The Daily Dish mentioned a "news snippet" about the Montana governor's race, which led back through The Lost Ogle not to a news snippet, but to FallinFail, a site presumably opposing Republican candidate Mary Fallin.

Yesterday the Jim Thorpe Museum was host to the annual President’s Forum, a gathering of University and College Presidents, the Board of Regents, and a handful of other dignitaries and invited guests.  Speaking before this distinguished audience were the two candidates for governor, Lieutenant Governor Jari Askins, and Congresswoman Mary Fallin.  The format for the event was that Fallin would first deliver remarks, then take questions, and then Askins would do the same.

However, just before she was to begin, Fallin made a strange request of the event organizers; she didn’t want the Lieutenant Governor in the room while she spoke.  Nor did she want any of Jari’s staff in the room.  In fact, she even scanned the room for faces that might be unfriendly, to see who else she should have ejected.  Apparently she didn’t like the look on State Senator Mike Morgan’s face, because she told the event organizers she would not take the podium until he had left the room.

FallinFail complains about this strange behavior and Sullivan frames it as a Palin-like maneuver. But the one news article (that I could find) that mentions the event says it was agreed to in advance by both sides.

Former Oklahoma Senate leader asked to leave Fallin speech

Alex Weintz, communications director for Fallin's campaign, said both sides had agreed that no campaign operatives would be in the room when the candidates spoke separately. The purpose was to avoid a candidate being set up.

"We've tried for the sake of both campaigns to establish some sort of ground rules so that everything's fair and you know, when you're meeting with a group, that you're meeting with a group in good faith and not just being set up for hostile questions which the other side captures on videotape," he said. "It just sort of makes the process easier and I think allows us and them to communicate their message and talk about why they're running for governor and not just constantly have to worry if they're being set up."

Weintz said both campaigns have an agreement that, when together at an appearance, they speak for the same amount of time and that the same questions are asked of each candidate. Fallin and Askins have appeared at several events together and have gotten along well; this was the first event in which the candidates spoke separately to the same group "which I think is why there was some confusion," Weintz said.

Sid Hudson, campaign manager for Askins, concurred the two campaigns have an agreement about joint appearances, but said he didn't realize there was a formal agreement when candidates spoke separately to the same group.

"I was kind of surprised," Hudson said. "I don't think that she (Fallin) said anything different than what she says in these kinds of events anyway."

If candidates are becoming so wary of having any potential flubs recorded and replayed that they are agreeing to orchestrate events to this degree, can we still call the reporting of such events, journalism?