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Schweitzer racks up decisive win over Brown
By Charles S. Johnson of The Standard State Bureau - 11/05/2008
HELENA — Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer rolled to a decisive win for a second term Tuesday night over Repub-lican challenger Roy Brown and Liber-tarian Stan Jones.
Schweitzer was declared the winner by the Associated Press shortly after the polls closed at 8 p.m. based on exit poll interviews. He pulled ahead of Brown by a 2-to-1 margin in early returns, with Jones lagging far behind and built on that lead.
With 77 percent of the votes counted, the latest returns showed:
Schweitzer, 66 percent, with 221,865 votes.
Brown, 32 percent, with 106,496 votes.
Jones, 2 percent, with 6,622 votes.
For Schweitzer, it was an enthusiastic endorsement of an energetic governor who has become Montana's best salesman.
He has traveled widely out of state trying to attract new businesses or persuade existing ones — particularly in the energy field — to move here. Schweitzer also travels the state, usually accompanied by his border collie, Jag, to meet with Montanans.
Speaking to a cheering crowd at a Helena hotel, Schweitzer Montanans had endorsed the lone fusion ticket in the country — he a Democrat and Lt. Gov. John Bohlinger, a Republican.
"Now Montanans liked that and said we like that and we'll take four more," he said. "Montana has been recognized as a leader in alternative energy. Montana has been recognized for its innovation in education and Montana has been recognized as a place that manages the people's money (well). We promised you and we commit to you that there will be four more years of the same." Schweitzer pledged that he and Bohlinger would continue to stand up and protect the public access to recreational lands and streams to Montanans who hunt, camp and fish.
Although not everyone voted for Bohlinger and him, Schweitzer pledged to represent their interests as well as those of people that backed the ticket.
Asked in a later interview about Brown calling him a "bully" in TV ads and speeches, Schweitzer said, "I don't think calling people names ever works." He said the challenges in his second term would mirror those in the first.
"We're going to be very good steward of the people's money," he said. "We're going to continue to attract jobs to come to Montana." Brown, reached in Billings, said, "It's not looking good." He said it was hard to beat an incumbent when he was outspent 3-to-1 by Schweitzer and additional money from the Democratic Governors Association.
"We're one of the few states in the country that hasn't had the economic problems that many of the other states have," he said. "Even though Schweitzer hasn't done anyone, he hasn't done anything bad." Brown said he was proud to have run a campaign fighting for lower taxes, a stronger economy and responsible development of Montana's natural resources.
"I'm happy with the race that we ran," Brown said. "We made him spend his money. We put a challenge in there that he couldn't ignore. We fought the good fight, and we have nothing to be ashamed of." PICK UP AT: Schweitzer, 53, had never won x x x.
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