Former Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer and the Democratic Future

[brooklynite]

National Review:

Mark my words: if Brian Schweitzer runs for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016, he will do exceptionally well. Michael Warren’s profile of Schweitzer in the Weekly Standard helps illustrate why. Consider that though Howard Dean was widely regarded as a moderate governor of Vermont, his forceful opposition to the Iraq war helped him vault to prominence as a champion of the Democratic left. Schweitzer has moderate bona fides as well — his defense of gun rights, his entrepreneurial bent, the emphasis he placed on tax cuts and spending restraint as governor — yet he is also a populist who championed causes like the re-importation of prescription drugs from Canada.

The reason I think Schweitzer could shake up the race is that, as Warren notes, he has been a consistent critic of Obamacare from the left:

So what are Schweitzer’s progressive bona fides? For one thing, he has no patience for Democratic third way-ism on economic issues. It’s the perspective that prompts him to refer to Obama’s presidency as corporatist. He criticizes Obamacare from the left, blaming fellow Montanan Max Baucus (the chairman of the Senate committee responsible for drafting much of the law) for allowing special interests to influence the bill. “This bill, which was written by the insurance company and pharmaceutical lobbyists, doesn’t challenge the expenses,” Schweitzer tells me. “Why would it? If you’re in the business, and you get to write the bill, what are you going to do?”

His own national health care reform would “fit on the back of an envelope.” Explaining the whole thing takes him half an hour. (“Am I boring you yet?” he asks around minute 25.) At the center of his proposal is allowing citizens below the retirement age to enroll in Medicare, forcing private insurers to compete against the government rate.

Here you go folks...you can beat up on Hillary as a corporatist, AND agree with someone I support.

[Recursion]

1. I'm a Schweitzer fan

Especially against Christie.

[djean111]

2. You got that one right.

[Larkspur]

10. Me too!

He knows how to fight the Right wing and win. He's no meely-mouth Triangulating Dem.

The only main issues I have with him are his position on gun control and Keystone Pipeline XL.

I know that Montana, like Vermont, has a low gun related death rate, but that is not true for other areas of the nation, like Chicago, IL. As a Presidential candidate, he needs to develop a gun safety policy that addresses these issues and not sound like a spokesman for the NRA.

Regarding the latter issue, I understand that the Keystone pipeline would send Montana oil to refineries, but it would unleash the dirtiest and most corrosive oil down the center of our nation and right over the major aquifer that supplies our nation's "Breadbasket" with water. What works for Montana, doesn't always work for the rest of the nation. AS a Presidential candidate, he would need to address this issue without sounding like a spokesman for the oil industry. I know that he supports funding alternate energy sources, so he is not Republican lover nor Third Way Dem.

Because of Montana's corrosive history with corporate corruption of politics, Schweitzer is a prominent nemesis of Citizen's United. And he is a long time supporter of quality medical care at inexpensive prices. I remember him taking seniors up to Canada to get the same drugs that they could get in the USA for much less money.

Schweitzer is not perfect, but no Democratic candidate is.

[solarhydrocan]

3. k/r Schweitzer looks good so far

His little excursion to Canada with Seniors to buy medicine is a fine example.

Candidate Hits Road With Health-Costs Crusade

They were among 35 retired people from Montana, all on Medicare and all with out-of-pocket pharmaceutical bills of well over $1,000 a year, who took a daylong bus trip today to buy medicine in this ski-resort town across the United States border with Canada. Typically in Canada, having a prescription filled costs a third to a half of what it costs in the United States.

The trip was organized by Brian Schweitzer, the Democratic candidate for the Senate from Montana, who has made the high cost of drugs to uninsured retirees in the United States the centerpiece of his uphill campaign to unseat the Republican incumbent, Conrad Burns.

''This is about embarrassing Congress,'' Mr. Schweitzer told the group, ''so your pharmacist can get drugs for the same price as pharmacists around the world.''

If he is elected, Mr. Schweitzer promises, he will fight to repeal the law that prohibits prescription medicine from being imported into the United States, and he will work for Medicare coverage of drugs....more
http://www.nytimes.com/1999/12/15/us/candidate-hits-road-with-health-costs-crusade.html

And his energy policy looks fantastic. Finally a Democrat willing to DO something.

Promotes clean coal in Montana. (Jun 2008)
America should cut energy consumption and produce biofuels. (Jun 2008)
We can reduce our carbon footprint and also consume energy. (Jun 2008)
Develop renewable energy: ethanol, wind and hydrogen. (Nov 2004)
Supports spending resources to stop Global Warming. (Sep 2000)
Letter to Congress supporting renewable energy tax credit. (Nov 2011)
Set goal of 25% renewable energy by 2025. (Jan 2007)
http://www.ontheissues.org/Brian_Schweitzer.htm#Energy_+_Oil

This guy is super (so far).

[JDPriestly]

29. Nothing about solar energy -- the answer for the Southwest.

Here in Southern California, solar energy is the best answer.

Also we could get energy from the tides on the East and Gulf coasts and maybe out here too.

[randr]

4. He is a ray of hope in the wilderness for sure

My guess is he will make an excellent VP choice.

[ProSense]

5. National Review?

Why are all these RW rags pushing Schweitzer?

First The Weekly Standard (http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024184292) and now National Review?

Montana's Democratic governor slams ‘jackasses’ in DC for Keystone delay
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/212439-montana-gov-slams-anti-keystone-jackasses-in-dc

I love how people throw around the term "corporatist."

He's an NRA, Keystone supporting Dem.

Warren 2016!

[Fuddnik]

25. Except Warren ain't running.

Here's hoping Bernie Sanders runs.

[beachbum bob]

6. he is the real deal but

If Hilary desires the nomination... She has it. Brian would definitely be a great VP choice

[Enthusiast]

34. She doesn't have it.

We don't want her. She's Third Way all the way. Same as a Republican except on Gays, religion etc.

[Ichingcarpenter]

7. National Review and Howard Dean

William F. Buckley's old Rag

[ProSense]

8. Howard Dean on Rich Lowry

Former Democratic National Committee chairman and one-time presidential hopeful Howard Dean blasted a conservative media outlet on Thursday, calling National Review a "a right-wing conservative nutcase."

http://crooksandliars.com/diane-sweet/howard-dean-calls-out-national-review-

[mountain grammy]

9. If only we had... I think he would have beaten W..

and the National Review would have looked like a stupid, partisan rag. Oh wait, they are! Sure scared the Dems.

[politichew]

11. I will be supporting Warren, but I won't be a zealous asshole about it.

I wish some of her more zealous supporters would stop trashing President Obama and Madame Sec. Clinton to build Warren up. Warren doesn't engage in that kind of immature bullshit and they're doing her no favors by dragging two great people through the mud.

Warren can win by talking like the populist she is and not by alienating those of us that still admire Obama and Clinton.

Show some goddamn respect.

[djean111]

28. Nobody is trying to "build Warren up".

Her supporters prefer her views to those of Obama and Hillary.
I was sick of the corporatism long before I knew about Warren.
People who deserve goddamn respect get goddamn respect. I cannot respect the Third Way. Non-negotiable.

[DFW]

12. Unless Schweitzer has changed his mind...

He already said he is not interested in running for the Senate because he didn't want to leave Montana for Washington.

Seeing as how being president (or VP) would necessarily involve just that, either he has changed his mind, or he's out.

[geek tragedy]

15. Or, his reason for not running for Senate was disingenuous. nt

[DFW]

16. Maybe, but that's not the impression I got of him

I only saw him in person once, at the Denver convention when Obama was nominated, but he seemed like a very straightforward guy, one who did not hide much, or seem to want to.

He's either very straight, or one of the more devious politicians around (not discounting either).

[geek tragedy]

17. He's a politician. Obama was a pretty straightforward guy before he became President. nt

[truebluegreen]

18. He has been visiting Iowa.

[Larkspur]

20. The article said that he prefers the executive branch

If he is serious about running for the Democratic nomination for President, then being in the US Senate from 2014-2016 could hogtie him with controversial votes, like on guns and Keystone. By staying out of Washington DC right now, he can still claim being a Washington outsider and a popular ex-gov who won re-election by 32 pts, which is more than what Christie won by. And he can mostly control his own destiny; whereas, in the Senate, he would be 1 among 100.

He also can take the time to develop answers to his controversial stands on guns, Keystone, clean coal that could satisfy the Progressive base while promoting his progressive positions on healthcare, corporations, civil rights, etc. I'd like to see what his position on TPP would be. If he takes a bold stand against TPP's policies that would destroy our Democracy and reduce us to corporate serfs, then I can see him moving the Democratic Party more to the Left than Senators Bernie Sanders or Liz Warren, who I don't think will run for Prez in 2016.

For most of his Congressional career, Bernie Sanders refused to consider running for President. He knows that he would be the Don Quixote of the field, but he is seriously considering doing in in 2016 to thwart the pull to the right in the Dem Party. If Schweitzer runs in the 2016 Democratic Primary and pulls the Dem Party to the Left, than Bernie may not have to run himself.

Schweitzer's weakness will be fundraising. He's going to have to find a cadre of aides and donors who are willing to support him over Hillary but also be shrewd enough to accept a VP slot should Hillary win the nomination.

[mountain grammy]

13. Brian Schweitzer will help the Democratic party..

I hope he's all over the place in 2014. He's got the time and the support and could help us take the House in 2014 and keep the Senate. That's the focus right now. Win 2014 and 2016 will take care of itself!

[ReRe]

22. I agree with you, grammy...

I would definitely support him if he made a big effort to help change the majority in the House to the Democratic party and the Senate to a larger Democratic majority in 2014. I would draw the line at the XL Pipeline and the NRA, though, if he makes it to the primaries.

[geek tragedy]

14. caveat emptor.

The Coal Cowboy is pretty cozy with mining and other big carbon interests.

[Jackpine Radical]

21. Well, you don't get elected Governor of Montana without some of that.

Neither Montana corporations nor Montana labor will stand for an anti-gun, anti-carbon Governor. You can be a purist on those issues or you can have a shot at the election.

That's just the political reality--and on the national level, those political realities change. You want an example? Look at the sea change LBJ underwent when he ran as a national candidate rather than as a Senator from Texas.

[geek tragedy]

24. Just like running nationally has its own political realities. nt

[truebluegreen]

19. Add support of clean coal to his moderate bona fides

which is a bridge too far for me.

[JNelson6563]

23. Hmmmmm.

Montana's not very liberal. He cannot possibly be the liberal hero some here think if he won that in-large-part deep red haven. Sorry.

Sure, I like him and his ideas on health care but I'm tellin' ya, Montana's pretty red. Something to keep in mind.

Julie

[Larkspur]

27. Schweitzer is Progressive and Populist

that doesn't necessarily make him liberal but he is definitely not a Blue Dog nor Turd Way Democrat.

Teddy Roosevelt was considered Progressive, yet he didn't support women's rights.

[boomersense]

26. I'm not as sure as you at this point, but I will keep researching

him. I'm worried about him being another....(too contentious to say.) I still think Warren will run but is laying low so the attacks don't get too organized.

[Jackpine Radical]

30. She keeps saying "I'm not running;"

To my ear, that's not the same as saying "I pledge not to run." I think her interpreters are quite a ways out in front of the statements they're "interpreting."

[boomersense]

31. Exactly. I think it is of

monumental importance that she runs--and wins. We have to eviscerate the Republicans because if they regain power with an enacted TPP, it's all over but the shoutin'.

[Jackpine Radical]

32. And any shoutin'

will be severely punished.

Shuddup an' eat yer catfood, Granny.

[Enthusiast]

33. Schweitzer sounds liike a guy I could support.

[KittyWampus]

35. Schweizer is a mixed bag BUT he is honest about his positions & he seems to lead according

to what he thinks is right.

I believe he has a moral compass that points in a close enough direction to where I would like this country to go.

Ideologues of course, will simply present a laundry list of what they don't like about him.