This past Sunday, David Kranz, the dean of South Dakota political reporters, wrote a piece headlined "Politicos see no danger of Daschle losing clout." The piece had all of the markings of a collaborative effort between Kranz and the Daschle campaign to "deflate" the notion that Tom Dachle might not be selected to lead the Democrats should he win re-election (see DVT's thoughts on the piece). And, as night follows the day, it has been discovered today that Steve Hildebrand, Tom Daschle's campaign manager, has launched a mass fundraising e-mail citing Kranz' piece as third party "validation." Clearly, Kranz and Hildebrand think that the notion that Tom Daschle will not be re-elected to his leadership position is potentially very damaging, and that it needs to be squelched. The relevant text of Hildebrand's mass fundraising e-mail follows:
In recent weeks, John Thune and his supporters have been spreading the false idea that Tom Daschle may not remain as Leader when he is reelected.An article in Sunday's Argus Leader found there was absolutely no evidence to support Thune's claim. The Argus asked three national political analysts to comment on Thune's argument that Daschle would no longer be Leader; each of them said that Daschle would retain his position.
* Larry Sabato, Director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia: "Honestly, I don't hear a word about Daschle losing his position as minority leader. To the contrary, I think Daschle is in good shape
with his caucus."* Stu Rothenberg, Rothenberg Political Report: "I don't hear of any move afoot to push him aside. There is no anger about his leadership."
* Michael Barone, U.S. News & World Report: "I haven't heard anything to that effect."
To read the entire article, please click here: http://www.argusleader.com/news/Sundayarticle5.shtml
This pattern, where Kranz sets 'em up and Tom Daschle knocks 'em down, is not a new pattern. Karl Struble, Tom Daschle's media consultant, wrote a piece in 1997 for Campaigns and Elections magazine in which he admitted that this is precisely their strategy:
The press ate it up. Our campaign systematically doled out the information piece by piece to reporters in D.C. and South Dakota. The result was a series of damaging articles. ... We used the headlines generated as validators for our ads.
Clearly, the collaborative effort between Kranz and Hildebrand to deflate a potentially damaging argument is a classic example of the Struble strategy. The only difference is that now the Daschle campaign is using Kranz to play defense instead of offense.
Now, it might be asked, where would one possibly get the notion that Kranz is collaborating with the Daschle campaign? It has long been suspected by this writer that David Kranz has collaborated with Democratic politicians in South Dakota, past and present, to influence the news in a way that tends to cast Democratic politicians in a positive light, and Republican politicians in a negative light. Today it can be revealed that this writer's worst fears have been corroborated. This writer has discovered an internal Senate office memo in the Abourezk papers, an archive held in the I.D. Weeks Library at the University of South Dakota, that details Kranz' collaboration with Senator Jim Abourezk's staff while Kranz was the managing editor for the Mitchell Daily Republic in 1976. The memo, dated 10/15/1976, and found in Box 1022 of the archive, is a "Weekly Report" from an Abourezk staffer based in Mitchell at the time to his bosses in Washington, DC. The relevant text from the memo follows:
The Mitchell Daily Republic has given Jim [Abourezk] good coverage the last few weeks, usually run the releases on front page in "News Briefs". (Roberta will confirm that statement) Managing Editor is Dave Kranz, 30, formally of Austin Minn, and Watertown S.D. Went to SDSU (Mu U. with Tom D. and Tom Klinkel) Very much a strong Demo. and have been attending county demo. functions together. If Ron or Al can provide him with good info. on whats happening in D.C. it would be a good venture. He received one call from Ron this week. Thanks Ron...
(Emphasis added.) Deeper into the same memo, the following text can be found:
NWPS-Dave Kranz of paper is checking out some of the local biggees in Mitchell to see how much support we have to do something.
In handwriting, scrawled at the bottom of the document, the memo states the following:
Mitchell paper is going to expose [Republican Senator Jim] Abdnor on rating by National Alliance of S. Citizens next week, Info I called Grace's office on.
You can access a pdf copy of the original document HERE. "Tom D." of course, is Tom Daschle, who was Senator Abourezk's staffer at that time. Tom Klinkel was Tom Daschle's brother-in-law at the time (Daschle has since divorced and re-married).
Can there really be any doubt, in light of David Kranz' documented collaboration with Senator Jim Abourezk's staff, that he is doing precisely the same thing today with Tom Daschle's campaign? Can there really be any doubt that Kranz has told the Daschle people that "it would be a good venture" to "provide him with good info?" Can there really be any doubt that Kranz is doing investigatory work on behalf of the Daschle campaign, in light of the fact that he did investigatory work on behalf of Abourezk "to see how much support we have to do something?" And the thing is, "beyond a reasonable doubt" is not the standard to apply to David Kranz. "Beyond a reasonable doubt" is a standard that is only applicable in a criminal proceeding where one's life or freedom is at stake. The standard to determine whether Kranz can be an impartial journalist covering Tom Daschle today is the reasonableness standard: would an ordinarily prudent person believe that Kranz could not be impartial. For more discussion of the reasonableness standard click HERE and HERE.
Throughout his long career as a political journalist in South Dakota, it has been suspected that David Kranz has been engaging in precisely the kind of activity the Abourezk memo documents. Jeff Gannon, resident DC expert on South Dakota politics, detailed Kranz' collaboration with Tom Daschle in 1968 at SDSU. Sibby Online uncovered a 1983 farewell piece written by Kranz in which Kranz addresses allegations of bias during his tenure at the Mitchell Daily Republic. Later, in 1986, the lieutenant governor of South Dakota wrote a piece for the Argus Leader excoriating Kranz for his Democratic bias. In 1990, the New York Times noted that the Democratic Senate candidate that year "seemed to take his campaign script from The Sioux Falls Argus Leader" a phenomenon observed this week with Kranz' piece and Hildebrand's subsequent mass e-mail. In 1990, Kranz was the managing editor of the AL, and a piece in Roll Call reported that it was Kranz who was behind the "hysterical bashing" of the Republican Senate candidate. In 1999, Senator Larry Pressler wrote a letter to the editor of the Argus Leader stating that Kranz is "my longtime nemesis.... He is a good writer, but intellectually flawed in that he lets his biases show through." Last summer, Jeff Gannon ran a series of articles revealing Kranz' bias. In January of this year, AL executive editor Randell Beck acknowledged the conventional wisdom that the AL is "in bed with Tom Daschle."
Two weeks ago, Randell Beck cited Kranz' "distinguished career" in a piece on journalism's role in elections. In light of today's revelations, it has become more obvious that a reasonably prudent person could conclude that Kranz cannot be impartial in covering the Daschle-Thune race. The press holds a preeminent place in democracy's deliberations. But there cannot be a full and fair opportunity for the people of South Dakota to deliberate when the gatekeeper of political information in South Dakota is collaborating with the Democrats.
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