Representative Steve Daines, the Republican candidate for Senate in Montana, unveiled his first ad today. The 2014 Senate race is considered one of the GOP’s best opportunities to pick up a currently Democrat-held seat.
Senator Max Baucus, a Democrat, is expected to be confirmed as U.S. ambassador to China today. There is a great deal of speculation that Governor Steve Bullock, a Democrat, will pick the leading Democratic Senate candidate, Steve Walsh, to replace Baucus once the seat is vacant, making Walsh a quasi-incumbent and giving him a bit of an advantage on Election Day 2014.
Even with that twist, Daines has some serious advantages. The Republican led the one poll conducted so far by 15 points and has raised about three times as much money as Walsh. Daines won a statewide race for Montana’s lone U.S. House seat in 2012, 53 percent to 42 percent.
“Running for office is one big job interview,” Daines begins. After running through his biography, he concludes, “Washington needs some Montana common sense.”