Either way - or both - Landquist and her supporters stood Missoula County on its ear Tuesday.
Not only did the outsider from Lolo defeat incumbent Larry Anderson for a seat on the Board of County Commissioners, but she did it soundly, garnering nearly 57 percent of the vote to Anderson's 43 percent.
Anderson, a Republican, attracted broad-based financial support from the likes of Larry Simkins, the president of Washington Corp.; Land Lindbergh of the Blackfoot Challenge, and Ann Mary Dussault, the county's former chief administrator and a lifelong Democrat.
Donations to Landquist's campaign, about two dozen in number, came mostly from Lolo and from local Democrats such as Missoula City Councilman Ed Childers and state Sen. Ron Erickson.
“I must say I don't know her really well,” Erickson said. “But I've met her, and if she put in enough energy to beat Dennis Daneke (in the June primary) and then to beat Larry Anderson, I bet she's going to do very well.”
Landquist, a 53-year-old sheep rancher, spent Wednesday removing political signs and soaking it all in.
“I'm excited, but I guess I'm mostly excited that the people in Missoula proved that a person can still run a grass-roots campaign and make a difference,” she said. “I've said all along it shouldn't be about how much money you raise. It's about getting your message out there to the people, and I think I did that.”
Her method worked in the June primary, when she narrowly defeated Daneke, who had the support of Missoula Mayor John Engen.
She won, Landquist said, because of shoe leather, e-mails and www.electlandquist.com.
Instead of hitting up potential supporters for donations, she asked them to help spread her message through word of mouth and the Internet. Landquist's campaign literature urged folks to either log on to her Web site, where she lined out her ideas, or to call her at home.
Her phone rang incessantly, and “one day I had over 200 e-mails to respond to,” she said.
“I was hearing the message from so many people: You've got my vote, I love what you're doing, but I can't afford to give to your campaign,” Landquist said. “And I said, ‘I understand that. I want you to pay your bills, and I want you to be able to afford to give to your favorite charity, because they're hurting, too. In the end, what matters is you filling in that oval next to my name.' ”
Landquist said she received support from Missoula County Democrats, including a $200 donation. Jim Dayton passed her literature out in his door-to-door campaigning, and others distributed fliers around their own neighborhoods.
But she didn't ask for a lot of help from her party.
“Most of them had their own campaigns to run. I felt if I started leaning on them and asking them for a lot of help, then people would see nothing but the party,” she said. “I didn't want them to pick the party.”
Instead, she stressed her roots outside the city of Missoula and the fresh perspective that allowed.
Anderson thinks Landquist's party affiliation had everything to do with her victory.
“We knew going into this race that there were two big issues,” he said. “One was going to be the presidential campaign and all the money coming into the area, and the folks who would vote a straight Democratic ticket.”
That's primarily what happened in 2006, when Democrat Jon Tester defeated incumbent Conrad Burns for the U.S. Senate, Anderson said. This time, Anderson believes the Democrats' money was targeted at absentee voters.
When the first batch of absentee votes was released Tuesday night, Landquist already led by 3,500 votes.
“I was just never able to make it up,” Anderson said.
Landquist gained an extra 3,000-vote margin when another 6,700 absentee votes from outer precincts were counted late Tuesday.
Though he hasn't seen a precinct breakdown, Anderson said he'd be surprised if he lost ground outside the city of Missoula. He has been the commission's primary liaison with community councils around the county, and with the people in the Frenchtown area who were successful in getting voter approval to form the West Valley Community Council.
“I think I had a lot of support from folks who realized I was out there listening to what they had to say,” he said.
Anderson was handpicked by longtime commissioner Barbara Evans to succeed her when Evans stepped down in August 2007. That raised eyebrows and, speculated Erickson, may have been in some people's minds when they entered the voting booth.
Evans was Anderson's campaign treasurer and was surprised at Landquist's solid victory.
“I really think being a Democrat in this particular election was an advantage,” she said.
Landquist's political experience is limited largely to local issues in Lolo, which is a matter of concern to county officials.
“One of the reasons I think Larry fit well here was he understood local government,” commission chairwoman Jean Curtiss said. “Folks don't understand there are a lot of issues we have limited power to address.”
“It's a learning experience from Day One until the last day, because nothing's ever exactly the same,” said Evans, who added she hopes Landquist takes the seven weeks or so before she's sworn in to get to know the staff she'll be working with.
Ryan Morton isn't familiar with Landquist - yet. As the community affairs director for the Missoula Building Industry Association, he has frequent dealings with the commission.
“I'm going to have to get to know her and see where she's coming from on development issues,” he said.
Morton said he and fellow builders respect Anderson.
“Certainly Larry has been an asset in terms of having a balanced voice, and being able to listen to everyone's point of view,” Morton said. “I imagine a lot of people are upset, but just because Michele's not Larry doesn't mean we can't work with her.”
Landquist said she has kept a constant eye on courthouse doings, by attending meetings and watching them on MCAT. She said Wednesday she has already received invitations “from various groups who want to get me up to speed on the issues important to them.”
In December, she'll take a training program offered commissioners-to-be by the Montana Association of Counties.
And on Jan. 1, 2009, she'll join Curtiss and Bill Carey in the hot seat.
“This is something I've wanted to do for a very long time,” she said.
Anderson, who lost to Erickson in a race for the state senate six years ago, said he's unsure what he'll do next, but it won't involve running for office.
“I don't have any intention of doing anything political anymore,” he said. “I just gave it a shot and I came up short and I'll go do something else.”
“It was surprising because Larry put on a good campaign and he's done a good job for the county,” Evans said. “But you know, the public has the right to say, and they said.”
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Don wrote on Nov 6, 2008 7:07 AM:
" Not necessarily the best person for the job. She won because of the Democratic Blitz. "
J.D. wrote on Nov 6, 2008 2:12 PM:
" Landquist has had a personal agenda for some time - like the gravel plant suggested for Lolo - and is probably the reason she ran for office. She will find though that being a commissioner for the entire county will provide little time for her hobby issues. I wish her luck though. "
fred wrote on Nov 6, 2008 3:48 AM: