With eleven days until Election Day, Montanans are not being courted by Mssrs. Obama and Romney–they have both chalked up Montana as a red state. But there is a fierce battle between incumbent John Tester-D and Rep. Denny Rehberg-R for one of Montana’s Senate seats. From their heated campaigns, these thoughts:

1. Printers must LOVE this political season. Huge, 8.5″ x 11″ postcards seem to be the norm. How big will they get in the future? When will the USPS cry uncle?

2. Whatever happened to putting a donkey or an elephant on political print ads? Don’t they think people still vote along party lines?

3. There’s a huge lack of consistency between negative ads pummeling THE SAME GUY. Crazy! These PACs really should talk to each other–they could be a lot more effective with their messaging.

4. Many of the PAC TV and print ads I’m seeing do nothing more than smear a candidate. They do not end with a call for action, such as “Vote for our candidate!” I suspect there is a legal reason for this omission. I do know it’s strange to read a smear ad and not have it end with a call to action.