Brian Schweitzer vs. Steve Daines

[TML]

As you may remember, Brian Schweitzer declined to run for either House or Senate after he was term-limited out of the Montana gubernatorial office in 2012.

A review of historical races around that time reveals that if Schweitzer wanted, he could have challenged Daines in 2012 (for House) and/or in 2014 (for Senate). Could he have succeeded in blocking Daines in either of those years?

[If my soul was made of stone]

2012 could've been quite possible given how well Bullock and Tester outperformed the top of the ticket, but the sheer nationalized malaise of 2014, especially for a much more significant office, would've probably been a bridge too far even in a state as notorious for localized politics as Montana, especially since he'd already been out of office for a while by then.