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U.S. Sen. John McCain visits Montana today to stump for GOP U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg.
By Dustin Hurst | Watchdog.org
HELENA – Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester welcomes U.S. Sen. Jon McCain, R-Ariz., to Montana on Friday with a full-page newspaper ad, which also takes a shot at GOP U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg.
McCain is in Great Falls to raise money on Rehberg’s behalf. The GOP duo will hold a veteran’s roundtable at the Montana State University College of Technology campus at 3 p.m.
Tester’s ad seeks to drive a political wedge between McCain and Rehberg, highlighting their differences on the 2010 Citizen’s United U.S. Supreme Court case. That case empowers corporations and unions to spend unlimited stacks of cash on election-related expenses.
The ad, appearing in the Great Falls Tribune, relays a McCain quote from a June television appearance in which he called the case “the worst decision of the United States Supreme Court in the 21st Century.”
That closely aligns with Tester, who, in a recent MSNBC interview, called Citizen’s United a “kick in the teeth to our democracy”
Conversely, Rehberg aligns with the court in arguing that money is a form of political speech and out of federal regulation jurisdiction.
Of course, Tester and McCain disagree on myriad issues.
McCain and Rehberg will discuss Tester’s vote to cut military spending by $440 billion through the next nine years. Rehberg, promoting the military as a stimulus or jobs program, says the Great Falls economy, a benefactor of nearby Malmstron Air Force Base’s largess, would be irreparably harmed if the cuts take effect as scheduled Jan. 1.
The Republican duo will also discuss the new START — Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty between Russia and the United States. Rehberg says the pact could hurt Malmstrom, home to a part of America’s nuclear arsenal.
Tester and Montana’s other U.S. senator, Democrat Max Baucus, supported treaty ratification.
Watchdog.org will have video of McCain’s visit later today.
Contact Dustin Hurst at Dustin@Watchdog.org.
