3562. Three thousand, five hundred sixty-two. Remember that number.

Now lets go back to election night 2006. For those of you who weren’t paying much attention to politics back then, or for any of you who, like me, are operating with 256K memories in a 4G world, let me re-set the stage. November 7, 2006 was the beginning of the Democrats’ takeover of American political power. You probably don’t remember, but as the results poured in from the East Coast and across the Heartland, one senate seat after another that had been red turned blue. And finally, sometime after ten – or was it eleven?- p.m. Mountain Time, the final wall was breached: The media called it – Montana’s junior senator, Conrad Burns was defeated by his Democrat opponent, Jon Tester.

Over 410,000 votes were cast in that race, and 3,562 – less than 1% – of them made the difference. What difference, you ask?

The difference that on December 24, 2009 gave this country Obamacare. Before there was Scott Brown, there was Jon Tester, the last best vote that Obama needed to ram his 2000-page abomination down the throats of the American people. No special deals like Louisiana, no bribes ala Nebraska, just pure unadulterated liberal commitment to the cause.

Gee, thanks, Jon. But no thanks. I think we’ll take what’s behind curtain number 2012.

Last summer, when Congress was in recess, Jon somehow missed those town hall meetings all over the state. And somehow the thousands and thousands of letters, emails, and phone messages just never got through to him, because even though almost 70% of the people of Montana opposed the healthcare bill, Jon, Harry, Nancy and Obummer, himself, had an agenda they were going to advance whether we wanted it or not.

2010 and 2012 are years of reckoning for liberals who refused to listen to their constituents.

Yesterday, I had the honor and pleasure of being invited to Steve Daines’ announcement that he will run against Jon Tester in 2012. Steve is a very impressive individual and one of the nicest people I have ever met. He’s been working behind the scene for the last two years to get ready to launch his campaign and the event yesterday was as professional and well-orchestrated as any campaign kick-off I’ve ever seen. It bodes well for a positive result. But there is much to be done between now and November, 2012.

In his announcement speech yesterday, Steve quoted from the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. ”

That’s the part that the Democrats forgot last year. Two weeks ago “the governed” withdrew their consent to the House; in two years we must do the same to the Senate.

Today, I am beginning my personal campaign to send Jon Tester back to Big Sandy, MT. It’s a very small farming village (population 703), and I’m going to be doing my level best to see to it that they get their idiot back come January 2013. You can help, too, by becoming members of the 3562 Club:

First, please go to Steve’s FB page and “like” it: Can we get 3562 people to like “Montana Needs Steve Daines for US Senate” by Christmas Eve? We can, if you help and share this message with your friends and email lists.

And second, for those of you who can and are so inclined, please consider a contribution to his campaign. If you can, remember that number I shared at the beginning of the post. Could you help by sending $35.62 to retire Montana’s flat-topped progressive senator? How about making that a monthly contribution from now until November, 2012? That’s only about 1 lunch a week. Isn’t America’s future worth at least that much?

You can learn more about Steve and why I am so excited that he is willing to take on this important role at this time in our history by visiting his website, and feel free to sign up for the newsletter, emails, or even become a volunteer.

Montana usually doesn’t capture headlines when it comes to national elections. Our measley three electoral votes generally cast us into the “Ignore” barrel when it comes to attracting national attention and make us the definition of flyover country. But we discovered in 2009 that our elections can and do have national consequences and reminded us that every single vote matters: If Jon Tester had not been in the Senate last Christmas Eve, Harry Reid wouldn’t have even been able to bring Obamacare to the floor.