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At a campaign stop in Butte on Monday, Republican gubernatorial candidate Greg Gianforte spoke to "30 or 35" people at Metals sports bar, while about the same number picketed him outside.

"I was disappointed that more of the people out on the street didn’t come in. I think we’d be a lot better off if we had dialogue," Gianforte said in an interview afterward.

"We had a couple of union gentlemen come in and express their concerns," he said. "We had a good conversation."

The Uptown event was another in Gianforte's "regulation roundup," in which he has hopscotched across the state, "collecting examples of the regulations that give small business owners paper cuts," he said Monday. "We've been from Ekalaka to Eureka. We packed the bar at Two Dot, and we've been in Cut Bank, Conrad, Shelby and Wibaux."

"The message of more high-wage jobs is resonating," Gianforte said. "We need to make it easier for Montanans to start and grow small businesses so we can prosper again."

Outside, protesters young, elderly and in between waved placards in a stiff breeze, expressing sentiments like "You can't fool Butte," "Gianforte is too radical for Montana," and "Labor supports Bullock."

Gianforte was unperturbed.

"I'm not using any labels in this campaign," he said. "The fact Montana is 49th in the country in wages is not a Democrat issue and it's not a Republican issue. It's a Montana issue."

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