Too much Montennials, not enough Baby Boomery

From the dome to your home. Ramblings, mutterings, keen observations and things you ought to know out of Helena from the mind of Phil Drake.

MONTENNIALS? Sen. Jon Tester recently announced he is kicking off a statewide #Montennial Tour “to hear from Montana millennials about the issues that are important to them.”

If you’re like me and not quite sure who the millennials are, Investopedia.com tells me they are born between 1982-2004 and are the first generation born into the digital world of the internet and social media.

I was hoping it would be easier to spot them, like something out of Harry Potter where they’d have an M on their forehead instead of a lightning bolt.

Tester says his tour will hit college campuses, coffee shops and local businesses.

And he dubs Montana millennials #Montennials, which I find very clever. I don’t know if he or his staff came up with that, but it made me chuckle.

Tester, poking fun at his flat-top coiffure, said in a news release, “My haircut might scream 1950s, but I know that our country needs to make progress for the next generation, and what better way to do that than to cultivate millennials who can lead the way.”

He says he will meet with “#Montennials” throughout the state about college affordability, civil rights, access to health care, the economy, campaign finance reform and climate change.

“Any issue that they want to talk about, we will have the discussion,” he said.

He will have an online town hall 6-7 p.m. Nov. 30, where he will take questions from #Montennials via Facebook and Twitter.

I will update you with any local meetings.

AUDIT REQUESTED: Sen. Debby Barrett, R-Dillon, president of the Montana Senate, has requested legislative auditors to look into allegations of waste, fraud and abuse in the Public Health and Human Services department.

She cites reports from Lee Newspapers that ex-department staffers saying employees were discouraged from investigating questionable payments made by the state’s welfare program.

“It would be a failure on behalf of the legislative branch if we did not followup on those allegations with a thorough investigation,” she wrote.

DPPHS Director Richard Opper Told the Associated Press the request is politically motivated and without basis.

Barrett has asked the report be ready for the 65th legislative session, which begins in January.

JURAS PRUDENCE: Yikes! The candidates’ forum held Thursday by the Cascade County Bar Association turned out to be among the liveliest election events I have ever attended. Dirk Sandefur, running against Kristen Juras for Supreme Court seat No. 3 in the Nov. 8 election, launched a verbal attack on his opponent. And I thought she got grilled pretty good by some members of the audience. A colleague wished me good luck when I left the Tribune office to go the event. “I’m gonna leave my car running, just in case,” I muttered. I hope Ms. Juras did the same.

WALLET HUBBERY: I’ve got some shocking news for you: Montana is ranked 12th in a poll on the most powerful voters in the country.

WalletHub, a personal finance website, ranked the Treasure State high.

The top five states were Arizona, Iowa, Alaska, South Dakota and Ohio.

New Hampshire had the least powerful voters. That was followed by Nevada, Missouri, Indiana and North Carolina.

According to this study, we’re more powerful than New York, California, Wisconsin and New Jersey.

So how did Montana, which has three itty-bitty electoral votes, get ranked 12th?

WalletHub says on its website it graded each state election on a 100-point scale, with 100 points being awarded to the states with a 50 percent chance of swinging either Red or Blue (50-50) and 0 points to the states with zero chance of one party determining the election (100-0).

“We then multiplied the win probability score by the number of electors of a given state and divided the product by the state’s population aged 18 and older,” WalletHub says. “Finally, we multiplied the result by 1,000,000 in order to calculate the Presidential Election Voter Power Score for that state.”

Confused? So am I. But we’re No. 12. Take that, dumb ol’ No. 14 North Dakota!

You can read the study at http://bit.ly/2e4xzyi.

SPRINGS TO LIFE: If you haven’t been to White Sulphur Springs in a while, you may want to check it out.

The town has spruced up its main street and held a dedication last week to celebrate.

I’ve been to White Sulphur Springs three times and like it more every time I visit. I visited The Castle and toured the Tintina mine site. People tell me to take a side trip and stop at the Ringling Bar & Grill for the prime rib, which is on my “to-do” list.

RICKY DON’T LOSE THAT NUMBER: More and more I’ve noticed that businesses, people and other sources are removing telephone numbers from contact information and leaving email addresses. Increasing numbers of sources and website I call up force me to fill out a form to have someone answer my question. Lots of times they want me to pose my question/questions in print.

I usually get a response to my one question, making it a chore to type up follow-up questions. Seems like a control issue. All I know is that it hurts my reporting.

Most of the answers are sugary, with little depth. And my questions aren’t much better.

I suppose the emails work for some, as they can be accessed on phones.

Any suggestions? Should I email that I need a phone number to talk to someone?

Or is this just another sad turn of events in the digital age? Maybe I should ask a millennial.

DEBATE AFTERTHOUGHT: I watched all three presidential debates and thought Democrat Hillary Clinton handily won the first two, but Republican Donald Trump narrowly won the last. I thought Trump was more in control of himself; maybe moderator Chris Wallace had something to do with that. I also found the cutaways of Clinton grinning to be disturbing. I don’t think debates change people’s minds.

I also took note that CBS was showing “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” at 9 p.m., soon after the debate ended.

I thought 9 p.m. was too late for school kids to see it, but realized it’s probably Baby Boomers like me who watch that anyway.

And then I thought with Trump’s sometimes orange hue and Clinton’s jack-o’-lantern grin, I had sort of already sat through “It’s the Great Pumpkin.”

Dome Lights appears Sunday, unless the villagers catch me. Email me at pdrake@greatfallstribune.com or call 406-422-0772. I’m based in Helena. Mail me at P.O. Box 1601, Helena, MT 59624.