Could Burns just resign? Congress, Montana, Senators

Facing opposition from two Montana Dems, Jon Tester and John Morrison, could it be possible for Sen. Conrad Burns to simply retire and avoid losing? David Sirota thinks so.

Burns is having some trouble shaking the culture of corruption tag lately, and his poll numbers aren't looking so great:

Burns, up for re-election next year, faces one of his lowest approval ratings since MSU-Billings started asking the question.

Only 48 percent approve of Burns’ job performance, down from his 2002 approval rating of 63 percent.

This race is what I see as the most important Western Dem race in 2006. Winning would show that Brian Schweitzer was the tip of the sword in Montana (and across the West), and not just a fluke.

If Burns resigns, the likely GOP successor for the race, says Sirota, would be Rep. Denny Rehberg. Because his seat is a statewide elected, he could be a "half dozen of one, six of the other" in terms of the GOP losing anything on name recognition. But, as David says, because of Rehberg's low numbers and scandals, they don't gain anything on him being any more clean. Him picking up the Senate race would help Monica Lindeen, the Dem running fo the congressional seat, who would be facing someone with much less name recognition than Rehberg.

Emmett O'Connell | November 30, 2005 | Comment on This Post (0 so far) Permalink: Could Burns just resign? Congress, Montana, Senators

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