That thousand watt smile to the right belongs to 28-year-old Cheryl Steenson, who has much to smile about. The voters in Kalispell’s House District 8 just elected her to represent them in the next session of the Montana Legislature. Her margin of victory over incumbent Republican Craig Witte? Twenty-two votes out of 3,990 cast.
Steenson worked harder than anyone I’ve ever seen work that district, and some — Tim Dowell comes to mind — worked it very hard before. That’s why she was able to squeak out a victory in a year in which Sarah Palin inspirited the cultural right to flood the polls in the Flathead to the general benefit of down-ticket Republican candidates.
Kalispell’s voters made the right choice.
