Max headroom

Call this instant karma. In the angry minutes after the Senate defied the will of 90 percent of the American people and blocked a common-sense gun background provision, I saw a lot of that ire focused on one man, Montana Democratic Sen. Max Baucus, who was up for re-election in 2014 and whose vote against gun sanity felt like a major betrayal. (I think my Dad was on the brink of moving to Montana just so he could vote against Baucus). Well, this may be the ultimate case of, be careful what you wish for.

WASHINGTON - Democratic Sen. Max Baucus, the powerful Senate Finance chairman who steered President Barack Obama's health care overhaul into law but broke with his party on gun control, said Tuesday he will not run for re-election.

"I don't want to die here with my boots on. There is life beyond Congress," the 71-year-old Baucus said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

So could this actually mean one more vote for background checks, assuming that's still on the table in 2015?. Maybe. As far as Montana Democrats go, all eyes are on the popular ex-governor Brian Schweitzer (so popular that he's thinking about running for the White House). Where's he at, on guns?

As a Democrat from a gun-owning state, he's in favor of background checks while also saying he has "more [guns] than I need and less than I want." When asked how many and what kinds of guns he owns, he responded, "None of your damn business."

Yup, that's the best that liberals could get out of a state like Montana. Is the glass half-empty or half-full? I can't keep track anymore.