A Tester supporter at a 2006 campaign rally.

Tester, Nelson and Lieberman are all considering opposing the jobs bill providing state aid for hiring teachers, fire-fighters and cops.

Lieberman, well, Lieberman: "When you look at the president's jobs act, even if you break it into bite-size pieces, it's spending money we don't have, and you've got to raise taxes to pay for it, and to me, all that just makes the job of the debt reduction committee … even harder." Yep, with us on everything but the war.

Nelson's opposed because he's Nelson, rather incoherently arguing, "If I didn't think much of it on the one thing, you've got to assume that I won't think much of it for something else." What he means is no new taxes.

Tester says, "I've got more of a concern about a state aid package and what it’s going to do and how the money is going to spent and whether it's really going to create jobs." Here's some suggested reading from Matt Yglesias for to answer that concern. First, a picture, showing the downward trend for employment just among educators.

Imagine a world where unemployment is low and wages are rising. In a world like that, teachers who get laid off would get new jobs quickly. Private firms, after all, would be looking to expand but they’re having trouble finding workers. In the real world, unemployment is high and wages are flat so this doesn’t happen. Instead the teacher’s family just faces an immediate need to restrain spending. Defer any purchases of durable goods, stop eating at restaurants, don’t update the wardrobe this season, etc. So now there’s a drag on employment of cooks and waitresses, of clothing retailers, of truck drivers, of guys who install refrigerators, and so forth.

Tester says he's concerned whether this bill will actually create jobs. Well, how about as Yglesias correctly argues, not actually losing more jobs because of lack of demand for goods and services because of high unemployment, particularly among teachers and other public employees? This ain't rocket science. They're not spending their money supporting local businesses if they don't have money to spend.

The question for Tester is why he wants to be lumped in with these two on an issue as critical as getting people back to work? There's also a key reminder for Tester, with reelection looming, embodied in that picture up top: Having the fire-fighters on your side is really smart politics in Montana.