big sky democrats

Under the headline “Baucus' stats say he has out-delivered Burns,” the Billings Gazette today takes a hard look at Burns’ claim that only he can deliver for Montana.

Democratic Sen. Max Baucus says he has brought billions of dollars more in federal money to Montana in the past 10 years than Republican Sen. Conrad Burns, who has made his delivery of funds to the state a cornerstone of his re-election campaign.

Over the past 10 years, Baucus has helped deliver nearly $8.4 billion in appropriation requests and in funds coming to the state through bills he helped write, according to estimates provided by his Senate office.

Burns, meanwhile, has consistently said on the campaign trail that he has used his seat on the powerful Appropriations Committee to bring home more than $2 billion for specific projects all over Montana. He argues that if voters replaced him with Democrat Jon Tester, that money would stop flowing. Full story.