Kranz Watch

David Kranz, the dean of South Dakota political reporters, who has been Tom Daschle's most rabid partisan supporter in his columns since their college days together in 1968, delivers another such column today. Perhaps it's about time to release another "Bombshell Memo" that indisputably documents Kranz to have actively worked behind the scenes to promote Democratic political figures in this state. Today, Kranz offers a few items for us to digest that are patronizing toward John Thune. First there's this:

Thune was perceived as timid and uncomfortable in his race against Sen. Tim Johnson in 2002, often short of the emotion needed to make a convincing point.

In his race against Sen. Tom Daschle, he has adopted a bulldog style that commands attention - evident at their DakotaFest and "Meet the Press" debates.

Some say he probably went to school to sharpen his tone.

As DVT notes, the "some" Kranz refers to are Kranz's sources in the Daschle campaign.

The next item in Kranz's column is a snippet from the National Journal's Chuck Todd about Daschle "scoring more points" than Thune at last Sunday's Meet the Press debate:

Chuck Todd assessed the Daschle-Thune Senate race last week for the National Journal.

He writes: "We never really understood why Daschle agreed to the 'Meet the Press' debate since it seems he had everything to lose and nothing to gain. Then again we saw what times the show airs in South Dakota - 8 a.m. in the two big markets - and realized very few folks would see it.

"That said, from our perspective, we thought Daschle scored more points than Thune. As noted above, Thune got off a good line about Daschle and his use of Bush. But on some other topics, particularly on the issue of the gas tax, we thought Daschle came out in better shape and fairly unscathed."

Interestingly, earlier this week the Daschle campaign's website was making a big deal out of this item from Chuck Todd. (See the Daschle Digest item dated Wednesday, September 22.)

Unfortunately, CNN still takes Kranz seriously, despite him obviously being in the tank for Daschle. Kranz appeared on CNN's "Capital Gang" last night to discuss the Daschle v. Thune race. Relevant excerpt from the transcript:

SHIELDS: Welcome back.

In South Dakota, Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle faces a serious challenge from former Republican Congressman John Thune.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TOM DASCHLE (D-SD), MINORITY LEADER: Tonight, the president has called us again to greatness. And tonight, we answer that call.

ANNOUNCER: Senator Daschle helped forge a consensus to rebuild our military.

JOHN THUNE (R), SOUTH DAKOTA SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: For years, Tom Daschle has been telling us one thing here in South Dakota and then doing the opposite in Washington. He says he's fought for lower energy prices, but he hasn't.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHIELDS: The candidates met in debate for the first time on NBC's "Meet the Press" this last Sunday. And the Republican attacked the Democratic leader's criticism of the Iraq war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THUNE: What it does is emboldens our enemies and undermines the morale of our troops.

DASCHLE: I take this personally. It's not only an attack on me, it's an attack on where I'm from.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHIELDS: A new poll by the "Argus Leader" and KELO TV shows a five-point Daschle lead, compared with a two-point lead in May. Joining us from Chicago is David Kranz, political columnist of the Sioux Falls "Argus Leader."

David, how do you explain this apparent improvement in Senator Daschle's poll numbers?

DAVID KRANZ, SIOUX FALLS "ARGUS LEADER": Well, there's a couple of things you can look at. Really, the race is really starting to intensify in the middle of August, and one of the things that happened was a more aggressive, more pointed campaign by former Congressman Thune. And one of the things I can tell you about our poll that showed up -- I'm not at the liberty of telling you the exact numbers, but Mr. Thune's negatives went up quite substantially compared to last time. And so it may be somewhat of a backlash in that particular situation. You also had the "Meet the Press" debate that may or may not moved some of the numbers some.

SHIELDS: Bob Novak.

NOVAK: Tell us about that, David. Do you think that the position taken by -- by Mr. Thune on the "Meet the Press" debate hurt him? A lot of people thought that the -- the weepy performance by Senator Daschle was a little ridiculous, but do you think it went over in South Dakota?

KRANZ: You know, the reaction to that was kind of like we are in the country today, or in the Senate, when you vote in South Dakota. It was kind of a 50-50 response.

You heard a lot of people saying that that was over the top as far as Mr. Thune was concerned. And other people said, well, Daschle needs to be accountable.

I do know some people who are not in the Thune campaign who wished he wouldn't have said it, though, because it's something for them to deal with that they weren't anticipating.

SHIELDS: Kate O'Beirne.

O'BEIRNE: David, in 1998, Tom Daschle won reelection with 62 percent of the vote. I was intrigued that during that "Meet the Press" appearance, the clip we showed, he seems to think it's necessary to make any criticism of him look like a criticism of South Dakota. Is he so unsure of his own popularity six years after that big win that it's now an attack on South Dakota if you're opposed to Tom Daschle.

KRANZ: That does seem to be one of his messages. And, of course, Mr. Thune is using sort of as a theme that he's a leader and Senator Daschle portrays himself as a victim.

So that's going to be part of that campaign as it intensifies when we're near the finish line. But I think Daschle knows he's in the race of his life right here now. And right now I think when he speaks out he tries to protect South Dakota a lot. And I think that's what he really is intending to do by that approach.

SHIELDS: Al Hunt.

HUNT: David, John Thune a couple of weeks ago, gay marriage was going to be his big issues. And then he turned to terrorism. And now it's the question of Daschle emboldening our enemies.

Is he just desperately searching around for something? Because right now, with -- with, what, only five weeks to go, most people seem to have made up their minds. KRANZ: I think that's true. You really see a lot of rock-solid support on both sides. There's not a lot of undecideds left in this race.

And Mr. Thune's approach, I think he's more taking a nationalized approach to his campaign, discussing national issues that he thinks will resonate with South Dakota voters, while Senator Daschle is localizing his campaign, talking more about "what I did for you," you know, in Brule County, or "what I did for you" elsewhere in Sioux Falls. And he's trying to keep it local, saying this is where I've exercised by clout.

SHIELDS: David, looking at the race, the last time Tom Daschle ran in the presidential cycle it was 1992. And I'm trying to figure out who are the Bush-Daschle voters? Have you figured that out in this campaign?

KRANZ: The Bush-Daschle voters are people who basically look at the big picture nationally, because we generally always vote for the Republican for president. Like three times in our history we voted for a Democrat. But the bottom line is they like, you know, the conservative leadership of the president. But the people who look at Daschle say, "Gee whiz, you know, he can get things done for us. He can deliver for us."

And I think that's a big issue right now that gives him an advantage. And it's surprising with almost 20 percent of the Republican voters consistently are supporting Daschle.

SHIELDS: OK. Hey, David Kranz, thank you so much for being with us.