And those constituents are a diverse lot. True, Montana is known for its isolated landscapes that have attracted the likes of the Unabomber, Freemen, and antigovernment militia members. But Rehberg and Williams note that the state is a true crossroads between the prosaic Old West and the technology-driven New Economy. Denizens of agrarian eastern Montana, for instance, can get television programming beamed into their living rooms through satellite dishes. But they also are part of the highest concentration of citizens who cannot get local TV news because stations lack the equipment.
Ideologies vary widely across the state as well.
In some ways, Williams says, the town of Jordan, home of the recent uprising by the antigovernment Freemen, is as different from Missoula, a politically progressive city, as Miami is to Anchorage. From native American issues on high-plains reservations, to dotcom companies taking root in the western mountains, to public land battles over natural resources, being a congressman from Montana can be a Sisyphean task. The truth is a single congressman can't do it all, but you won't find one incumbent willing to admit it. Because of the size of his district, Rehberg enjoys a slight increase in his taxpayer-supported travel allowance. The grueling pace of spending weekends in the West and getting back to craft laws in the East left Democrat Williams and his Republican successor, Rick Hill, who served prior to Rehberg's election, exhausted.