AP: Sen. Burns Concedes Montana Race
Sen. Burns called Senator-Elect Jon Tester Thursday to concede defeat.
Burns, a three-term senator whose campaign was troubled by verbal gaffes and voter discontent, congratulated Tester, a farmer and state legislator.
“I stand ready to help as Montana transitions to a new United States Senator,” Burns said in a statement provided to the AP. “We fought the good fight and we came up just a bit short. We’ve had a good 18 years and I am proud of my record.”
Posted on Thursday, November 9th, 2006 at 12:13 pm. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
7 Responses to “AP: Sen. Burns Concedes Montana Race”
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November 10th, 2006 at 10:31 am
I’m neither a Dem or Rep… I vote for the person not the party.
In 1988 Conrad Burns told Montanans he would seek only two Senate terms. Preparing his 2000 run, he says, “Circumstances have changed, and I have rethought my position.”
Well Conrad got his two turns at bat and one extra, so 18 years was long enough don’t you think?
November 10th, 2006 at 12:24 pm
Montanans have a lot to be proud of! I live in Pennsylvania and saw Senator -Elect Tester on Hardball last night. He will be a great asset not only for Montana but for the whole country. Congratulations!!
November 10th, 2006 at 1:10 pm
I’m not from Montana (I have family there, though), but after looking over Sen. Tester’s conservative agenda, I just want to say why stop at Senator? Run for President! This is exactly what America wants to see.
November 16th, 2006 at 10:11 am
Well, Montana we have been duped again!
The Democratic party told us all that Mr Tester would more-than-likely get a seat on the all-important Appropriations Committee, but yesterday the truth comes out. No seat on this committee.
I wonder why politicians or their parties cannot give a straight answer.
I certainly hope you do better than this, else maybe a recall will be in order. Good Luck.
November 20th, 2006 at 12:30 am
That’s jumping the gun a bit - as I understand it no Freshmen senators got a spot on the Appropriations Committee. Reid probably did try to get Tester on, but there are realities in Washington politics that exist always, even after a good election; you have to pick your battles.
All in all, I am very impressed by the new batch of Congressmen and women who have been elected - not least of all by Tester. Congrats to him and to the people of MT. He and the others are bright enough and seem to be willing to work - they’ll make their way to the top spots in Democratic leadership eventually, I hope!
November 20th, 2006 at 12:47 pm
Senator Burns gave a gracious concession. Likewise, Senator-elect Tester, was gracious to Senator Burns.
I wish this had been the case during the election. The election was full of record-distorting negative campaigning. Each side will claim the other was worse, but the innundation of ads at the end, many paid for by out-of-state interests was sickening. I wish candidates were not only gracious at the end of the election, but gracious throughout. Let voters weigh the true record, plus candidate positions on policy and vote their own interests.
This morbid view thoughout America, that a candidate can win only by tearing another candidate down only increases the loss of civility in this society. This Senate Seat is the one occupied 24 years by Mike Mansfield. He barely campaigned in his reelections. Of course he served before the conservative “NICPAC” opened the door wide-open for vicious advertising in 1980. Now it seems it’s all we hear. Mike is passed on now after a lifetime of service to his country and to Montana. I can imagine that somewhere, he is shaking his head at the state of elections today.
That said, Jon Tester is a fine person to sit in the seat of Mike Mansfield. Like Mansfield he has proven leadership skills. Nearly all of his eight years in the Montana Senate was spent in leadership positions, including being Senate President the last session of our legislature. I predict he will rise in the Senate Leadership during his term in office. Perhaps Montana could someday favor the nation again with a straight-shootin’ majority leader.
We were not “duped” by Tester not getting the appropriations committee. That statement prior to the campaign by Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid was not a promise for an immediate appointment. In fact, Reid’s words were “as soon as possible.” The fact is that no freshman gets appointed to the Appropriations Committee. Because of it’s control of the purse-strings, it is the most coveted committee in the Senate. The Senate is steeped in its rules of seniority. The Democrats’ majority in the next session is just two votes. Only one seat was opened up on appropriations, that of Burns, which will go to a Democrat, giving the Democrats a one-seat majority on the committee.
The time to condemn Reid, assuming he retains the leadership and the Democrats the majority in the coming years, is if Tester gets on the committee when he has some seniority, say in 2008 or 2010.
Of course, Conrad Burns could do Montana a big favor by leaving office early. Then Brian Scheitzer could appoint Tester to the few weeks remaining in Burn’s term and Tester would leap ahead of the other five freshman Democratic senators in seniority.
I suppose Senator Burns is not about to do any favors in that regard. But if he did so, his respect and good name among Montanans would rise significantly. He would be seen as a stand-up guy who cared more for his state than partisan party politics.
September 8th, 2007 at 10:22 am
Dear Sen. Testor: Please do not take shady campaign contributions, especially from Norman Hsu who is in trouble for promoting a pyramid scheme. Foreign contributers are a liability since they are trying to gain a foothold in the United States and are out for something. Please promote ethanol and cellulosic biodiesel and try tp repeal the Kelo decision by the Supreme Court and try to make our borders secure. Sincerely, David O’Malley