President Barack Obama's climate change plan to cut carbon-dioxide emissions puts pressure on the one Democratic governor in a coal-producing state seeking re-election next year, Montana's Steve Bullock.
The Obama plan puts a big target on Bullock's back as he tries to avoid the fate of other Democrats tossed on the slag heap in the nation's coal belt.
Most recently, the emissions cuts were an issue in this month's Kentucky gubernatorial election. Democratic Attorney General Jack Conway lost to Republican Matt Bevin, despite Conway joining a 27-state lawsuit seeking to block the Obama rule.
Carroll College political scientist Jeremy Johnson says the Obama plan may be the single biggest threat to Bullock's chances of re-election.
Bullock says the plan is unfair because it imposes bigger cuts on Montana than any other state. But he says the state must comply.
