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\r\n<\/p>\r\nThis article was reported in collaboration by High Country News<\/a> and Montana Free Press<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em>\r\n <\/p>\r\nIn late July, U.S. Sen. Steve Daines<\/a> visited the small town of Cascade, on the Missouri River. The occasion: Spectrum\u2019s announcement that it would bring broadband to the town\u2019s nearly 800 residents. Many remote parts of the state still lack cellphone service, never mind high-speed internet. Daines framed the event as a victory, telling a TV station that he was on \u201ca full-court press\u201d to bridge the state\u2019s digital divide.\r\n <\/p>\r\n \u201cI\u2019ve been told broadband is amazing,\u201d said Mike Moore, 57, president of Cascade\u2019s Stockmens Bank, in late September, about seven weeks after the Montana Republican\u2019s visit. But he also allowed that the existing internet was \u201cperfectly satisfactory.\u201d\r\n <\/p>\r\nThe bank lobby was closed because of COVID-19, but when I walked up to the drive-through window, Moore waved me inside to a back room with an elk mounted on the wall. Soon his father, Murry S. Moore, 81, the town\u2019s mayor and the bank\u2019s CEO, arrived on a motorized scooter. When it came to the upgrade, Mayor Moore said, \u201cIt\u2019s not like I\u2019m sitting at home waiting for it.\u201d\r\n <\/p>\r\nThere may be a digital divide in Angela or Busby, but Cascade is only 30 minutes from Great Falls. Why, I asked, was the announcement such a big deal? The mayor, who has sculpted white hair, shrugged: \u201cIt was just a political opportunity.\u2019\u2019 \r\n <\/p>\r\nI had come to gauge their reaction to this year\u2019s battle for one of the state\u2019s two Senate seats: Daines, the Republican incumbent, versus Steve Bullock<\/a>, the sitting Democratic governor. As one of the few races that could tip the balance of power in Washington, D.C., it has become increasingly nationalized, vicious and expensive. In such an atmosphere, any news can be sharpened into an advantage or a weapon. Montanans\u2019 social media feeds are full of targeted micro-ads.\r\n <\/p>\r\nThe outcome could threaten the state\u2019s legacy of independent politics, where idea-based voters proudly split their tickets. Montana has not voted for a Democratic president since 1992; it has not voted for a Republican governor since 2000. This year, though, the races for governor, senator and Montana\u2019s lone congressional seat could all go Republican, fundamentally shifting the state\u2019s dynamic. The most closely watched contest, the Senate race, is too close to call.\r\n <\/p>\r\n <\/p>\r\nThe Moores are both Republicans who say they oppose big-government regulation, but their ideas span the aisle. Mayor Moore said he sometimes splits tickets. His son called the Affordable Care Act, which Daines has repeatedly voted to repeal, \u201ca great deal.\u201d His father said, \u201cI kinda think anybody who wants Medicare should just be able to sign up for it.\u201d\r\n <\/p>\r\n\u201cBut that\u2019s what the Affordable Care Act does!\u201d said Mike Moore. His father added that once you were on Medicare, you shouldn\u2019t be able to back out.\r\n <\/p>\r\nI asked: \u201cBut isn\u2019t that government regulation?\u201d\r\n <\/p>\r\n\u201cThere\u2019s your gray area right there,\u201d said Mike.\r\n <\/p>\r\n\u201cThere\u2019s your gray area,\u201d echoed his father.\r\n <\/p>\r\nWe had arrived at one of Montana\u2019s paradoxes: For a state that prizes local control, Montana relies heavily on federal funding \u2014 for farm subsidies, for wildland firefighting, for health care. A few moments earlier, when I\u2019d asked about this, Mayor Moore had smiled as though he pitied my lack of understanding. \u201cJust give me the money and go home,\u201d he said. He planned to vote for Steve Daines.\r\n <\/p>\r\nMontanans sometimes call the state a small town with long streets. But it might not remain small; out-of-staters are flocking here, fleeing the pandemic. Sen. Daines says he is fighting to preserve the \u201cMontana way of life,\u201d as though there is one such thing. Bullock says there are two kinds of people who move to Montana: those who come change it, and those who don\u2019t.\r\n <\/p>\r\nThe two Steves do not like each other. Bullock sometimes calls Daines \u201cthis guy.\u201d When I asked Bullock if, after the campaign, he and Daines would put down their weapons and have dinner together, he laughed aloud. Daines, who has a reputation for avoiding serious questioning, did not participate in this story. \u201cHe likes safe space,\u201d says Land Tawney, president of the public-lands advocacy group Backcountry Hunters and Anglers.\r\n <\/p>\r\n As Governor, I\u2019ve had the pleasure of working with each of Montana\u2019s eight Tribal Nations to tackle challenges facing Indian Country.![\"stevebullock\"](\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/stevebullock-1-scaled.jpg\")
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Today, I\u2019m truly honored by the Native Americans who vocalized their support for our campaign by launching #NativeAmericansForBullock<\/a>. pic.twitter.com\/4xFH5Jt29E<\/a><\/p>— Steve Bullock (@stevebullockmt) September 27, 2020<\/a><\/blockquote>