Cantor Loss Good News for Democrats in Montana.

That is, if you want to believe the lefty publishers of the Bozeman Daily (if you don't count Monday as a weekday) Chronicle. They are twisting themselves into pretzels to find good news for appointed Senator John Walsh's run to retain his gifted U.S. Senate seat. And they found it -- they thought -- in Eric Cantor's Virgnia House District 7 primary shellacking by a tea party candidate.

John Walsh's first senate vote after his being appointed to the Senate by his pal in Montana's governor's mansion, was to increase the debt limit to $18 trillion, bless his heart. 

Steve Daines, who currently holds Montana's sole seat in the House of Representatives is Walsh's opponent. 

Earlier this year, the Bozeman Chronicle's environmental news reporter referred to Steve Daines in a Twitter post as a "tea party moron." The reporter, Laura Lundquist, also reported last fall that a dip in Montana deer population is due to global warming, a finding that our friends in places like Virginia, Texas and Alabama, with their significantly warmer climes and dramatically larger/denser deer populations, would no doubt find quite surprising. God bless Laura Lundquist for giving me so many opportunities to be anti-intellectual.

When your premise is that the successful campaign of a tea party candidate is good news for a borrow and spend Democrat, you got to dig pretty deep. And so the Bozeman Chronicle did. Here is the headline and the lead, above the fold, on page one.

Pollster who has Daines ahead said same for Cantor

TROY CARTER, Chronicle Staff Writer | 5 Comments

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's primary election loss Tuesday has thrown into question the most recent poll placing Montana's Republican U.S. Rep. Steve Daines comfortably ahead of Democratic Sen. John Walsh by 23 points.

Few expected the second most powerful Republican in the House of Representatives to lose to unknown tea party candidate Dave Brat. Cantor had his incumbency, support from big-name Republicans and more campaign cash — $5 million vs. $200,000.

Editorial policy at the Bozeman Chronicle

Cantor's internal polling showed him leading 62 to 38 over Brat at the end of May. Another survey of likely Virginia voters by polling firm Vox Populi showed a dip in Cantor's numbers but still showed Cantor with a 52-41 lead.

A more recent Vox Populi poll showed Daines holding the support of 56 percent of voters compared to Walsh's 33 percent in Montana's U.S. Senate race.

The Chronicle ginned up a "political scientist" (an oxymoron if I ever heard one) to claim bias and distortion. Walsh's campaign said wait until there is a new poll that reflects voter reaction to our new campaign ads. The Chronicle pushed the dated (March 18) Rasmussen poll which had Daines ahead of Walsh by a mere 14 points as more reliable.

Rasmussen came out with a new poll this afternoon -- result Steve Daines now beating John Walsh 53 percent to 35 percent, an 18 point lead, a growing lead that is within the margin of error of the Vos Populi poll that the Chronicle was trying so mightily to discredit.

Someone should send the Chronicle a tub of mustard to go with their pretzels.