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Democrats are nothing if not exceedingly inventive in their efforts to retain or regain power – up to and including pretending they aren’t Democrats at all.

Of course, it’s not unusual for Democrats to back away from the more extreme examples of their party’s extremism such as Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed. His embrace by the even more extreme Hasan Piker, for instance, resulted in some Democratic politicians withholding their endorsement. Likewise, candidates in closely contested House races are shying away from inviting Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from appearing with them on the campaign trail despite her national popularity.

In those cases, of course, they aren’t disowning the Democratic Party brand, just keeping their mouths shut about why that brand is poisonous to a large number of voters.

But this election cycle has seen something new – Democrats in red states who are convinced the best way to beat Republicans (and gain control of the U.S. Senate) is for Democrats to get out of the way and let so-called independents run in their place.

The first I heard of this new technique was when it surfaced last winter in my home state of Montana. Former Democratic Sen. Jon Tester recruited Seth Bodnar, president of the University of Montana, to run as an independent against Republican Kurt Alme, who became the de facto GOP candidate when Sen. Steve Daines withdrew from the race minutes before the filing deadline passed. It made sense in a way. After all, Tester was the last Democrat to win statewide office in Montana, and that was all the way back in 2018.

Of course Tester isn’t going to support an independent who votes like a Republican. And you can expect most independents supported by Democrats to caucus with the Democratic Party if they get elected. Bodnar says he will be an exception, but if he did refuse to caucus with either party he might very well miss out on important committee assignments, which are controlled by the two major parties. Not a big selling point to Montana voters if they want their voices heard in Congress.

It wasn’t till after Montana’s June primary had come and gone that I learned our state is not alone in this peculiar gambit of........

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