2008 ELECTION RESULTS FOR LINCOLN COUNTY, MONTANA
(Only the top two vote-getters are listed)
President/Vice President
John McCain/Sarah Palin (R) ........... 5,699
Barack Obama/Joe Biden (D) .......... 3,018
U.S. Senator
Bob Kelleher (R) ................................ 3,447
Max Baucus (D) ................................. 5, 615
U.S. Representative
Denny Rehberg (R) ............................. 6,326
John Driscoll (D) ................................. 2,318
Governor/Lt. Governor
Roy Brown/Steven Daines (R) ............ 3,706
Brian Schweitzer/John Bohlinger (D) ... 5,108
Secretary of State
Brad Johnson (R) .................................. 3,706
Linda McCulloch(D) .............................. 3,492
Attorney General
Tim Fox (R) ............................................. 5,016
Steve Bullock (D) .................................... 3,656
State Auditor
Duane Grimes (R) ...................................... 4,891
Monica J. Lindeen (D) ............................... 3,705
State Superintent of Public Instruction
Elaine Sollie Herman (R) ............................ 4,631
Denise Juneau (D) ...................................... 3,342
Public Service Commission District 4
Doug Mood (R) ............................................. 5,080
Gail Gutsche (D) ............................................ 3,287
Supreme Court Chief Justice
Mike McGrath ................................................. 5,307
Ron Waterman ................................................. 2,113
State Representative District 2
Chas Vincent (R) .............................................. 3,240
Timothy P. Linehan (D) .................................... 1,653
State Representative District 1
Gerald A. Bennett (R) ........................................ 2,413
Eileen J. Carney (D) .......................................... 1,491
County Commissioner District 1
Anthony Berget (R) ............................................ 5,433
Jerry Okonski (write-in)* (see comments)........... 2,422
Comments on the Election Results
In contrast to the gains made by Democrats nationally, Lincoln County, Montana voters approved only two (2) Democrats in the 2008 election. Max Baucus (incumbent U.S. senator) and Brian Schweitzer (incumbent Governor) were supported by a majority of county voters. All of the remaining county favorites were Republican candidates who represented typical conservative viewpoints. If one looks at the vote totals, some local Democrats, such as Eileen Carney, were not only defeated, they were defeated and disciplined by the voters. Historically, the county has shown a clear animosity for left-of-center and politically moderate candidates, particularly for any candidates who dare to express even a small amount of concern for the local environment. Ms. Carney was a conservative Democrat, yet the Republicans ran an expensive scare-the-voter campaign in the local newspapers that portrayed her as a liberal with a hidden agenda (the tactic of pandering to paranoia wins again). The local results from the 2008 election show that Lincoln County's social views and its political views are considerably out of synch with the views currently held by most of the nation. Demographically, Lincoln County's residents are white, lack a college degree (in fact, over 21% of Libby's adults never finished high school), and have, at best, a modest annual income.
Not only is Lincoln County more politically conservative than most of the United States, it is also more conservative than most of Montana (which is a conservative state in its own right). Lincoln County is geographically isolated, culturally isolated, and economically isolated. This isolation is expressed in the way its people think, act, and in how they vote.
* Ironically, Jerry Okonski is also a Republican. Sadly, no Democrat had the courage to run against a Republican for the vacant county commissioner's seat. Therefore, in the General Election, the seat was contested by two conservative Republicans........which is not what our nation's founding fathers had intended. The adversarial system of politics is currently broken in Lincoln County, Montana, and this is the fault of the county's Democrats who have become politically apathetic in recent years. The state Democratic party headquarters in Helena was aware of this apathy, and they chose not to open a 2008 campaign office in Libby. The Libby area was written-off as a waste of Democratic campaign money.
2000 election results for Lincoln County, Montana
2004 election results for Lincoln County, Montana