I'm sorry about the sparse blogging, but I've just been relaxing a bit and savoring John Thune's victory. Throughout the past few days, a quote from Margaret Mead has been prominent in my mind. Here it is:
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
I began this blog in January of 2003 for one big reason: to challenge the Argus Leader to scrutinize Democratic political figures in this state as closely as they did Republican figures. I envisioned a network of like-minded bloggers around the state of South Dakota who could add their thoughts and reinforce this message. This vision has succeeded beyond my wildest expectations. Steve Sibson of "Sibby Online" began to blog in May of 2003, and we spent the remainder of 2003 struggling to spread the word about the Argus Leader's unwillingness to scrutinize Senator Daschle the way the Argus Leader had scrutinized Senator Pressler.
Interestingly, Senator Daschle began his own blog in the summer of 2003, but the press coverage of Daschle's blogging efforts prompted Instapundit to tell his readers to "Forget Tom Daschle's blog: The South Dakota Politics blog is where you want to go, if you're interested in, well, South Dakota politics." Instapundit's link gave SDP a massive boost in readership, which resulted in a proportional number of people who began to understand that one of the reasons Senator Daschle continued to win elections in South Dakota was because the most influential newspaper in the state refused to scrutinize his contradictions.
Then, in January of 2004, when John Thune decided to challenge Senator Daschle, Professor Jon Lauck began his blog, Daschle v. Thune, and the Dakota Blog Alliance was born. Professor Lauck massively expanded the influence of the blogs. His keen insights and prodigious work ethic made the criticism of the Argus Leader even more devastating, and resulted in even more shrill ad hominem attacks from Randell Beck, the executive editor of the Argus Leader. At one point, Beck even played the Hitler card: "Hitler would have had a blog," he said. Furthermore, as DVT noted, Beck said that blog criticism of the Argus Leader was "'crap' driven by a 'violent' internet 'cabal' of 'yahoos' and 'jokers,' who are full of 'hatred' and 'vitriol' and lacked 'guts' because they hid 'behind their computer screens' and wouldn't face him 'man to man.'"
By this time, the DBA had expanded to include Ryne McClaren and Quentin Riggins. Randell Beck became an object of ridicule around the country, as other bloggers took notice of his ranting, and prominent bloggers like Andrew Sullivan and Instapundit, as well as columnist Mark Steyn, were aghast at the studied hostility of Randell Beck to reasonable, fact-drawn criticism.
I think the Dakota Alliance, among many other things, played a role in the Thune victory. People are beginning to understand that the rise of the Dakota Blog Alliance has forever changed the contours of politics in this state. Today, the Grand Forks Herald in NORTH Dakota had this to say about the DBA:
This little-noticed development deserves a lot more attention.
The Daschle-Thune race differed from previous South Dakota Senate races in this way: Conservative Web logs gave South Dakota voters access to news like never before.
Take a look and you'll see what we mean: Web sites such as Daschle vs. Thune (daschlevthune.typepad.com/daschle_v_thune/) and a few others chipped away at Daschle's image day after day.
They also charged South Dakota's major newspapers were in Daschle's pocket. They backed the charge by showcasing, for example, the fact that Sioux Falls (S.D.) Argus Leader's political reporter had been active in the Democratic Party as a South Dakota State University student in the 1960s - as had his then-friend and fellow student, Tom Daschle.
These Web logs served as a South Dakota version of Rush Limbaugh's talk show, legitimizing criticism of the incumbent and using the media as a whipping boy. The reports galvanized Daschle's opposition and gave them lots of material to rally around.
Balanced? No. Fair? Probably not. Effective? Yes.
I'll sign off this post with this reassurance to anyone who may be wondering: The Dakota Blog Alliance is not going anywhere. We're here to stay. There's still work to do.
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