Congratulations, Ambassador

When news broke last week about Montana Sen. Max Baucus being a nominee to serve as U.S. ambassador to China, it was an out-of-the-blue surprise to many. But on second glance, it is a fitting transition for the six-term senator because of his experience and interest in China and trade issues in particular.

It is also a shrewd — maybe too shrewd — political move on the part of Democrats. With Baucus leaving the Senate, Gov. Steve Bullock will be free to appoint a successor to fill out Baucus’s term through next year, and the odds-on media favorite to get the nod is Bullock’s own running mate, Lt. Gov. John Walsh, who is already a Democratic primary candidate to replace Baucus.

An appointment to instant incumbent status certainly could help Walsh with name recognition across the state in a race that will most likely be against Republican Steve Daines, Montana’s current congressman.

But could it hurt him as well? Some observers are saying that Walsh could no longer claim to be running “against Washington,” because he would be the candidate supported by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and the Obama administration.

Already assuming the appointment is a done deal, Brad Dayspring, communications director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, wrote: “That [anti-Washington] argument is now moot, since Walsh is now Harry Reid and Barack Obama’s hand-picked United States Senator.”

Presumably, Walsh would also be casting votes in the Senate through most of 2014, showing whether he would be a “party” animal or a true independent voice for Montana. Besides, Montana voters may not be pushovers for political machinations that appear to be engineered from Washington. An appointment simply may not generate the usual benefits of incumbency, particularly against a well-financed and -known candidate like Daines.

Politico reported Friday that Baucus himself had been pushing for weeks to get the nomination for ambassador, at the initial suggestion of his former chief of staff, Jim Messina, who was Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign manager. Baucus reportedly met with Vice President Joe Biden, a long-time friend, to help make the nomination come about.

As we said, though, it seems like a fitting transition in Baucus’s career.

Politico reports Baucus told Senate colleagues this week that the move puts him on a path similar to that of his political idol, the late Mike Mansfield, who served for decades as a Montana Democratic senator before serving as the U.S. ambassador to Japan for nearly a dozen years.

One disappointing aspect of Baucus’s nomination, which was officially announced Friday, is that he will not be following through on tax reform in his role as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. Baucus has asserted that he was committed to meaningful reform, and he has long been working toward that end with his Republican counterpart in the House, Rep. David Camp of Michigan.

Now it appears tax reform is dead for the coming year at least, but Baucus’s political career lives on, and the future of a Montana Senate seat has become a bit more unpredictable.

Editorials represent the majority opinion of the Daily Inter Lake’s editorial board.