Jon Tester

WASHINGTON - Want to see Pearl Jam's only non-festival show this year? Montana Sen. Jon Tester has you covered. The Democrat, who is in a tough reelection battle against Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg this fall, is offering 100 tickets to the sold-out Sept. 30 show in Missoula. Tickets were $250 a pop on the senator's campaign website, www.jontester.com , Thursday. Turns out Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament is a fellow native of Big Sandy, where Tester has his family farm, and is a longtime friend of the senator's family, the campaign said.

WASHINGTON - After Shane Todd, an engineer from Montana, was found hanging by the neck in an apartment in Singapore, police there quickly ruled the 31-year-old's death a suicide, citing evidence including an apologetic note typed on his computer and a description of an elaborate pulley system the 6-foot-1 man allegedly used to hang himself from a bathroom door. But when his parents visited his apartment a few days later, they found an external computer hard drive that they think tells a different story - one that suggests their son may have been inadvertently caught up in a plot to transfer sensitive technology to China.

When the campaign for U.S. Senate here is over and voters have been saturated with as much as $20 million worth of advertising -- in a state of just 935,000 people -- it is possible that Montanans will decide whether to send Jon Tester to Washington, D.C., based on who he is not. He is not Conrad Burns -- not the three-term, gaffe-prone Republican incumbent who was the top recipient in Congress of money linked to Jack Abramoff, the lobbyist who pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe lawmakers.

WASHINGTON - U.S. Sen. Jon Tester was among the most endangered Democrats in the Senate, but he pulled through after a tough challenge from Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg. Tester had a surprise victory for Democrats six years ago, but returning to the Senate would prove difficult in the Republican state without the political wave that favored Democrats in 2006. Tester won with 48.6% of the vote to Rehberg's 44.8%. Libertarian Dan Cox took 6.5% of the vote. "It has been an honor to serve the people of Montana," Rehberg said in a statement Wednesday morning.

The Rocky Mountain West, which helped give Democrats the White House and control of the U.S. Senate, has emerged as a key 2012 battleground as President Obama works to win back independents and others disaffected by the last two years of high unemployment, soaring deficits and expansive government growth. Obama achieved a breakthrough in 2008, carrying Nevada, Colorado and New Mexico and coming close to winning Montana, a state Democrats lost overwhelmingly in the two previous presidential campaigns.

Big Sandy has had its moments in the sun. Local boy Jeff Ament made good a few years ago as the bassist for Pearl Jam. The town's "chief claim to worldwide fame," as resident historian Keith Edwards puts it, is the Big Bud 16V-747, a custom-made behemoth that the Guinness Book of World Records lists as the largest tractor on Earth. But in recent years, the story in Big Sandy, as in countless other farm towns across the Great Plains, has been one of loss.

Jon Tester: A photo caption in Section A on Friday misspelled incoming Montana Sen. Jon Tester's first name as John.

WASHINGTON - After Shane Todd, an engineer from Montana, was found hanging by the neck in an apartment in Singapore, police there quickly ruled the 31-year-old's death a suicide, citing evidence including an apologetic note typed on his computer and a description of an elaborate pulley system the 6-foot-1 man allegedly used to hang himself from a bathroom door. But when his parents visited his apartment a few days later, they found an external computer hard drive that they think tells a different story - one that suggests their son may have been inadvertently caught up in a plot to transfer sensitive technology to China.

Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson had a Ronald Reagan moment Wednesday in the afterglow of the State of the Union address. Inspired by the sight, he said, of seeing his Democratic and Republican congressional colleagues sitting together in the House chamber during Tuesday night's address, the two-term senator suggested that the two parties sit scattered on the Senate floor from this point forward. "So, to paraphrase former President Reagan, whose declaration about the need for unity rings true today in a different context," Nelson, a Democrat, told reporters Wednesday, "I hope colleagues will join me and say, 'Get rid of this aisle!

The Senate rejected legislation Wednesday that would have halted pending federal regulations to limit the debit card swipe fees that financial institutions charge retailers, in a narrow vote that rekindled populist fervor against Wall Street. The 54-45 vote did not split along typical partisan lines. Instead it pit one populist Democrat, Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois, against another, Sen. Jon Tester of Montana, as both claimed to be fighting to protect consumers and small banks from fees that totaled $16 billion in 2009.

WASHINGTON - Want to see Pearl Jam's only non-festival show this year? Montana Sen. Jon Tester has you covered. The Democrat, who is in a tough reelection battle against Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg this fall, is offering 100 tickets to the sold-out Sept. 30 show in Missoula. Tickets were $250 a pop on the senator's campaign website, www.jontester.com , Thursday. Turns out Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament is a fellow native of Big Sandy, where Tester has his family farm, and is a longtime friend of the senator's family, the campaign said.

The Senate rejected legislation Wednesday that would have halted pending federal regulations to limit the debit card swipe fees that financial institutions charge retailers, in a narrow vote that rekindled populist fervor against Wall Street. The 54-45 vote did not split along typical partisan lines. Instead it pit one populist Democrat, Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois, against another, Sen. Jon Tester of Montana, as both claimed to be fighting to protect consumers and small banks from fees that totaled $16 billion in 2009.

The Rocky Mountain West, which helped give Democrats the White House and control of the U.S. Senate, has emerged as a key 2012 battleground as President Obama works to win back independents and others disaffected by the last two years of high unemployment, soaring deficits and expansive government growth. Obama achieved a breakthrough in 2008, carrying Nevada, Colorado and New Mexico and coming close to winning Montana, a state Democrats lost overwhelmingly in the two previous presidential campaigns.

Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson had a Ronald Reagan moment Wednesday in the afterglow of the State of the Union address. Inspired by the sight, he said, of seeing his Democratic and Republican congressional colleagues sitting together in the House chamber during Tuesday night's address, the two-term senator suggested that the two parties sit scattered on the Senate floor from this point forward. "So, to paraphrase former President Reagan, whose declaration about the need for unity rings true today in a different context," Nelson, a Democrat, told reporters Wednesday, "I hope colleagues will join me and say, 'Get rid of this aisle!

Jon Tester: A photo caption in Section A on Friday misspelled incoming Montana Sen. Jon Tester's first name as John.

Big Sandy has had its moments in the sun. Local boy Jeff Ament made good a few years ago as the bassist for Pearl Jam. The town's "chief claim to worldwide fame," as resident historian Keith Edwards puts it, is the Big Bud 16V-747, a custom-made behemoth that the Guinness Book of World Records lists as the largest tractor on Earth. But in recent years, the story in Big Sandy, as in countless other farm towns across the Great Plains, has been one of loss.

At a glance, Montana would seem to be reliable red-state territory: It voted for Bob Dole for president in 1996 and twice, by large margins, for George W. Bush.

WASHINGTON - U.S. Sen. Jon Tester was among the most endangered Democrats in the Senate, but he pulled through after a tough challenge from Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg. Tester had a surprise victory for Democrats six years ago, but returning to the Senate would prove difficult in the Republican state without the political wave that favored Democrats in 2006. Tester won with 48.6% of the vote to Rehberg's 44.8%. Libertarian Dan Cox took 6.5% of the vote. "It has been an honor to serve the people of Montana," Rehberg said in a statement Wednesday morning.

Jon Tester had been up most of the night tending to the vote count in his tight race for the U.S. Senate, and he swallowed plenty of black coffee Wednesday afternoon to get through live television interviews with everyone from local reporters to national anchors. Montana, rarely a bellwether of national politics, held the national spotlight as one of two races -- with Virginia -- that would decide which party controlled the Senate.

At a glance, Montana would seem to be reliable red-state territory: It voted for Bob Dole for president in 1996 and twice, by large margins, for George W. Bush.