday about a domestic incident at his home last December and, by evening, failed to follow through on a promise to authorize the release of police records. [Times Union, 11/3/06]