The Daily Inter Lake

U.S. Senate candidate Jon Tester swooped through Kalispell Thursday, mingling with downtown merchants and supporters as part of a statewide campaign swing.

The Democratic challenger to Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., says he's been picking up some common comments and concerns in recent stops in Great Falls, Helena, Missoula and Corvallis.

Most common, he said over lunch at Red's Wines and Blues, is concern about how much negative advertising will be unleashed over the next three months leading up to the November election.

"Four out of five of the people who came up to me yesterday talked about that," Tester said.

Alex Hilton, who is doing groundwork for the Tester campaign locally, said that theme has come up repeatedly from Democrats and Republicans he's met in arranging business stops for Tester.

Tester said it's an odd position to be in, raising money for a campaign, "just to tick people off with ads."

He said his campaign will seek to address Burns' record in the Senate, but that he wants a campaign that takes the high road in discussing issues.

"I just think people would rather hear a positive rather than a negative" message, he said.

Tester said people attending recent "listening sessions" have brought up the subjects of fiscal responsibility in Washington, D.C., health care issues and U.S. efforts to become less dependent on foreign energy sources.

And generally, he's been hearing a lot about the war in Iraq.

Tester said the most common question he hears is: "What are you going to do about the war?"

And he provides a layered answer: "You have to know that the military troops have done a great job and you have to support them," he said. "The political leadership has been the problem."

Tester said American troops need to be withdrawn from Iraq as soon as possible, and it must be done "without turning the whole Middle East upside down."

The U.S. cannot maintain "an open-ended commitment" to Iraq, he said.

"I'm not inclined to put a date on it, but I do think it needs to be done as soon as possible," he said of troop withdrawal.

Tester has also been hearing questions about improving U.S. energy independence, and he is enthusiastic about Montana's potential to play a role in development of renewable resources as a component of that effort.

Potential for development of wind and seed oil crops and ethanol are immense in the near future.

"It's there. You can see it. It's not like putting a man on the moon in the 1960s," he said.

Tester visited several Kalispell businesses Thursday, mostly strolling Main Street, including Norm's News and Western Outdoor, Insty Prints, Wheelers Jewelry, Montana Expressions, the Stone Chair, Noice Gallery and Rocky Mountain Outfitters. He went on to visit Kimber Firearms east of town and earlier in the day he toured The Orchard at Flathead Lake, an east-shore cherry orchard that markets value-added products.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com