big sky democrats

You know you’ve hit rock bottom when you hire Erik Iverson to head your campaign.

It looks like Erik, known here as Rep. Dennis Rehberg’s Mini Me, wasted no time in taking his trademark self promotion skills over to Burns’ shop. He – not Conrad – held a conference call with Montana reporters to announce his new position as senior advisor to the campaign. It was a classic Mini Me move; a “Lyon King” announcement that he’s the anointed savior of the Burns operation.

AP reports that Burns' campaign manager, Tom Bunnell[in the oven], will retain his title but report to Iverson. (Tough break, dude. I know this campaign has been a tough row from the beginning, but getting trumped by Mini Me has to hurt.) more

You’d think if the Burns camp was going to shakeup they’d bring in a serious, battle-tested Montana hitter.

In addition to playing congressman, you may ask what's on
Mini Me’s resume?

From the Burns campaign release:

“Erik also served stints in Washington as a legislative assistant for former Montana Congressman Rick Hill and then U.S. Representative John Thune of South Dakota. Iverson served as Rehberg’s Legislative Director in 2001 before being promoted to Chief of Staff in 2002.”

That’s it? Wow. Grrr.

We should start a pool to see how many times Burns, oh, I mean Iverson, gets quoted or does TV appearances between now and November. How on earth will Jason Klindt, Sarah Pompei and Burns’ 9 other spokeslings fill their days now?

And don’t forget Iverson is the guy who said he “couldn’t think of anybody better” when he referred Carter County commissioners to Kevin Ring, a close associate to indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Remember, Ring pled the 5th before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee in its investigation into the brewing lobbying scandal in Washington, D.C.

Only time will tell what kind of shenanigans Mini Me will bring to the Burns operation. But don’t think for a minute Iverson’s escapades from the past won’t haunt him in the future.