Daines makes last-minute push

Rep. Steve Daines was in Havre Thursday, giving away pumpkins, campaigning door to door with State Senate hopeful Kris Hansen and addressing a get-out-the-vote rally at the Great Northern Inn.

The one-term Republican U.S. representative who is running for the U.S. Senate, was on stop 17 of a statewide tour that will end in Bozeman Tuesday night where he and his family will watch election returns on his contest for the United State Senate with Democrat Amanda Curtis.

At the rally, Daines told party faithful they could count on him to fight for Montana jobs.

Middle class jobs in Montana are often jobs in industries that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) - he called it the Employment Prevention Agency - is trying to over-regulate.

From Havre, he will travel today to Libby. He recalled when Havre and Libby were both Class AA schools.

Today, he said, Havre is Class A and Libby is Class B.

Population declines are the result of the loss of manufacturing, he said, In Libby and Lincoln County, the jobless rate is 16 percent, he said. There used to be more that 30 timber mills in the county. Today there are 11, and they are running at less than full capacity.

The reason, he said, is that the federal government is limiting the amount of timber harvest beyond what is needed.

Says EPA trying to kill coal industry

The coal industry faces similar problems, he said. Coal makes Montana's economy run, he said, yet the federal government is trying to put it out of business.

More than half of Montana's power is generated by coal, he said.

He lifted up his smartphone and "this device is powered by coal."

Without coal, he explained, there would be no electricity to charge up his phone.

Lower gasoline prices - he said a station in Chinook was selling gas for $3.09 per gallon - is because the oil exploration in the United States is at an all-time high.

Next year, he said, the United States will be the world's largest oil producer.

On political matters, he asked the crowd, "Is anyone here interested in 2nd Amendment rights?"

"I ask that facetiously," he said, with a smile on his face.

Without mentioning Curtis by name, he pointed out that she is the only Montana Senate candidate in history to get an F rating by the National Rifle Association.

"F doesn't mean fantastic," he said, again being facetious.

Daines acknowledged being the frontrunner in the polls, but warned his supporters against complacency, saying it would help defeat Republicans.

His staff handed out sheets with names and phone numbers of potential voters. He asked people take a list home and do some calling.

He gave a shoutout to his GOP running mates - state Senate hopeful Kris Hansen and state House candidates Stephanie Hess and Bruce Meyers - and urged the faithful to get behind them.

Natives seek help for Rocky

Natives, usually in short supply at Republican gatherings, were on hand for the session.

Ken Blatt St. Marks, the deposed chair of the Rocky Boy tribal council, asked Daines' support in winning Whistleblower protection from the federal Interior Department.

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell has on her desk the decree that would give St. Marks Whistleblower status and would enable him to get his job back as tribal council chair.

St. Marks said he was removed as chair because he was helping federal officials uncover tribal wrongdoing. In retaliation, he said, tribal council removed him from office and has sued him numerous times.

He asked Daines' to help in getting Whistleblower protection.

Another tribal dissident, Russell Standing Rock, asked Daines to come to the reservation frequently, not just every two years.

To the laughter and cheers of the crowd, he said that although he had voted for President Barack Obama, he thought the crowd should know that the word obama, in his native Cree language, means "his or her buttocks."

Daines laughed, shook Standing Rock's hand, said he couldn't top that and ended the session.