House candidate fights for name recognition

Normally, a race to represent the largest congressional district in the country would earn a high public profile, but not in this election year.

Democratic candidate Robert Stutz has found the biggest challenge is winning name recognition among a field of six other Democrats.

Other candidates are Kim Gillan, Sam Rankin, Diane Smith, Dave Strohmeier, Jason Ward and Franke Wilmer.

“The race has been overshadowed by other races,” Stutz said, referring to the high-profile Republican gubernatorial contest, which also has seven candidates.

But the race to succeed Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg, who is running for the U.S. Senate, is an important one, said Stutz, an attorney from Helena.

“It’s an interesting race. Democrats haven’t won in 18 years, when Pat Williams left office,” Stutz said during a recent interview in Kalispell.

Stutz said he has been running an unconventional campaign, with a strong emphasis on social media and traveling the state.

“We have to try a different approach,” he said. “If we run a predictable race against a predictable Republican, there will be a predictable outcome.”

On the Republican side of the race, Steve Daines is the fundraising frontrunner ahead of two other candidates. But even with the Republicans, a lack of name recognition applies, Stutz maintains.

“The difficulty in the House race is the best-known candidates are relatively unknown across the state,” he said.

Stutz said he has concentrated on some basic campaign messages, the first being getting the U.S. military out of Afghanistan. The main mission there has been accomplished to the credit of the military, said Stutz, the son of a Marine who was born in Montana but largely raised around embassies abroad.

“Another issue I talk about a lot is the Constitution and the values of the Constitution,” he said, adding that he believes the values of the Montana Constitution can be taken to Washington, D.C., by the right representatives.

Stutz said  he would also support a business friendly agenda as a means of improving the economy and the federal government’s fiscal outlook.

“There’s this revenue question” for the federal government, he said. “Can we improve it without raising taxes? We can do it if we get the economy out of the doldrums.”

Stutz said his campaign is different also because he is not taking money from political action committees or signing pledges that make candidates beholden to PACs.

While he has not held elected office before, Stutz said that is not unusual for Montana politics, noting that Gov. Brian Schweitzer and Attorney General Steve Bullock also didn’t hold  elected positions prior to being elected in statewide races.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by email at jmann@dailyinterlake.com.