Baucus weds a third time

HELENA, Mont. – U.S. Sen. Max Baucus married his girlfriend in a small, casual ceremony Saturday evening at the historic Montana ranch run by his family.

The senator, 69, wed former state director Melodee Hanes, 54, in an event attended by family and close friends.

“We could not have asked for a more perfect day under the Big Sky to celebrate the beginning of our life together,” Baucus said in a statement to the Great Falls Tribune.

The senator’s spokeswoman, Kate Downen, told the Independent Record of Helena that it would be an outdoor ceremony near the hill where Baucus’ father, John, and his nephew, Philip, were buried. Philip Baucus was killed during combat in Iraq in 2006.

Baucus and his second wife, Wanda, divorced in 2009 after 25 years of marriage.