Senate race starts with bang-bang

Many Montanans get annoyed and irritated by the end of every election cycle. They get tired of hearing and watching ads for weeks on end, and by the time the election is over, there is usually a palatable sense of relief.

Well, Montanans haven't seen anything yet.

We're willing to go out on a limb and predict that this year's Senate race will be an animal of origins previously unknown to Montana voters. It will be nasty, rabid beast that will rattle the senses for the next five months rather than just a few weeks.

And the odd thing is, the Montana candidates - Sen. Conrad Burns, the Republican incumbent, and Democratic challenger Jon Tester - may not be able to do a dang thing about it. By daybreak after this week's primary election, the first volleys were launched from the Washington, D.C.,-based Republican and Democratic senatorial campaign committees, weighing in on the Montana race.

Voters can expect to hear these themes over and over and over again: A) Burns and his staff are tainted by associations with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff; B) Tester will be nothing but a puppet for liberal national Democrats.

There will be nuances of course. Hopefully, voters will get a clear view of exactly how each candidate regards each and every issue, but it will likely require an uncanny ability to cut through the smoke and spittle that this race will produce.

In the three days after the primary election, the Inter Lake received no fewer than 10 lengthy e-mail campaign dispatches, most of them from Republicans, chock full of broadsides against the opposition candidate.

Because Burns is considered one of the most vulnerable Republican candidates in the country, he is being targeted by big, Democratic money.

"Jon Tester will have all the resources he needs to take on Conrad Burns," one Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesman was recently quoted as saying. Last month, the same committee reportedly made its single largest contribution in the country to the Montana Democratic Party.

Fully aware of that perception, Republican interests will weigh in to augment the huge campaign war chest already at Burns' disposal.

The Montana Republican Party is now providing a regular "Schumer Watch," a report on the ways in which New York Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer is influencing the Montana race as head of the DSCC.

The campaign e-mails will continue in waves, week after week, and this is just behind-the-scenes stuff. The real campaign will be waged on the airwaves and in newsprint across the state, battering Montanans like they've never been battered before. Get ready for the worst.

And then be prepared to slog through the minefield and vote on November 7, because, as always, voters will shoot the final volley in this war.

Until then, wear your flak jacket.