Scratch another potential Democratic candidate in Montana’s 2014 U.S. Senate race:

State Auditor Monica Lindeen says she will not be running for the US Senate. The announcement comes days after former Governor Brian Schweitzer announced he would also not be running for Montana’s open Senate seat.

The first Morning Jolt of the week looks at some obscure court-case verdict down in Florida, the Democrats’ cries to investigate the investigator in the IRS scandal, some largely unnoticed big developments in Syria, and then this big news for 2014:

The Stakes Just Got a Little Higher in Every Competitive 2014 Senate Race

The weekend also brought a lucky break for Republican hopes of capturing a majority in the Senate in 2014:

Former Gov. Brian Schweitzer shocked the Montana and national political establishments Saturday with his announcement that he wouldn’t run for an open U.S. Senate seat in 2014 as many had expected.

“I never got in this race,” Schweitzer told the Gazette State Bureau in a telephone interview Saturday morning.

He acknowledged that he considered running for the Senate seat being vacated by longtime Democratic Sen. Max Baucus, but in the end he decided a legislative body isn’t the place for him.

“I’m a doer,” Schweitzer said.

He said he likes to plow half a field in the morning and see the progress by noon before he finishes the job in the afternoon.

“I’m used to being in charge of things, getting things done,” Schweitzer said. “Unfortunately, the U.S. Senate is a place where things die.”

Keep that comment in mind for when Schweitzer inevitably endorses the Democratic tomato can that wins the primary. “I tell you, my fellow Montanans, State Senator John Smith is exactly the right man to serve in the place where things die!” Maybe they should nominate a mortician.

Rick Moran:

Schweitzer would have been a clear favorite going into the race, given his proven vote-getting and fundraising skills. His assumed candidacy explained the reluctance of GOP Congressman Steve Daines to challenge for the seat — a better possibility now that Schweitzer has declined to run.

A Daines bid could create a domino effect:

Two other Republicans, former state Sen. Corey Stapleton, of Billings, and current state Rep. Champ Edmunds, of Missoula, already are in the U.S. Senate race. Edmunds has said he would drop to the House race if Daines goes for the Senate.

Here’s how Politico sees the state of play at this point:

Republicans are favored to win two seats left vacant by Democratic retirements — in West Virginia and South Dakota — and the Schweitzer move will make it much easier for the GOP to win in Montana. That means the battle for the majority will likely be fought in a handful of red states with Democratic incumbents, including North Carolina, Arkansas, Louisiana and Alaska.

Of course, a bunch of avoidable Senate losses in the past two cycles have pretty much beaten the excessive optimism out of us, hasn’t it?

Senator Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat who declared Obamacare a “train wreck” and voted against the Toomey-Manchin background-check proposal, will retire instead of running for reelection in 2014.

I suppose some Democrats will insist Baucus did this because he feared the consequences of opposing gun control and standing with the NRA . . . in Montana.

I’m hearing some GOP pessimism, as they fear Governor Brian Schweitzer will run instead. But Schweitzer will face the same questions as any red-state Democrat: Does he think Obamacare is a “train wreck”? Would he have opposed Toomey-Manchin?

And Schweitzer’s colorful personality may create other complications, with past comments like, “I am not goofy enough to be in the House, and I’m not senile enough to be in the Senate.”

“Schweitzer for Senate 2014: Because senility has finally kicked in.”

Two Republicans have already announced Senate bids: state representative Richard Champion “Champ” Edmunds Jr. and former state senator Corey C. Stapleton.

The attacks on Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith are going mainstream, it seems.

First New York Times columnist Charles Blow.

Then MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell.

Now Governor Brian Schweitzer of Montana.

The Daily Beast contacted the office of Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer today to talk about whether his state would be in play in the 2012 presidential election. About a half hour later, the governor called back, and he had a lot to say. He didn’t think that Montana would be a swing state, but the Democrat did say that Mitt Romney could have issues nationally because his father was “born on a polygamy commune in Mexico.”

To their credit, the Obama campaign responded appropriately: The Obama camp’s Lis Smith said, “Attacking a candidate’s religion is out of bounds, and our campaign will not engage in it, and we don’t think others should either.”

However, cynical minds might wonder if there is a strategic outsourcing of the below-the-belt attacks to surrogates not officially affiliated with the campaign.

Of course, if the Democrats want to make this race about which candidate is closer to a polygamist ancestor . . . we can play that game.