CHOTEAU -- The sixty or so Democrats gathered here at a recent candidate forum had emptied several bowls of potluck potato salad and finished off all the barbecue beef sandwiches when it happened.

Jon Tester, the Big Sandy farmer, president of the state Senate, and outspent challenger to U.S. Senate candidate John Morrison, made his first public mention of Morrison's extramarital affair.

"I've got the ethical qualifications to take out Conrad Burns in November," Tester said.

The line was tacked on to the end of Tester's regular stump speech. It was oblique, but the Teton County Democrats didn't miss it.

They cheered heartily.

In a campaign in which the Democrats began beating on incumbent Republican Sen. Conrad Burns months ago for his ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, it was a line some Democrats must have been relieved to hear.

Tester refused to go into greater detail about Morrison's ethical problems. Perhaps, that's because he doesn't have to. The story has already appeared in newspapers around the state: Morrison, while serving his first term as state auditor, had to call in a special prosecutor to handle a fraud case that involved a man close to a woman with whom Morrison had once had an extramarital affair.

The political shorthand now comes down to this: In a campaign defined thus far by Burns' involvement in the Abramoff lobbying scandal, can a Democrat with an ethical liability of his own defeat Burns?

Unseating Burns is not the only reason he's running for Senate, Tester said. It's not even one of the top reasons.

Tester is running because Big Sandy public schools used to need three bus routes to pick up all the farm kids; now the farm kids barely fill up one. Working families used to have a shot at being middle class; now they're treading water.

Tester is running because a couple of weeks ago a single mom called him up. "She's a Big Sandy girl," he said. Her daughter survived childhood brain cancer and now requires shots that cost $6,400 a year.

Insurance doesn't cover it.

"When I think about prescription drugs, those are the kinds of faces that pop into my mind," said Tester.

Jon Tester was born in Big Sandy, a town of 710 straddling State Highway 87 about a half hour's drive south of Havre.

He grew up in a little yellow house 12 miles west of town. Tester's dad farmed the same land his grandfather homesteaded and Tester grew up, the youngest of three boys, knowing that one day he would plant the same ground.

An old red four-wheeler sits next to a planter of plastic flowers in front the Testers' white farmhouse. Standing at their back porch, Sharla Tester, his wife of 28 years, scans the fields looking for Tester's tractor. He's been planting since 7 a.m. Now, it's two in the afternoon and they've got to hit the road to make a campaign stop.

The Testers farm about 2,000 acres of dryland, high prairie. Beyond the farm is town, beyond town is the Big Sandy River, and beyond that are the Bear Paw Mountains.

Sharla tries calling Tester on his cell phone. It's a crap shoot as he only gets reception when the tractor is headed south. No answer. Soon, though, he's running up the stairs in dirty work boots and jeans, headed for a quick shower, a change into something a bit more senatorial and they're off.

People who know almost nothing about Jon Tester, generally know two things: He's the politician with the flat-top haircut, and he's the one missing some fingers.

Tester's folks butchered meat to help pay the bills. The summer Tester was 9 years old, he inadvertently fed his hand into the grinder, cutting off the index, middle and ring fingers of his left hand.

(Tester himself butchered meat on the very same grinder until 1998 when he ran for the state Senate.)

Despite missing fingers, Tester played the trumpet throughout his childhood and graduated with a music degree from the University of Great Falls in 1978. Tester met Sharla in his sophomore year. She was 18, originally from Box Elder. Their parents went to the same church.

"We met at a church youth function," Tester said, while barreling down the highway in the 1995 white Cadillac he bought from his mom a few years ago on his way to the Choteau forum.

They married the Labor Day of his senior year and headed back to Big Sandy after graduation. The Testers took over the farm and Jon worked part-time teaching music at Big Sandy elementary.

Their daughter, Christine, arrived in 1980; son, Shon, was born in 1985.

Shon was the second to last baby born in Big Sandy, Sharla said.

It was around then that the Testers converted a piece of their three-generation wheat and barley farm to an organic operation.

Within a few years, they had converted the entire place.

Organic agriculture suits them, Tester said. They get paid a little bit more and they grow a crop people are happy to buy.

He is not, however, an organic elitist. Tester likes to quote a friend from Fort Benton: "There's as many different ways to farm as there are farmers."

Tester's agriculture roots were not lost on the audience at the Choteau forum.

"I think we need someone who really understands agriculture," said Christopher Stephens, a Dutton farmer wearing a "Tester" sticker on his shirt as he chatted with others waiting for the speeches to begin.

In 1998, Tester ran for the state Senate, winning in a traditionally Republican district. In 2003, Tester became leader of all the Senate Democrats and in 2005, with the Democratic takeover, he became Senate president.

As Senate president, Tester sponsored two successful bills encouraging wind energy, and he sponsored the bill that created Montana's prescription drug program, Big Sky Rx. The program pays the cost of prescription medicine co-pays for low-income seniors enrolled in Medicare's controversial Part D prescription drug coverage. Tester also sponsored a successful bill to restore the "Made-In-Montana" program, which provides help and, yes, stickers to Montana craftspeople and manufacturers.

Health care is a top priority, Tester said. He favors expanding the existing public health insurance program for the children of poor and working-class parents to all children, regardless of income. Just think of the money parents would save, Tester said, to say nothing of the healthier adults America would have when those kids grow up and better quality of life for kids today.

The price of health care is not only a problem for America's 40 million uninsured, Tester said, it's also hanging around the neck of American businesses. America is losing manufacturing jobs to neighboring Canada, he said, because employers there don't have to pay health insurance benefits. Canada has universal health care.

Tester also believes the country need to rethink its energy portfolio and get away from its dependence on Middle Eastern oil. He talks about a change that can start small: more clean wind power, more farmers planting oil seeds that can be used as fuels, more ethanol.

He calls the war in Iraq "a mistake."

"We're seen as an occupier," he said.

America needs to quickly begin working on an endgame, one that stabilizes Iraq and brings Americans home.

It's got to be a plan, Tester said, "that makes sense and won't turn the entire Middle East on its ear."

People in Big Sandy, where everybody knows everybody, like Tester.

"If I had to put it in one word, he's a stand-up guy," said Dave Louvar, owner of the Big Sandy grocery store. "I think highly of him. He's a small-town guy."

But being a good guy doesn't guarantee success, said Craig Wilson, a Montana State University Billings political science professor.

Tester's campaign had for months been lackluster.

"You just wonder if he's running enough of a campaign," Wilson said. A lot of people still don't know who Tester is and the primary is just weeks away.

Thanks to a Pearl Jam benefit concert in the summer of 2005, Tester has a large and organized base in Missoula. But Wilson said he has much less in Yellowstone County -- the state's largest.

"He needs a little more balanced statewide organization," Wilson said.

Morrison, on the other hand, has already run two statewide campaigns and has more name recognition and money. At first blush, Wilson said, Tester casts a kind of classic Montana political profile.

But Tester's campaign has failed so far to differentiate the candidate from Morrison, Wilson said. And it's failed to let people know who Tester is.

Tester's work in the Montana Legislature is not a guarantee that people outside Helena and Tester's own district have heard his name before, much less know what Tester stands for.

"He can't work every room in Montana," Wilson said.

For his part, Tester said the campaign is following the plan they sketched out months ago, and he thinks they're right on target.

It's nearing midnight when the Testers turn off the highway and onto the narrow dirt road that leads home. Tomorrow will be a lot like today: planting, politicking and driving well into the night.

Name: Jon Tester.

Office sought: U.S. Senate.

Salary: $165,200.

Political party: Democrat.

Age: 49

Birthdate and place: Aug. 21, 1956, in Havre.

Home: Twelve miles east of Big Sandy.

Occupation: Farmer.

Family: Wife, Sharla, daughter, Christine, 26, son, Shon, 21, son-in-law, James Schultz, granddaughter, Kilikina, 22 months.

Education: Graduated from Big Sandy High School, 1974, Big Sandy, bachelor's of science degree in music, endorsement in K-12 education, The University of Great Falls, 1978.

Past employment: Part-time elementary music teacher, Big Sandy public schools 1978-1980; farmer 1978-present; worked on family farm beginning in childhood.

Military: None.

Political experience: Served on the Big Sandy Soil Conversation District; Big Sandy school board 1983-1992, chairman from 1986-1991; Choteau County Farm Service Agency, 1990-1995; elected to the State Senate 1998; re-elected 2002.

Campaign Web site: www.testerforsenate.com.

Tester on the Issues

What should the U.S. strategy be in the war in Iraq? "I fully support our troops in Iraq and the War on Terror. But the United States cannot afford an open-ended commitment in Iraq either fiscally or in terms of losing American lives. The president must craft a plan to bring our troops home as soon as possible. We've captured Saddam Hussein and Iraq has had democratic elections. It's time to craft a firm plan to bring our troops home while maintaining stability in the region."

Many Montanans and American are concerned about good-paying jobs shipped overseas. Do you think this is a problem? Why or why not? What, if anything, should the government do about it? "As a farmer, you better believe that it's a problem. The current market is just plain unfair. The United States has been pushing us into free trade agreements that have been hurting Montana workers and Montana farmers, and resulting in the outsourcing of jobs. We need to be engaging in fair trade so that everybody is playing on a level field. This is an issue I'll work hard on because it's important to Montana and it personally hits home with me."

What do you think the government should do to curb the effects of global warming? How great a problem do you think global warming is? Should the United States join the Kyoto Treaty protocol? "America needs to put an emphasis on renewable energy. In the last legislative session, I carried the bill that now requires Montana utilities to use renewable energy, like wind, to cut costs and cut our addiction to foreign oil. That will also create jobs in rural communities. I want to implement this policy on the national level. In the Legislature in 2005, we also promoted the use of ethanol and biodiesel, something we also can do more of on the national level. These policies help cut pollution and slow global warming, create jobs in rural states, decentralize energy production and strengthen our national security. America should join the international community in committing itself to reducing pollution. Signing a treaty won't end pollution. That's why America must lead by example. We can be a leader in producing clean, renewable energy that improves our health, environment, economy and strengthens our national security. And we can help other countries do the same. That's just good-old common sense."

What, if anything, is wrong with America's energy policy? What would you do to change it? What steps should the federal government take to move the country toward energy independence? "First off, I've always opposed energy deregulation, which hurt Montana consumers, businesses and workers. Our national energy policy is based on what is profitable for Big Oil and not based on what is good for America and Montana. Working with Governor Schweitzer and Montana lawmakers, I took the lead in passing a bill that requires utilities to put renewable energy, like wind, in their energy portfolios. That kind of policy can be transferred to the federal level to cut our addiction to fossil fuels and foreign oil. Just drive through Judith Gap and you can see the future of our energy policy -- harnessing the wind to create power and to create jobs. Like we did in the 2005 Montana Legislature, we should also promote the use of ethanol and bio-diesel. These are fuels we can grow right here in Montana to boost our economy and enhance our national security."

What is your view of the current federal budget deficit? How would you balance the federal budget? Would you extend the Bush tax cuts? Why? "If my wife and I managed our farm and small business the way this government manages its money, we'd have been broke years ago. We can't keep spending using our credit card and racking up trillions of dollars in debt that we will place on our children and grandchildren. When I was president of the Montana Senate, we managed to invest in Montana while balancing the budget -- and cutting taxes for small business. We simply lived within our means. We did so because we picked our priorities -- jobs, education, health care, energy, access to public lands - and made sure we took care of our children and elderly first. That must happen at the federal level. This administration's priority is creating giveaways to Washington lobbyists and big corporations and Big Oil. Those priorities are the wrong priorities for Montana and America. The Bush administration's tax cuts for the rich hurt the middle class and less fortunate in our society -- including children and the elderly. I would not extend Bush's tax cuts for the rich and I would provide real tax cuts to the middle class. Working American families are the true backbone of this country and deserve a real tax cut for a change."

What specific changes do you favor in the ethics laws governing members of Congress and lobbyists? "There is no doubt that Congress has a serious ethics problem. I have the integrity and the honest leadership to help break the culture of corruption and pay-to-play system that has lined Conrad Burns' pockets with cash and bought favors for lobbyists like Jack Abramoff. We won't have a revolving door in my office. I won't accept lunches, gifts, or travel and Montanans will have immediate, full disclosure with everyone I meet with. Montana's open meetings law spreads sunshine throughout our state's government and ensures full accountability. We must bring that same type of Montana thinking to Congress. And I want to say that I am the best candidate to go toe-to-toe with Conrad Burns on his ethical problems. In Montana, your handshake and your word count. Montanans want honest leaders they can trust to do the right thing for all Montanans and Americans and avoid conflicts of interest."

Name one thing the Bush administration has done right. Name one major disagreement you have with the Bush administration. "The administration was right to invade Afghanistan and break up the Al-Qaeda network. I fully support the War on Terror and cracking down on terrorists around the world that threaten our national security and the security of the free world. I disagree with the administration's massive invasion of individual privacy and its unwillingness to put together a plan to bring our troops home from Iraq."

Should the government push us toward universal health insurance? Why or why not? "There is no doubt that our healthcare system is broken and needs fundamental change. I have four principles for health care by which I measure any plan to fix it:

"Health care must be affordable for all Montanans and Americans. It must guarantee families the choice of doctors and plans. It must control costs. And it must emphasize prevention to improve health and control costs.

"The bottom line is to make sure that all Montanans and Americans have access to affordable, quality health care because that's good for our health and makes good economic sense. I've also been an advocate of extending the successful Children's Health Insurance Program to all children under 18. We also must fix the Medicare prescription drug program by allowing the government to negotiate drug prices with big pharmaceutical companies to control costs. We must extend that program's signup deadline, simplify the Medicare Rx program and provide more resources for counselors to help seniors make wise drug program choices."

Personality Questions:

Tell us something about yourself that would surprise people. Despite missing three fingers on his left hand, Tester can play the piano. "The people in church were shocked," said Sharla Tester, of the first time Tester played in church.

What are your greatest strength and greatest weakness? Greatest strength: loyalty to family and friends. Greatest weakness: buying and fixing old cars with his son.

What was the first and the worst job you've had. Tester began helping his folks on the farm when he was a kid, so farming was probably the first job he ever had. As for the worst, Tester said two come to mind: Cleaning up manure in a chicken coop and shoveling out rotten grain from a silo.

What book are you currently reading (other than the Bible)? "Don't Think of an Elephant," by George Lakoff.

Favorite CD? Tester, a lifetime trumpet player, said he likes "all those old trumpet players," and country-western trio, The Dixie Chicks.

Favorite movie? "Shawshank Redemption."

Favorite TV program? "The Daily Show," with Jon Stewart and he's always up for a ball game on TV.

Favorite sports team? Minnesota Twins.

Hobbies? Farming, softball music, basketball, refereeing sports games.

What political or historical figure do you most admire? Theodore Roosevelt.

Do you play a musical instrument? Yes. Trumpet.

Where do you go to re-charge your batteries? Tester said he goes to his farm, which is also where he lives.

How much money did you give to charity last year? To what charities? "Last year, we spent most of what was left at the end of the day on my U.S. Senate campaign. We usually give money to church-associated charities."

What do you volunteer to give back to your community? "I have served my community through the Soil Conservation Service, Farm Services Agency, local school board and softball association."

Have you ever been without health insurance? The Testers were without health insurance from 1980-1986, a period that included the birth of their son, Shon.

Have you ever been arrested and convicted of a crime? No.