Election '08: Montana House Race

Campaign fundraising numbers are coming out now for Montana's lone congressional seat and the figures are interesting. Yellowstone County Commissioner Bill Kennedy, the only announced Democrat against incumbent Republican Denny Rehberg, showed good fundraising numbers. Since he entered the race a few months ago, Kennedy has raised $115,000.

Bill Kennedy is probably the most credible challenger Rehberg has had since he beat Nancy Keenan in the open seat election of 2000. In 2002, Steve Kelly, an environmental activist who has run under just about every party label, made reelection easy for the Republican. In 2004, Democrat Tracy Velasquez hardly made a peep and Denny coasted. In 2006, Monica Lindeen, who had served in leadership in the Montana House, also did poorly against the incumbent (she did better than the previous two, however). Much of the attention that election cycle was focused on the Tester-Burns U.S. Senate contest.

Still, Rehberg enjoys both good job approval ratings and high reelect numbers in a recent Lee/Mason-Dixon poll. He has a large cash-on-hand advantage and I doubt his campaign has really mounted much of a fundraising effort in the past six months. Once that effort really kicks into gear, Rehberg will see some of the cash that incumbents Max Baucus and Brian Schweitzer enjoy. Although it's not impossible, Denny Rehberg will be tough to beat.