IR State Bureau - 3/27/04

HELENA -- Only two statewide officeholders, Attorney General Mike McGrath and Supreme Court Justice John Warner, will run unopposed in the 2004 election.

McGrath is a Democrat seeking his second term as the state's chief legal and law enforcement officer.

Warner was appointed by Gov. Judy Martz to the Supreme Court last year and is required to run for election. Although Warner didn't land an opponent, voters will be asked on the general election ballot whether they want to retain him. When sitting judges run unopposed, voters are asked on the November ballot whether they want to keep them in office.

McGrath, a former longtime Lewis and Clark County attorney before his election as attorney general in 2000, said running without an opponent is ''very gratifying."

''In some respects, I'm a little disappointed because I look forward to going out and taking to the people of Montana about the kinds of things we're doing in the Department of Justice and where we want to go in the future," McGrath said Friday.

But he said he intends to travel extensively around the state anyway and ask Montanans for their support.

''I want to go out and talk to the voters and see what they want us to do as state officials," McGrath said. ''I think there's a reason that people are elected to statewide offices, and it is so you go out and listen to the people and communicate. You really do learn a lot by doing that."

He lost a general election bid for attorney general in 1988 and was an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for governor in 1992 before winning the attorney general's post in 2000.

Warner could not be reached for comment.