On MSNBC.com today they had an interview with Jon Tester. I think this story is a good example of how people outside of Montana don't really get the complexity of the state. This is set up as pretty much a good vs. evil story, and as a communications professional there are plenty of tricks up the sleeves of both campaigns. It is set up as a classic city mouse vs. country mouse story, but ignores the fact that Conrad Burns has been running as the quintessential cowboy outsider in D.C. for more than a decade.

I have visited Conrad at his office in D.C. and I have visited Max and Denny. None of them would know me by name, but I was part of a small delegation and got to see them in action. The bottom line is that Tester can talk about "necessary evils" in his interview but nothing is more necessary in the Senate than seniority and connections and Conrad has them. It would be foolish to tell people who to vote for, I've seen plenty of reasons that if I had the honor of voting in the great state of Montana I wouldn't vote for either of these guys, but if anyone thinks that voting out Conrad won't significantly affect the federal money that flows to the state of Montana they are absolutely kidding themselves. Right, wrong, or indifferent, Conrad has been incredibly effective at getting money for projects in the state, and the evidence would show that he is just now coming into his own. "What if the democrats control the Senate?" It won't matter, Burns will have the bargaining power of being in the minority and even from his minor party status he would be able to direct far more federal dollars than a freshman Senator from a state few people can name and even fewer care about.

Another interesting media question for me is how anxious will Newsweek be to talk with Tester a few weeks into his term. I have enough friends and I've seen enough to know that honeymoons in D.C. often end before they start.