Senate race gets more interesting

The race for Montana’s U.S. Senate seat has been anything but boring, and now there’s a new level of interest as state Rep. Amanda Curtis has been chosen as the Democrats’ replacement for Sen. John Walsh.

Walsh did the right thing by withdrawing from the race amid allegations he had plagiarized a portion of his master’s degree thesis. Appointed to the Senate seat after longtime Democratic Sen. Max Baucus resigned to serve as U.S. ambassador to China, Walsh was considered a formidable opponent to Republican challenger, Rep. Steve Daines.

We have to admire Curtis’ tenacity. As the Associated Press noted, the 34-year-old Butte math teacher is touting her inexperience and blue-collar roots as assets, not liabilities. The perky populist has aligned herself with Montana’s working class, saying she’ll champion the causes of average working folks against those of the wealthy. And she puts Daines in that wealthy category.

Given her late entrance into the Senate race, Curtis no doubt faces an uphill battle, and time will tell whether her message will resonate with voters.

She’s a clear underdog, but here’s the thing about underdogs: Never count them out.

It will be an interesting three months until the Nov. 4 election, that for sure.

Justice is served

Some well-deserved justice has been served to four young men from Columbia Falls who were convicted of a string of poaching offenses in the Whitefish area in 2012.

The last of the four cases was recently closed with the sentencing of Dillon Erickson. Others involved were Paul West, Tyler Kellar and Chase Wilson. They were believed to be responsible for illegally killing more than 20 deer in the Whitefish area.

Combined, the four had fines and restitution charges of $16,435 and they lost their privileges to hunt, trap or fish for 51 years.

Some folks — particularly ethical hunters who feel their reputations are tarnished by poachers and are insulted by the illegal taking of wildlife — may consider the sentences to be not quite stiff enough.

But prosecutors tend to get what they are able to get from a court.

 In this case, kudos is in order for the county attorney’s office and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks wardens who dedicated themselves to finding the perpetrators.

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