MONTANA
     Nov. 6, 2012 U.S. Senate                                      

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+Jon Tester (D) i
236,123
48.58%
Denny Rehberg (R)
218,051
44.86%
Dan Cox (L)
31,892
6.56%

486,066

Registered voters: 681,608.  Votes cast: 491,966.
Plurality: 18,072 votes (3.72 percentage points)

 MT Secretary of State





Notes:  In one of the high-profile races of the cycle, Sen. Jon Tester (D) won a second term, defeating U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg (R) and Dan Cox (L). 

In the June primaries, Tester was unopposed while Rehberg defeated Dennis Teske by a more than 3 to 1 margin.  Rehberg, a veteran Montana poltico, launched his campaign in Feb. 2011.  He had served three terms in the Montana House from 1985-91, six years as lieutenant governor from 1991-97  and was serving his sixth term as Montana's at-large Member of Congress, first elected in 2000.  He was also the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in 1996, losing to Sen. Max Baucus (D).  Rehberg described himself as a "fifth generation Montana rancher" although the Tester campaign said a more accurate description was "high-end real estate developer."

Tester and Rehberg debated four times, and Cox was included in two of the meetings:

June 16 - Tester, Rehberg and Cox at the Montana Newspaper Association convention at Buck's T-4 Lodge in Big Sky.

June 24 - Montana Broadcasters Association at Grouse Mountain Lodge in Whitefish CANCELLED

Oct. 8 - hosted by MSU Billings and the Billings Gazette and broadcast by Montana PBS from MSU Billings (>).

Oct. 14 - Tester, Rehberg and Cox, hosted by the Daily Inter Lake at Flathead Valley Community College in Kalispell (>).

Oct. 20 -
hosted by the Montana Television Network at the Riverside Country Club in Bozeman  (>).

According to Open Secrets (>), the Tester campaign spent $13.3 million to  $ 9.5 million by the Rehberg campaign.  In terms of outside spending, eight groups invested more than $1 million in the race: on the Democratic side there were the DSCC ($4.2m), Majority PAC ($3.0m),  LCV ($1.4m) and Montana Hunters & Anglers Leadership Fund ($1.2m) and on the Republican side NRSC ($4.1m), Crossroads GPS ($3.2m), American Crossroads ($1.8m) and U.S. Chamber of Commerce ($1.4m).


Campaign Managers:
Jon Tester:  Preston Elliott
(Mar. 2011)
  Nevada Coordinated Campaign director in 2010, helping to re-elect Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.  Deputy political director at the DSCC in 2008.  Worked as a field director on Montana Democrats' Coordinated Campaign in 2006; former Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles' 2004 U.S. Senate race; Rep. Dick Gephardt's Iowa caucus campaign; Sen. Tim Johnson (SD)'s 2002 re-election campaign; and an Illinois legislative race in 2000.  Graduate of Lake Forest College.  Grew up in Billings, Montana. 
 
Denny Rehberg: 
Erik Iverson
(June 2, 2011)  Owner of I.S., LLC from 2009.  Chief of staff (2002-08) and legislative director (Jan. 2001-Aug. 2002) to U.S. Rep. Rehberg.   Chairman of the Montana Republican Party, elected June 2007, resigned Dec. 2008.  Senior advisor to U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns' 2006 re-election campaign  from Sept. 2006.  Legislative assistant to U.S. Rep. John Thune, Oct. 2000-Jan. 2001.  J.D. from University of Oregon School of Law, 1999; undergraduate degree from University of Montana-Bozeman.


See also:
Tim Murphy.  "Montana's Weird and Wild Senate Race."  Mother Jones, Sept./Oct. 2012.
 







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