Lindeen: Finding issues is key to Dem wins

State Auditor Monica Lindeen urged Hill County Democrats to seize an issue that resonates with voters and use it to win the 2016 elections.

Lindeen, who is running for secretary of state next year, recalled that when her political career was beginning, she ran twice unsuccessfully for the Montana House. On her third try, she said, she took on the incumbent on the issue of energy deregulation. Her opponent favored it, she thought it was a terrible idea.

Her position caught on, and voters elected her. Since then, she has served in the House and was elected auditor eight years ago.

Republican legislators this year gave Democrats many opportunities with votes she said were very unpopular with voters.

"Seize upon the issues and work your tails off," she advised potential candidates.

She has served the maximum two terms in her present post, and said she would gladly run for re-election, but is barred by the Montana Constitution.

She hit on several hot-button issues Tuesday for Democrats, vowing support for public lands and opposing the sell-off of federal lands. She strongly defended the Affordable Care Act, and while conceding that it needed amending, said it has paved the way for thousands of Montanans to get health insurance they never otherwise could have afforded.

Lindeen faulted Democrats for failing to come forward in defense of the law after it was passed.

Because no one defended the law, there was a void that was filled with "misinformation."

The law is now being implemented, and Democrats have some catching-up to do, she said.

In Montana, she said, the positive effects of the law have been very impressive.

As of now, 58,000 people have signed up for insurance under the law's general provisions. Now that Medicaid expansion has been approved by the Legislature, another 70,000 will be covered under that provision.

The total number of uninsured will be about only 30,000, people, she said.

She also spoke out against the proposal to turn federal lands over to state governments.

Lindeen said she recently went rafting on the Missouri River with her family. Her daughter said she could not believe her mother hadn't done that as a child.

She said as a child, her family didn't have enough money to buy a tent, much less a raft.

"But we always had access," she said. "We must not give up access."