fistfight, montana

yep, the gloves are off. here's a great piece of reporting on the conrad burns v. john tester senate race by betsy cohen of the missoulan. she really captures the atmosphere here and she gets outta the way while the boys wail away. thee crowd is described as "boisterous".
here's a money quote, but the whole thing is gold. is this a bellweather race?

“It's time you have somebody back there who knows how to balance a check book. I've balanced it on the farm and I've balanced in the state Legislature. And we did it two years at a time. And we did it this year without increasing taxes. That's my record.”

Burns took Tester's jab head-on and responded: “Your farm didn't get hit by Katrina. Your farm didn't get hit by terrorists. Your farm got hit by a little disaster and I offered the checks and you cashed them up on that ol' farm.”

“That's a pretty bad comparison,” Burns said. “But you took the check, right?”

“Let's talk about food security, about a farm program that doesn't benefit multinational food corporations first, but family farmers and ranchers first,” Tester rebutted. “Let's talk about drought in north-central Montana that's gone on for six to eight years. If you think those checks from the government have made me flush, you are wrong.

“I've had to reduce my expenses and I've had to pay my bills, which is exactly what the federal government needs to do.”

“This economy will grow,” Burns countered. “And we will get there. We've done it before in this country and we will do it again.”