This past spring, prominent Native American journalist Tim Giago entered the Senate race as an independent. This development set off alarm bells in the Daschle camp, and Daschle frantically urged Giago to get out of the race, at one point calling him and asking him if he wanted to be South Dakota's Ralph Nader. Eventually, a meeting was held between the two, and Giago dropped out of the race, stating that in exchange for dropping out, “Every Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota will be shocked and surprised at some of the issues Senator Daschle will bring forth.” A meeting to discuss these issues was purportedly scheduled to be held in August.
The August meeting never materialized, and the editor of the Lakota Journal began asking why it hadn't materialized, particularly after Daschle had given his "word of honor." Now a meeting between Daschle and tribal leaders is scheduled for September 25th. Daschle has said that the meeting is about "opening a dialogue." I don't know about you, but "opening a dialogue" doesn't seem "shocking" or "surprising" to me. In fact, "opening a dialogue" seems quite lame, if it means anything at all. If "opening a dialogue" is all Tim Giago is getting from Tom Daschle in exchange for dropping out of the race, then it seems Giago got suckered out of the race, with no opportunity to re-enter.
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