MT-AL: Well, this is interesting. None other than Mike Pence is headed to Montana in the coming week to stump on behalf of Republican Greg Gianforte, according to Sen. Steve Daines in a call with Gianforte's financial backers. The Washington Post's Dave Weigel suggests that Pence's trip is a signal that Republicans are "[b]roadcasting confidence," but usually bringing out the big guns in a race you ought to be winning handily is anything but.
What's more, on the same call (a recording of which made its way to the Post), Daines also said that Republicans are seeing poll numbers "in the single digits," which also doesn't sound like they're operating from a position of strength. Now of course, a 45-44 race and a 49-40 race are both "single digits," and this may well have been Daines trying to put the fear of god (or the resistance) into donors. But it's the kind of admission that could also fire up Democrats on behalf of Rob Quist, especially in light of the Thursday's passage of the GOP's health care repeal.
In fact, Gianforte seems worried about that, too. Despite running in a state that Donald Trump won by 20 points, Gianforte is refusing to declare whether he supports his party's signature piece of legislation, saying in a statement that "he will not support a bill until he knows it reduces premiums, preserves rural access and protects Montanans with pre-existing conditions." Well, guess that's a no, then, because we know people with pre-existing conditions are fucked under this bill! There's no reason why Quist, who has vocally opposed the proposal, can't make hay of Gianforte's attempt to dodge—in fact, he can and likely will.
The NRCC, meanwhile, is not slacking off its TV barrage against Quist. They're out with a new ad once again hitting Quist over his financial woes, including unpaid taxes and liens. It's now up to Quist to forcibly change the subject and make this race about the GOP trying to steal health insurance from Montanans.