I've written here before about the GOP struggle with downticket candidate recruitment this year. Another blow came on Tuesday in Montana, a red state where Republicans hoped to seriously challenge Democratic Senator Max Baucus:
Perennial candidate Bob Kelleher won an upset victory in Montana’s Republican U.S. Senate primary early Wednesday, making a tough race even tougher for the state GOP.
Kelleher, an 85-year-old attorney from Butte, will challenge Democrat incumbent Max Baucus in November. Baucus is a five-term U.S. senator who had more than $6 million in the bank in May and has raised more than $10 million since he was last re-elected in 2002.
Kelleher, who has run for office in the state at least 13 times, has not filed any campaign finance reports, meaning he has not raised or spent more than $5,000 in the race.
Note that Kelleher ran for president in 1976 on a platform to change the U.S. government to a parliamentary system. And never let it be said that Kelleher tried too hard to get the GOP's nomination: on his campaign website, it says he's a Green Party candidate.
--Eve Fairbanks