Serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis. © James Conner.
So far today, I’ve received two press releases from John Walsh’s campaign.
The first release, Walsh demands fix to unconstitutional NSA overreach, urges a national solution to a national problem (unlike John Bohlinger, who wants to rein-in the NSA through an amendment to Montana’s constitution).
Release number two criticizes Steve Daines for voting against the budget deal, and thereby against a provision to increase what physicians are paid for treating Medicare patients.
So far, so good.
But suppose you want to read those releases. Where do you go? To Walsh’s U.S. Senate campaign website? You can, but it won’t do you any good. Two months after announcing his candidacy, Walsh’s website is essentially a holding page that asks supporters for their contact information and money, but supplies no meaningful information about his platform and its planks. You can’t even see his press releases.
This verges on political malpractice. Building a campaign website takes only a few hours. If Walsh doesn’t know by now where he stands on issues, and why he’s running for the Senate, he needs to fold his tent and go back to waiting for Steve Bullock to die in office. If he does know where and why — and he must, otherwise he wouldn't be able to write coherent press releases cudgeling Daines — he needs to step forward right now, say so, launch a full-fledged website, and stop holding out on his supporters and the public.
If Walsh doesn’t get going, he could lose the primary to Dirk Adams or even old John Bohlinger, endorsements from Steve Bullock, Max Baucus, and John Tester notwithstanding. If Walsh needs an example of how to get going, he should study the campaign of John Lewis, who is running hard, hungry, and perhaps better than any Democrat since Pat Williams.