Schweitzer said he doesn't believe McCain can point to any edge over Obama with voters on the gun issue because the Republican senator sponsored a 2004 amendment to require criminal background checks on all firearms transactions at gun shows.
Still, Schweitzer, a Democrat endorsed by the NRA, conceded that neither Obama nor McCain “are the favorites of the NRA.”
He said a third option for voters for whom guns is their primary issue is to vote for Barr, a former Georgia congressman, “if you're absolutely not going to vote for McCain or Obama on guns.”
The NRA has given Barr a grade of A-plus, while handing McCain a C and giving Obama an F for their votes on gun-related issues in Congress over the years.
Schweitzer, who said he enjoys going to gun shows, said McCain's amendment could have shut down them down in Montana and elsewhere.
As for Obama, Schweitzer said, “He ain't going to take your gun away. He ain't ever going to take your gun away.”
Obama also favors improving access to public lands for hunting, camping and fishing, Schweitzer said, contrary to the Bush administration's efforts to limit public access.
Obama campaign spokesman Caleb Weaver said later that he doesn't believe Schweitzer was really suggesting that Montanans vote for Barr.
“My understanding is that Gov. Schweitzer's point was that gun owners have nothing to fear from Sen. Obama, and because Sen. McCain has also taken positions at odds with (the) NRA on some key issues, such as the gun show loophole, voters who make their decision only on the gun issue will find that neither McCain or Obama are entirely acceptable,” Weaver said.
In response, Republican National Committee spokesman Bill Riggs said that Schweitzer knows that Obama is “possibly the most anti-gun candidate to ever seek the presidency and even predicted he would not win Montana.”
“John McCain worked to ensure citizens continue to have the right to purchase firearms at gun shows by instituting an instant background check,” Riggs said.
He said that Obama, in a questionnaire he filled out while running for the Illinois Senate, said he opposed “the manufacture, sale, and possession of firearms” Riggs called the news conference “just more political posturing from the Obama campaign to try to divert attention from his actual record.”
During the conference call, Steve Hildebrand, Obama's national deputy campaign manager, said the Obama campaign believes Montana is up for grabs along with six other states that often vote Republican for president - Alaska, Georgia, Indiana, North Carolina, North Dakota and Virginia. The Obama campaign believes they have a good chance of winning these seven state.
“We are spending significant resources here,” Hildebrand said. “It's unmatched for a Democratic campaign in Montana. We have a giant volunteer structure.”
Obama campaigned here three times in the primary election and spent the Fourth of July holiday in Butte with his wife and two children. Obama's national television ads have been running in Montana.
He said the campaign's goal is to have Montanans talking with each other about Obama.
So far, the campaign has 14,000 active volunteers in Montana, 1,100 team members and 40 team captains, said Mike Dorsey, Obama's Montana campaign director. Those numbers are expected to grow significantly between now and Nov. 4.
But those numbers today would enable the Obama campaign to knock on 363,000 doors of their neighbors and call 687,000 voters in their towns through the get-out-the-vote effort in a month, Dorsey said.
In addition, Dorsey announced that Obama's campaign has opened 10 more offices in addition to the six previously open in Billings, Bozeman, Butte, Great Falls, Helena and Missoula.
The newest Obama offices opened in Bigfork, Dillon, Glendive, Hamilton, Havre, Kalispell, Livingston, Miles City, Whitefish and Wolf Point.
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Bob Barr wrote on Oct 24, 2008 1:24 PM:
Vote the same to partys in and out and delude yourself into thinking you are getting change... "