UPDATE:  The voters of Montana finally caught up with Burns and "sent him to the showers." He was thought to be a prairie original when he arrived in Washington, D. C.  He pledged never to allow the DC culture to overcome him.  He didn't and it did.

ORIGINAL COMMENT:  This guy has a serious windbag potential. He can go on and on and not say much.

A friend of mine worked on the successful Tester campaign of '06. It's astonishing that the incumbent Burns almost won, after a series of misdeeds involving Jack Abramoff and racial blunders that would make even George Allen ashamed. Burns was the senatorial equivalent of Warren G. Harding, a testy, awkward, and corrupt man who had no business being in public office, since he regarded his role as being in business for himself.

In reality, I would not give even a half star rating if I thought it would show up. This man is a crook and I hope he will be made to pay for his corruption. As a Montanan, I know we can do better. As Jon Tester says, Burns has gone Washington and has forgotten the values of the people of Montana.

Conrad Burns is the powerful chair of the Appropriation Committee in the Senate. In that position, he has managed to pour billions of dollars into his home state of Montana. Just his position alone makes him an effective advocate for his state. But there's more to his record than high levels of pork barrel spending. Throughout his time at the Senate, Burns has made offensive remarks about Arabs and African Americans in public. Scratch underneath the surface and you find a Senator that has a weak legislative agenda. In fact, in the 18 years he has spent in the Senate, he has not authored any bills of any significant consequence. Now he seems to be in both legal and political trouble as he runs for a fourth Senate term. Federal investigators are looking into Burns's connections with Jack Abramoff, who has admitted to bribing certain lawmakers recently. More specifically, they are looking into conflict of interest allegations stemming from Burns assisting one of Abramoff's clients in securing a 2 million dollar federal grant. They are also looking to allegations that Burns accepted contributions from Abramoff and his clients. Currently, he's running for re-election and it looks like a tough race is shaping up. Look for the Montana race to be one of the top three most competitive in the nation. The Democrats will run hard against Burns by bringing up the corruption charges, along with his light legislative record, which they usually do. Given the anti-Washington consensus that's been developing, look for a Democratic upset here.

Absolutely Corrupt, he is in the pockets of Jack Abramoff, Big Pharmaceutical Companies and Big Oil.

Typical politician....shows up to wave to the audience, tries to be humorous and does it badly, poor grammar, and answers questions with canned answers like we're workin' on it as he rushes to leave for his next hand-waving event. What the hell does that mean! If the issue is not on his agenda, you're wasting your time. You're not important enough unless you're a major contributor, a large employer, or carry a lot of clout. When he said he was working for the great people of Montana, I thought I was included, but it sure didn't seem that way.

I just saw you on the nightly news talking about the wild horses. I vomited up my dinner. You actually made me physically ill. How dare you send the mustangs to their death. Much less, to be eaten by wealthy people like you. Let them be adopted and not sold to the highest bidder. Most likely, that would be friends of yours. Years ago, I couldn't believe how older people talked about politicians. My God --- Now I understand!!!!!! How sad for us. Lois Nichols