Dupont beats Hall in primary; Democrats support Obama locally
Former Flathead County Sheriff Jim Dupont beat incumbent Gary Hall in the Republican primary for Flathead County Commissioner by a wide margin Tuesday, 7,837 to 3,475.
The win for Dupont almost assures that Hall will not have a second term in office. Dupont was a well-liked sheriff for 16 years. He said he's only going to serve one term.
In other races of note, Democrat Brittany MacLean edged Gil Jordan 1,238 to 1,093 for the Senate District 2 seat and Republican Ryan Zinke beat Suzanne Brooks, 1,414 to 619. The District covers Whitefish and Columbia Falls.
In House District 5, which covers the southern end of rural Columbia Falls, Keith Regier topped Harm Toren 1,074 to 543.
On the Presidential side Flathead County voters favored Democrat Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton by a wide margin. Obama got 6,360 votes to Clinton's 3,992 votes. Obama also won the state primary and has secured the Democratic nomination.
His wife, Michelle, made a trip to Kalispell for a call rally Monday. About 100 people came to support the cause at the KM Building in Kalispell.
"We weren't supposed to be here," Mrs. Obama told the crowd. "(They said) there's an inevitable candidate … and it wasn't him."
Obama also said race and gender weren't a key issue.
"They don't care about race and gender," she said. "They want to know, ?an I trust you?'"
She said there's a lot to be excited about in this country, but now the hard part starts. Obama is the first black man to represent a major party in a presidential election. The Democratic primary was so close that Montana drew the attention of Barack Obama and Hillary and Bill Clinton. All of them made several appearances in the state. Bill Clinton also came to Kalispell, speaking to about 3,000 people at Flathead Valley Community College last month.
On the Republican side of the presidential race, county voters favored John McCain 7,570 to 3,568 over Ron Paul. Paul had a lot of vocal support here, but the quiet voters put McCain over the top by a wide margin.
Other races of note:
¥ U.S. Senator: Max Baucus, Democrat, 9,518 (unopposed). Republican: Bob Kelleher, 3,737, Michael Lange, 1,835, Kirk Bushman, 1,288, Patty L. Lovaas, 856, Anton A. Pearson, 878 and Shay Joshua Garnett, 310.
¥ U.S. House of Representatives: Republican Denny Rehberg, 10,525 (unopposed); Democrat Jim Hunt, 3,805, John Driscoll, 3,443 and Robert Candee, 522.
¥ Governor and Lt. Gov.: Democrat Brian Schweitzer and John Bohlinger, 9,308, William Fischer and Steve White, 538 and Donald Pogreba and Jason Neiffer, 185. Republican Roy Brown and Steve Daines, 7,414, Larry H. Steele and Harold Luce, 1,927.
¥ Attorney General: Democrat Mike Wheat, 3,311, Steve Bullock, 2,530, John Parker, 2,121. Republican, Tim Fox, 5,177, Lee Bruner, 3,847.
¥ Superintendent of Public Instruction: Democrat, Denise Juneau, 3,271, Holly Raser, 1,488, Sam Kitzenberg, 1,477, Claudette Morton, 1,318. Republican Elaine Sollie Herman, 8,635 (unopposed).¥ Supreme Court Justice: Mike McGrath, 13,694, Ron Waterman, 3,544.
You can see complete county results at flathead.mt.gov/election/downloads.php.