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U.S. Senate race

Editor’s note: These stories are produced by University of Montana journalism students under
the supervision of Professor Dennis Swibold. They may be used without charge, provided editors
retain the students’ bylines. Please Swibold (www.dennis.swibold@umontana.edu) with any
questions. You can also find this story and other information on the upcoming election at
www.montanaschoice2008.blogspot.com.)

Baucus Seeks Historic Win; Kelleher Wants a Parliament

By MARK PAGE
Community News Service
UM School of Journalism

No one is more surprised than Bob Kelleher that he’s Montana’s Republican nominee for
the U.S. Senate.
“I’m still trying to figure out where those 27,000 votes came from, besides my own,” he
said of his June primary victory.
Not that he’s complaining. A perennial fixture on the fringe of Montana politics, 85-year-
old Kelleher has run for office 16 times. His primary victory over a crowded field in June is only
his second win.
His first came in his first race. He represented Yellowstone County at the state’s 1972
Constitutional Convention, in which his current rival, five-term U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, served as
an administrative staffer.
It was there that Kelleher first struck the idea that has driven his long-shot campaigns
ever since: switching the U.S to a parliamentary form of government. Kelleher believes
America’s system, with its separation of powers and a strong executive, keeps power out of the
hands of the people.
As interesting as the parliamentary debate may be, it’s hard to imagine the idea gaining
enough momentum to topple Baucus, the longest-serving senator in Montana history.
Baucus has amassed an $11 million war chest for this campaign. Kelleher has spent $20,000 and
figures he’ll spend about $20,000 more.
“He has his millions,” said Kelleher. “He could buy the whole state with his $11 million.”
Kelleher is campaigning with his own money, earned through his law practice in Billings
and Butte. He takes on mostly personal injury, workers’ compensation and estate settlement
cases.
Before coming to Montana in the 50s, Kelleher, a native of Oak Park, Ill., worked for the
U.S. Department of Justice as a prosecutor. He said back then he was asked to prosecute people
for lifestyle choices. He and with desk mate Robert F. Kennedy fought against this.
“If somebody was gay or a commie they could be prosecuted,” Kelleher said. “I refused
to prosecute gays, and as I remember Bobby Kennedy refused to prosecute gays.”
Baucus, 66, was a child when Kelleher and Kennedy worked together. But he rocketed to
power as a young lawyer out of Stanford University. A Helena native, Baucus worked for three
years at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission before entering politics in 1971. By 1974
Baucus was in the House of Representatives and two years later he became a U.S. senator.
 Baucus has a commanding lead in the polls. He’s running cautious, positive television ads
and making appearances, but he’s barely had to break a sweat campaigning against an opponent
who’s hardly a conservative.
In fact, the two actually agree on plenty.
In dealing with the financial crisis gripping Washington and Wall Street, both blame de-
regulation.
Baucus said regulatory agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission
haven’t been “sufficiently vigilant” in protecting taxpayers.
He said he opposed the initial version of the $700 billion bailout legislation that barely
passed both houses. He voted for it in the end when Republicans agreed to include additional
protection for taxpayers, not just Wall Street.
But Kelleher said Baucus bears some blame for the erosion of market regulation. In 1999
Baucus voted for a bill that repealed Depression-era financial regulations, allowing banks,
insurance companies, and financial institutions to operate in each others areas.
“On Nov. 4, 1999 Baucus voted aye on the Gramm-Bliley bill which essentially
abolished all of the legislative protection enacted in the ’30s to put some sort of control over the
financial sector,” Kelleher said. “That bill erased all of that legislation.”
Baucus declined a chance to respond to Kelleher’s accusation. Baucus had initially voted
no on the bill, but when it came back from the House with modifications, he joined 89 other
senators in supporting it.
On Iraq, both want to bring the troops home. Kelleher said this has been an illegal war,
Baucus said he doesn’t want to be the “Monday morning quarterback,” but also supports
withdrawal. Baucus voted for the war in 2003.
“I think we should begin to think about how we should withdraw from Iraq,” Baucus
said. “I think it’s time for us to focus on our own country’s problems.”
On energy, both want to expand renewable energy sources. Baucus said he has been
working to make the Montana-Alberta Transmission Line happen, and he has proposed a tax
credit for the cost of equipment used to erect energy lines to carry renewable energy.
On health care, both want to provide more government help. Baucus said that as the
chairman of the Senate Finance Committee he worked to extend the children’s health insurance
program, but the president vetoed the bill.
Kelleher said health care should be provided to all by the government.
“When you’ve got the insurance companies controlling health care, you’ve got 26 to 27
cents out of every dollar going to the insurance companies,” he said.
On most topics Kelleher is more liberal than Baucus. He has run in the past as a
Democrat and a Green Party candidate, but decided to run as a Republican this year because he
opposes abortion. Kelleher describes himself as a devout Catholic.
Montana’s Republican leader says Kelleher’s stand on abortion is probably the only issue
on which the party and its nominee agree.
“With the exception of the fact that Bob is pro-life, I can’t think of another issue that
coincides with the Republican Party platform,” said Montana GOP Chairman Erik Iverson. “I
think most Republicans are going to scratch their heads.”
Even so, Iverson insisted Kelleher has his support as the Republican nominee.
Iverson said that he told Kelleher he wouldn’t get any money until he can prove to the
national party that he’s a “viable candidate.”
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