BillingsGazette.com :: Kelleher draws few at GOP convention
State Republican Chairman Erik Iverson decided not to allow Kelleher to speak during one of the meals at the convention, as other statewide candidates were allowed to do. Iverson said it appeared that the only plank of the Republican platform Kelleher agrees with was opposition to abortion.
“We have limited time,” Iverson said earlier this week. “We are reserving it for our other statewide candidates.”
Kelleher is an 85-year-old Butte lawyer and perennial candidate who has run mostly on the Democratic ticket for nearly a half century but on the Green and Republican tickets in recent years. He was the GOP’s surprise Senate nominee in a six-candidate primary earlier this month, winning 26,789 votes.
Now Kelleher is the Republican long-shot challenger to Democratic incumbent Sen. Max Baucus, who is seeking his sixth consecutive six-year term.Before he went to the side room, Kelleher admitted to one Republican, “It would be a lot better if I lost. I didn’t plan on winning.”
Nonetheless, Kelleher lived up this end of the bargain. He set up in the side room, making available copies of the speech he had been prepared to deliver and a paper outlining his support for replacing the U.S. form of government with the parliamentary system used many countries, such as Great Britain. Under a parliament, country’s prime minister is chosen from the legislative branch, as are the cabinet members.
He put up a sign in the room that said, “Outlaw lobbyists. Vote Kelleher U.S. Parliament.” Kelleher laid out some newly minted, union-paid red, white and blue buttons for supporters.
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