MONTANA
      Nov. 6, 2012 Governor

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+Steve Bullock/John Walsh (D)
 236,450
 48.90%
Rick Hill/Jon Sonju (D) 228,879
 47.34%
Ron Vandevender/Marc Mulcahy (L) 18,160
 3.76%

483,489
Registration: 681,608.  Total Turnout: 491,966. 
Plurality:  7,571 votes (1.57 percentage points).
 MT Secretary of State


Notes: Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D) was term-limited.  Montana Attorney General Steve Bullock (D) defeated former U.S. Rep. Rick Hill (R) and Ron Vandevender (L) in the closest race of the cycle.

The Democratic primary was not competitive.  Bullock defeated ServeNext representative Heather Margolis by 86.6% to 13.4% out of 88,561 votes tallied.  Bullock, who was elected Attorney General in 2008, announced his candidacy for Governor on Sept. 7, 2011.  He announced Adjutant General John Walsh (ret.) as his running mate on Mar. 8, 2012.

Seven candidates vied in the Republican primary.  Of 136,060 votes tallied, former U.S. Rep. Rick Hill finished atop the field garnering 34.4% of the vote, followed by former state Sen. Corey Stapleton (18.1%), former state Sen. Ken Miller (18.0%), Jim O'Hara (12.2%) Neil Livingstone (8.8%), Jim Lynch (6.1%) and Bob Fanning (2.3%).  Hill, was elected to Congress in 1996 and served two terms.  He announced his candidacy for Governor in Nov. 2010.  He announced state Sen. Jon Sonju as his running mate on Jan. 18, 2012.

Bullock and Hill engaged in seven debates:
Sept. 18 - Helena Middle School in Helena.
Sept. 27 - Montana Tech in Butte.
Oct. 9 - Montana State University-Billings.
Oct. 10 - Montana PBS studios in Missoula (>). 
Oct. 17 - Flathead Valley Community College in Kalispell.
 Oct. 26 - Montana Farmers Union in Great Falls.
Oct. 27 - Riverside Country Club in Bozeman.

On Oct, 18 Bullock filed a lawsuit over a $500,000 contribution from the Montana Republican Party to Hill's campaign; legal wrangling over this matter was much in the news in the closing weeks of the campaign.

FollowtheMoney.org showed contributions totaling $2.3 million to the Hill campaign and $1.9 million to the Bullock campaign (>).

 
Campaign Managers:
Steve Bullock: Kevin O'Brien
Experience includes communications officer to Attorney General Bullock starting in Jan. 2009.  Communications director for the Montana Democratic Party, 2008.  Deputy press secretary for U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, Jan. 2007-Mar. 2008.  Tracker on Tester's 2006 campaign.  Degree in political science and history from Illinois State University.

Rick Hill: Brock Lowrance
(Oct. 2011)  Campaign manager on Rob Cornilles' campaign for Congress in OR-1, 2010.  Associate director/Western region in the Office of Political Affairs at the White House during the George W. Bush administration, and earlier deputy associate director in the Office of Presidential Personnel.  Spokesman for the Montana Republican Party.  Graduate of the University of Montana.


See also:
Aaron Blake.  "Montana GOP governor hopeful in limbo after court freezes his cash."  The Washington Post, Oct. 25, 2012.

Matt Volz [Associated Press].  "Montana GOP donates $500,000K to Hill campaign."  Bozeman Daily Chronicle, Oct, 17, 2012.



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