Fresh Off the Farm in Montana, a Senator-to-Be | NYT

[Ediacara]

Fresh Off the Farm in Montana, a Senator-to-Be
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images


“He’s a small farmer from the homestead,’’ a friend says of Jon Tester. “That’s absolutely who he is.”

By TIMOTHY EGAN
Published: November 13, 2006

GREAT FALLS, Mont., Nov. 9 — When he joins the United States Senate in January, big Jon Tester — who is just under 300 pounds in his boots — will most likely be the only person in the world’s most exclusive club who knows how to butcher a cow or grease a combine.


“It’s always been tight, trying to make a living on that farm,” said Jon Tester, the third generation of his family on the land. He plans to return from Washington several times a month.

All his life, Mr. Tester, 50, has lived no more than two hours from his farm, an infinity of flat on the windswept expanse of north-central Montana, hard by the Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation.

For all the talk about the new Democrats swept into office on Tuesday, the senator-elect from Montana truly is your grandfather’s Democrat — a pro-gun, anti-big-business prairie pragmatist whose life is defined by the treeless patch of hard Montana dirt that has been in the family since 1916.

More at the New York Times

[wakeme2008]

1. While I like his hair cut... I really do not want to know what on his

real cowboy boots :rofl:

[MuseRider]

2. DinoBoy

He is certainly one after the heart of this Kansas farmer (mostly hobby but farmer none the less). Now if we could just get him to think about his issue with gay marriage I would be really pleased. Nice article, thanks.

[Ediacara]

6. Ya, that certainly got me angry with him too

But for this election I decided not to have "perfect" be the enemy of "pretty damn good."

[MuseRider]

8. Well, considering the way he

feels about everything else it seems to me like he would be reasonable and easy to discuss this issue with. He is not far I would bet, just a little civil rights discussion might do the trick. Maybe you all should start a little letter writing in a month or so just to put it out there. You never know until you try.

[Ediacara]

9. I hope so

I had something of a "run-in" with a campaign staffer in August who compared gay marriage to murder (well murder's illegal, but there's nothing needed in the Constitution, just like gay marriage). I was furious, but I know those were the words of an idiot staffer and not Tester, and that despite that, Tester was much better than Burns.

You are right though, NOW is the time to press him about Civil Unions and civil rights.

[MuseRider]

10. He sounds just like

most of the farm folk I deal with here. Level headed, good work ethic and for the most part very decent people. It took me a while to figure out how to reach them but when you do it right, appealing to their sense of fairness and press it as a civil rights issue, which it is, they usually scratch their heads and come around. 99% don't hate gay folk but they are prey to the RW spin. Good luck, I hope I am right about him.

[jwirr]

3. I'm proud of him, he has kept the way of life that was good for us

and not followed the fast track to bigger, better and more. This farm girl expects him to go far.

[Penndems]

4. Senator-elect Tester just LOOKS like Montana to me

Rugged individualism. Honest, open and down-to-earth.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

5. "He plans to return from Washington several times a month."

That won't last long. Getting to Billings from DC, which requires a change of planes in Minneapolis-St. Paul, is hard enough. His farm, in north-central Montana, is nowhere near Billings. He's got to go to Great Falls. It will take hours.

[Ediacara]

7. I just looked it up

And there are direct flights to Great Falls from MSP, DEN, And SLC, so it won't be that much of a problem.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

11. Well, I am embiggened.

Is that Northwest? Continental? That's an improvement, but he'll still be in the air for hours on end. Throw in some bad winter weather, and it can turn into a nightmare.

I think that Alaska flies direct to Seattle from DC. Whether that's Dulles or Washington National, I do not know. Alaska-Horizon would have a connecting flight to Great Falls, but I bet it would stop in Spokane first. Since Seattle is over 600 miles west of Great Falls, that would be no improvement.

Tester's staff and the Senate travel office will get this figured out.

Thanks for the information.