Mitchell

From the editors of the Mitchell Daily Republic:

The vote is in, and the top story in South Dakota - according to editors and broadcasters - was the defeat of Tom Daschle by John Thune. Or was it the win by John Thune over Tom Daschle? The outcome is the same, but the question lingers. Did Daschle lose the election, or did Thune win it?

We believe it was a mix of factors that caused the first Senate leader in 52 years to be turned out of office. It wasn’t that Daschle had done a poor job for South Dakota. On the contrary. He effectively brought projects, money, jobs and identity to a low profile state. At the same time, his seniority and consequent leadership forced him to take high profile positions on volatile and emotional issues: gun control, abortion, gay rights, and flag burning, to name but four.

Daschle supporters contended the “cultural” issues shouldn’t decide the election, and perhaps they didn’t. But the impact was there. They cost the one-time Senate majority leader key support.