South Dakota Politics

Novak: Daschle voted 'no' on bill naming Reagan National Airport

Bob Novak has an interesting blurb in his latest column regarding Senator Daschle's past antipathy toward President Reagan:

The campaign by Grover Norquist and other conservative activists to immediately replace Alexander Hamilton on the $10 bill with Ronald Reagan is partially intended to cause trouble for Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle's re-election campaign in South Dakota.

A vote on the proposal this year would put Daschle on the spot. He faces a tough challenge from former Rep. John Thune in a predominantly Republican state where Reagan was very popular.

A footnote: Daschle unsuccessfully attempted to prolong debate on the 1998 bill naming Reagan National Airport in Washington. He was one of only 22 senators voting no (while Sen. Edward M. Kennedy voted yes).

Man who forged voter registrations pleads guilty

Howard Brewer is a member of a shadowy group called "Choose to Vote" who was busted forging voter registrations here in South Dakota earlier this spring. Almost half of the registrations he sent in were forged. Local television stations are reporting that he has now pled guilty to voter registration fraud. KSFY has a story headlined "Registration Fraud":

An Arizona man pleaded guilty in Codington County Thursday for voter registration fraud. Officials say Howard L. Brewer forged information on voter registration forms and turned them into to the Codington County Auditor's Office. "We did not have any idea where these voter registration forms came from. They came in a white envelope with no return address," says Codington County Auditor Cindy Brugman. This was the first red flag for Brugman. The second came when voter registration forms didn't seem right. "The phone number was changed by one digit," says Brugman.

9 of the 22 voter registration forms didn't check out, leading authorities to 44-year-old Brewer. Since the investigation is still ongoing, Codington County officials aren't saying how they linked Brewer to the registrations. But Thursday, Brewer pleaded guilty to 3 counts of forgery.

Officials say Brewer was holding voter registration drives for an organization called Choose to Vote, when he forged information onto forms. And now authorities are looking for other people linked to the case in Codington County.

And it doesn't stop there, Brewer was also in Brown County. "I just went to visit with them while they were at Wal-Mart and asked that they please bring the forms up as soon as they were finished to get them processed," says Brown County Auditor Maxine Taylor. Taylor says Brewer dropped off a pack of registrations. They all checked out, but some other forms that came in later did not, and tracing where those forms came from is almost impossible...expect for one thing. "The ones that came directly from the group...none had a return address," said Taylor. Just like the ones that came from Brewer in Codington County.

So far there is no investigation underway in Brown County. Brewer is scheduled for sentencing on July 28th. He faces up to 15 years in prison and a $15,000 fine.

KDLT has a story headlined "Voter Fraud: A Phoenix man accused of forging voter registration forms pled guilty in Codington County.":

Howard Brewer sent an envelope with 22-voter registration forms to the county auditor's office in Watertown.

Nine of the 22 did not check out.

Brewer will be sentenced July 28th for forgery.

He could get up to 15-years.

Brewer says he was working for an organization called "choose to vote"

The AP has this report.

Intriguingly, an April 30, 2004 story in the Argus Leader, written by Terry Woster and headlined "Attempts to sign up new voters scrutinized" included the following passage:

Some other counties report only sporadic activity.

"We got one batch of about 300 that came in all at once, in an envelope that just said, 'Choose to Vote,' " Fall River County Auditor Sherrill Dryden said. Her office oversees the process in Fall River and nearby Shannon County on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

"We aren't finding many problems at all right now," she said.

Um, given the track record of "Choose to Vote" members like Howard Brewer, it might be wise to double check those 300 registrations. Why the hell aren't local media (or national media for that matter) tracking down this shadowy "Choose To Vote" group?

So far, I'm unable to find the group's website, which makes it likely that they don't have a website. Needless to say, my suspicions are heightened.

Barbara Lee sent volunteers for Herseth

Representative Barbara Lee, who cast the lone vote against authorizing military force in Afghanistan after September 11, played a role in the House special election here in South Dakota earlier this month. The Contra Costa Times has the details in an article headlined "Rep. Lee volunteers canvass S. Dakota." Excerpt:

East Bay Republicans doubted whether volunteers from afar had an effect on the election. Alameda County Republican Party Chairman Jim Hartman said his organization did not send volunteers to the election.

"We believe South Dakotans should decide the election, not people from Oakland or Berkeley," he said.

DVT's analysis of the special election

Be sure to read the latest tour de force over at DVT headlined "The Verdict: Herseth Victory Hurts Daschle." Excerpt:

More fundamentally, the Herseth win caused Daschle problems because of campaign strategy—she ran as a non-partisan conservative Democrat, which no longer fits the Daschle profile. As one UK blogger noted, the race was more like a Republican primary than a general election. She used the Daschle model from 1978, but Daschle, despite his attempts to revive it by saying he is still an “independent voice,” only looks desperate. As the partisan leader of the opposition party, Daschle is as far from being an "independent voice" as one can be. Unlike Herseth’s A rating from the NRA, Daschle was severely criticized by the NRA during the winter of 2004. Unlike Herseth, Daschle opposed the federal marriage amendment and has been outspoken in his criticism of the war (except when in South Dakota, where he praises the war effort).

Via DVT: Reporter hints at rumors Daschle will relinquish leadership

Joshua Green, a senior editor for The Atlantic, who broke the story on William Bennett's highroller gambling habit, recently made the following comment on the Chris Mathews Show:

MATTHEWS: Josh, what do you got?

Mr. GREEN: Win or lose, Tom Daschle will not stay on as Majority Leader.

There's a rumor going around the Hill that if he wins he'll cut a deal, step

down, become appropriations chairman, and Chris Dodd, Harry Reid or maybe even

Hillary Clinton will step in.

MATTHEWS: Well, you're betting that he'll get re-elected, right?

Mr. GREEN: Well...

MATTHEWS: Don't.

Kudos to DVT for catching that one.

NYT editorial on Herseth

The New York Times has a piece on Stephanie Herseth paying herself a salary from her campaign coffers, headlined "Paying Candidates to Run."

UPDATE: SDP reader Ryan Knutson kindly directed my attention to this post written by Herseth on the DCCC's blog, as well as this post.

Roll Call on Herseth's romance with Texas congressman

The Capitol Hill publication Roll Call has an item in today's edition headlined "Sitting in a Tree," regarding Stephanie Herseth's relationship with Rep. Max Sandlin, a Democrat from Texas:

Sorry, guys. The newest, most eligible bachelorette in Congress appears to be off the market.

Rep. Stephanie Herseth (D), who just won the special South Dakota election, had a boyfriend waiting for her on Capitol Hill when she arrived last week.

He's Democratic Rep. Max Sandlin, a four-term Texan.

The couple met during Herseth's failed 2002 election bid against then-Rep. Bill Janklow (R-S.D.), who recently was released from prison for his second-degree manslaughter conviction. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which has its own version of a "big buddy" program, appointed Sandlin to be Herseth's mentor during that campaign.

Maybe the DCCC should have a match-making business on the side?

"Representative Herseth and Representative Sandlin met during the last election cycle. They remained friends after the 2002 election and have had a relationship for approximately a year," her spokesman, Russ Levsen, told HOH.

Sandlin, who is divorced with four children, also worked hard to campaign and raise money for his girlfriend during her winning campaign against GOP state Sen. Larry Diedrich in the June 1 special election.

He said having just arrived in Washington, the new Congresswoman has not found permanent housing yet. For now, he said, she's staying at the Capitol Suites.

But Herseth, 33, and Sandlin, 52, were seen Wednesday morning in front of Sandlin's apartment building near D and First streets Southeast.

New Daschle blog ad everywhere on the liberal blogosphere

SDP reader Ryan Knutson points out that the new Daschle blog ad is popping up everywhere on the liberal blog circuit:

Talking Points Memo
Eschaton
TalkLeft
Political Wire
Washington Monthly
Pandagon
Matthew Gross
Nathan Newman

Surprisingly, Daschle hasn't advertised on Daily Kos. Maybe he's a bit sensitive after comments like these.

Daschle blog synchronizes nicely with Kranz column

Tom Daschle's blog has a link to today's column by David Kranz, the dean of South Dakota political reporters, regarding the Frist visit three weeks ago. Apparently, Daschle is still smarting about that visit, despite reports to the contrary.

Kranz's piece today quotes a newspaper editorial in the Chatanooga (TN) Times Free Press in Frist's home state, chastising Frist for campaigning against Daschle. Note that at least Daschle's blog mentions that the CTFP's piece is an editorial. Kranz doesn't even bother to mention that.

Comparing Daschle's blog ad to what he says at home

Jerome Armstrong of www.mydd.com, a Democratic blog, has an interesting post quoting an e-mail he says is from a Daschle campaign staffer. Despite its bravado, the Daschle campaign seems to be concerned about losing. The following text is from the Daschle campaign staffer e-mail to Jerome Armstrong:

The challenger/open seat races in place like CO, AK, and elsewhere are huge and exciting and deserving of all of our attention and support - but there's only one incumbent Dem Senator who's facing a challenge of this magnitude this cycle. And if we lose Daschle, we not only lose the Senate leader, but we lose any chance of winning back the Senate.
There can be little doubt the kinds of things we saw in '02 (against Cleland et al) will happen here this time. The 3rd party negative ads started back in April, and this race really began more than a year ago before we even had a opponent. Polls have shown a range, but it's South Dakota - with Johnson's 528 vote win in '02, and Stephanie Herseth's squeaker just last week, close elections are the norm here. Especially with a candidate like John Thune, who's making his second go at it, with all the resources of the national GOP, as well as a tradition of voter suppression on the Indian reservations.

You can observe John Thune engaging in a GOP tradition of voter suppression on the Indian reservations (with pictures!) HERE.

More intriguing is a certain "blogad" on the MyDD blog paid for by the Daschle campaign. The Daschle ad reads: "Help Stop George Bush! Bush & Thune Team Up To Defeat Tom Daschle! It's Up To You To Stop Them!" That's quite a contrast in tone to a letter by Tom Daschle's campaign manager, published in the Rapid City Journal, boasting about supporting President Bush 75% of the time.

The ad is animated, with one screen showing a picture of John Thune and George W. Bush together, and a second screen with the same picture, but with a big image of a stop sign over the image of John Thune.

I wonder if David Kranz, whose political column has begun running twice a week, rather than just on Sunday, (now you can get twice the bias!) will mention this ad in one of his columns. Recall that when John Thune ran an ad on Instapundit, Kranz mentioned it, without explaining what a blog is, and not referring to the specific blog. Rather, Kranz just mentioned the text of the ad, and left it at that:

Even though Thune is not in the middle of TV-ad wars, there is a campaign presence, including a message on a Web site blog with a his logo and the words, "Stop Tom Daschle's obstructionism."

A way to measure Kranz's bias is first to observe whether he mentions this blog ad at all in one of his columns, and second, if he does mention it, whether he gives the ad the same treatment he gave to the Thune ad (describing images on the ad, and reciting the text of the ad, but with no mention of what a blog is, and no mention of what blog the ad appeared on).

"Energy week" postponed

For those of you wondering about what's happening on the House floor regarding "energy week," an effort by House Republicans to pressure Senate Democrats on the energy bill, it has been postponed due to the Reagan funeral this week. Meanwhile, Daschle says passing the energy bill would honor Reagan. DVT has more on that development.

Daschle also has a post regarding gas prices on his blog, an attempt to wring as much political capital from that issue as possible. For an interesting take on gas prices, see this piece in the New Republic. Excerpt:

[G]as prices aren't actually that big a problem. Mathematically illiterate local news programs hype the fact that gas prices have topped the $2 mark for the first time ever. But, of course, the nature of inflation is such that, over time, the nominal cost of nearly everything tends to rise. Indeed, the average price of gas in the 1950s--an era many Americans remember as one of abundant, cheap energy--was about $1.80 per gallon in today's money; the U.S. record price for gasoline occurred in 1981, when regular unleaded cost about $2.80 per gallon in 2004 dollars.

Daschle's response to putting Reagan's face on $10 bill

The NYT's Sheryl Gay Stolberg has an interesting piece headlined "Pondering a Legacy Not (Yet) Carved in Stone." Excerpt:

Then the subject changed to whether Mr. Daschle would support putting the face of Mr. Reagan, who suffered Alzheimer's Disease, on the $10 bill. The Senate minority leader deftly ducked the question.

"Well," he said, "I think we have to allow historians and others with some thought to consider how we might best remember President Reagan officially. I think the best way to remember President Reagan is to fully fund Alzheimer's research and to find a cure to that dreaded disease sometime soon."

Was Herseth involved in Texas re-districting fight?

A sharp-witted reader, after reflecting on the fact that Stephanie Herseth was in Texas last summer during the re-destricting fight according to a report in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, notes this:

Was she part of the legal team down there in the redistricting fight? (I would guess). All very normal, but hardly independent. As partisan as it gets.

Quite right.

Daschle's "blog" sputters back to life

Remember that story that came out last summer about Tom Daschle starting a blog? First it was called "Travels with Tom," chronicling his trip around the state during the August recess. Even Maureen Dowd made fun of it, calling it a "blahg." The Financial Times just rolled its eyes. Then there was something called "Dakota Weblog" or something like that which Steve Hildebrand posted to once or twice and then forgot about. Today, Daschle kicked off his latest blogging adventure, called "Daschle Digest."

Wait a minute. Isn't that what they call the Argus Leader?

Daschle writes that his blog "will consist of interesting stories and the latest news, as well as updates on legislation and other issues from South Dakota and Washington." Maybe he can fill us in on why he abruptly cancelled his planned bipartisan fact-finding mission to Iraq with Bill Frist. That would be an interesting story.

Pelosi and Herseth

Here's an interesting AP piece discussing House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's efforts on behalf of Stephanie Herseth: "Pelosi raising cash, sharpening message for Democrats."

In the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, of all places, this blurb can be found:

Now that Democrat Stephanie Herseth of South Dakota has won a special election and been sworn in as the state's congresswoman, U.S. Rep. Max Sandlin, D-Marshall, can say he is enjoying a congressional romance.

Sandlin, who is divorced, and Herseth, who is single, were together often in Austin last summer during the redistricting saga. And Sandlin helped raise money for her congressional race.

This is not Sandlin's first high-profile political romance. He dated Christine Pelosi, daughter of House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California and chief of staff to Rep. John Tierney, D-Mass.

More on Daschle's "independent voice"

I noted earlier that Tom Daschle is starting to float the idea that he is an "independent voice" despite the fact that Americans for Democratic Action gives him a lifetime liberal quotient of 83 percent. A Senate Democrat who could more legitimately be labeled an "independent voice" is John Breaux of Louisiana, who has a lifetime average liberal quotient of 55 percent. Interestingly, Tom Daschle was reportedly furious at John Breaux for exercising his independent voice in supporting the Bush tax cuts in 2001. That is a telling indication of Tom Daschle's "independent voice."

Independent Voice Watch

DVT notes this recent quote from Tom Daschle:

Daschle responded from Washington, saying he offers an independent voice for his constituents. "The question for me on every issue is what is best for South Dakota and the country," Daschle said.

DVT says this is ridiculous because Daschle is "in charge of killing the President's agenda in the Senate."

To put it more starkly how Daschle's assertion doesn't compute, consider that his official title is "Democratic Leader." To be the leader of a political party, it logically follows that you deeply imbibe that political party's Kool-Aid. Consider also that Americans for Democratic Action gives Tom Daschle a lifetime liberal quotient of 83%. That rating is higher even than George McGovern's, who was defeated in 1980 by Jim Abdnor largely because McGovern was considered too liberal.

When Tom Daschle attempts to use that carefully focus-grouped phrase "independent voice," it's important to keep his leadership status and his ADA rating in mind.