South Dakota Politics

Meet the Press debate

All eyes will be on Tim Russert and his two guests on Sunday morning, when the "Senate Debate Series" kicks off with the two candidates in the biggest Senate race in the USA. If the debate is even remotely like the Dakotafest debate, Daschle is in trouble. I'll be liveblogging the debate on Sunday morning. See you then.

SDSU Collegian

Be sure to read Jon Lauck's piece in the SDSU Collegian headlined "Blogs challenge traditional media by going straight to the consumer." Excerpt:

There are number of bloggers in South Dakota, including myself, and they have focused their fire on the Sioux Falls Argus Leader. They have uncovered a litany of problems that should be addressed and encountered arrogant resistance to reform. Recently, when a man from Brookings wrote to the editor of the Argus and asked why a story had not run in the paper, he was harshly dismissed for being an idiot, for reading blogs, and for not having his facts straight. The Argus editor insisted the story had run at least twice. In reality, the story had never appeared in the Argus. With blogs, people are now aware of this and other Argus inadequacies.

Kranz Watch

David Kranz, the dean of South Dakota political reporters, has a report today headlined "USD student and GOP activist regrets calling Herseth a witch."

It's interesting to know that David Kranz and the editors at the Argus Leader think it's acceptable to hold a college kid accountable for what he writes, going so far as to try to drag federal candidates into the mix. Last year, when Kranz was under scrutiny for his connections to Senator Daschle, it came to light that Kranz and Daschle were friends while they attended South Dakota State University, and that Kranz wrote at least one report for the SDSU Collegian that lauded Tom Daschle. That began a 30-year trend in which Kranz has continuously been writing laudatory reports about Tom Daschle.

Here's how Argus Leader executive editor Randell Beck responded to this scrutiny of Kranz:

So the decision was made when that didn’t happen that they were going to get a Democrat to come be a participant in that convention, and I believe off the top of my head it was Dick Kneip at the time. He came. Was a part of the mock convention. And Dave, who was a member of the staff of The Collegian wrote about it. Well, I’ve got news for folks. You know, that’s the way things happen at colleges all over this country. And I’m sure that Dave at that time did not perceive that he was going to be the preeminent political reporter for the Argus Leader. If he had, I’m sure he would have avoided carefully those conflicts. That’s a facetious comment. The point is, that, you know, you do those things in colleges, and I – it doesn’t mean anything. It doesn’t mean anything.

Since the Argus Leader has now taken the stance that a college kid should be accountable for what he says, perhaps they will report some of the controversial things Tom Daschle said in college, too. Here's a jpeg of a story that appeared in the May 1, 1968 SDSU Collegian in which Daschle advocated, among other things "encourag[ing] the passage of federal regulation of the sale and possession of firearms." Note too that Daschle states no platform at all is better than a conservative platform (click on the image to blow up):

Here's a jpeg of one of the first in a long line of pro-Daschle articles Kranz has written:

Ah, there's nothing like the Argus Leader double standard. Republican college kids get skewered while what Kranz and Daschle did in their college days "doesn't mean anything."

Whoa dogies!

Yours truly has passed the bar exam! I spent the evening calling family and friends to let them know, and I figured I'd let my friends out there in the blogosphere know, too. Naturally, I'm in a very magnanimous mood, so I'd like to take the opportunity to let you loyal SDP readers know how much I appreciate you taking the time everyday to see what I have to say. You're the reason I keep at blogging, and why I even kept at it while I was studying for the excruciating mindgames they call the bar exam.

Well, I'm off for a celebratory drink. Cheers. Or as Dan Rather would say: Courage.

Thune calls on Daschle to release '99-'03 tax returns

The Thune campaign today issued a press release calling on Tom Daschle to release his tax returns for the past five years:

South Dakota Republican Senate candidate John Thune and his wife, Kimberley Thune, today released their federal income tax returns for the past five years and challenged Senator Tom Daschle to join him in making their returns fully accessible to the public.

“Today we have disclosed our federal income tax returns from 1999 to 2003 and have made these returns available for full public review on my campaign website, www.johnthune.com,” Thune said. “I challenge Senator Daschle to join us in disclosing their returns for the past five years and making them accessible to the public as well”

Earlier this year, the Rapid City Journal asked both candidates to release their 2003 federal income tax returns. While Thune released their returns immediately, Daschle refused to release their returns for several weeks but finally relented after substantial pressure from the newspaper.

Thune went even further today by not only releasing their returns for the past five years, but by making them fully accessible to the public by posting them on his campaign website.

WSJ slams Argus Leader

Below is a jpeg of the lead editorial in today's Wall Street Journal, which briefly discusses the dominance "Tom Daschle's pals at the Argus Leader have long had on [South Dakota's] political dialogue." I wonder if the Argus Leader will have a response to this less-than-flattering portrayal in one of the most influential editorial pages in the country.

South Dakota bloggers make WSJ print edition!

The Wall Street Journal editorial page has a piece headlined "A Media Watershed; Dan Rather and the end of the liberal monopoly." The Dakota Alliance gets mentioned in the context of Memogate:

Even in South Dakota, bloggers and the Web have challenged the dominance that Tom Daschle's pals at the Argus Leader have long had on that state's political dialogue.

The Argus Leader and Roll Call

Roll Call, a Washington, DC publication, has a report in today's edition headlined "Senate GOP Leaders Host Event for Thune" about a fundraiser held in Washington, DC yesterday to benefit John Thune's Senate campaign. The Argus Leader has a penchant for immediately reporting stories in Roll Call that reflect negatively on John Thune, and completely ignoring stories in Roll Call that negatively reflect on Senator Daschle. It will be interesting to observe whether the Argus Leader reports or ignores the mildly negative story about Thune in today's edition of Roll Call.

The Argus Leader also failed to report on a story in the New York Times about a Daschle fund-raiser held in the Hamptons, even though the Argus Leader's executive editor misleadingly stated that the AL had covered the story "at least twice." Should the Argus Leader report on yesterday's Thune fundraiser, it will be yet another example of the Argus Leader ignoring stories that reflect negatively on Daschle, and wholeheartedly pursuing stories that negatively reflect on Thune.

New York Post: "One more fund-raiser in these here parts and we'll get [Daschle] New York residency"

From today's edition of the New York Post:

SEN. Tom Daschle appears to have daschled his foot against a stone. The deep doodoo is because a Senate Minority Leader's job is to elect more Democrats to the Senate. However, this South Dakotan's interest this coming election is to get himself re-elected. One more fund-raiser in these here parts and we'll get him New York residency. Even were Kerry to win, no guarantee Daschle would now be safe although — were Kerry to win — Kerry might have enough problems on his hands without going after Tom Daschle. But I'm hearing that warming up in the bullpen are Sens. Chris Dodd of Connecticut and Harley Reid of Nevada.

"On TV, Daschle plays a great victim"

The Thune campaign has released a new television ad today titled "Straight Talk" that mentions Tom Daschle's name. The Daschle camp has already started to howl.

Local flavor added to Memogate

Bob Schieffer was in Sioux City, IA yesterday to address the annual Siouxland Chamber of Commerce dinner meeting, and had the following to say about Memogate, according to a report in the Sioux City Journal headlined "Schieffer: CBS needs to prove memos on Bush were authentic":

"I think we have to find some way to show our viewers they are not forgeries,'' Schieffer, CBS' chief Washington correspondent and host of the network's "Face the Nation,'' said at a news conference in Sioux City. "I don't know how we're going to do that without violating the confidentiality of sources.''

Dan Rather and David Kranz

At any moment, CBS will release a statement to "clarify" the Bush Guards document story. This is the story in which Dan Rather used forged documents to raise questions about President Bush's Air National Guard service. It's fitting to note that Dan Rather is a hero to David Kranz, the dean of South Dakota political reporters. In 1974, Kranz wrote a laudatory column about Dan Rather for the Austin (MN) Daily Herald. The telltale column is pictured below:

Thirty years later, Dan Rather's credibility has been shredded, and David Kranz's credibility has been shredded. What a fitting conclusion to these two posterboys for liberal bias in the mainstream media.

Daschle "in serious jeopardy of losing his seat"

The White House Bulletin, a Washington, DC publication, had the following to say yesterday about Senator Daschle's re-election chances:

Two polls in a row show Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle losing by a small margin to former Rep. John Thune, while other recent polls show Daschle with a slight lead. Whether he is ahead or behind by a couple of points, the feeling inside the Senate is that Daschle is one of two incumbents - Lisa Murkowski being the other - in serious jeopardy of losing their seat. The buzz in the Senate is that Daschle would like to see not only the extenders go through, but also an energy bill, prior to the election, as both are important to his South Dakota constituency. With President Bush having assumed the frontrunner status in the presidential race, the thinking among Senate GOP leaders is that Senate Republicans could add to their ranks in November. Even a seat or two GOP gain can change the dynamic on spending and tax bills....

Usually, pressure to go home from Senators is what drives decisions on adjournment in that body. However, this year, most incumbents appear to be safe and many of the open seats are being vacated by Democrats. With Daschle being one of the incumbents in trouble, some Republicans in town are counseling a relatively late departure in an effort to tie Daschle down in Washington while his challenger, John Thune, campaigns freely in South Dakota.

Daschle takes questions on guns in DC

Here's an interesting excerpt of the transcript from a press conference Senator Daschle held in Washington, DC yesterday:

QUESTION: But Senator Daschle, yesterday, the assault weapons ban expired with barely a whimper, really. And then today in The Post, I see on the front page that the House Republicans are going to allow an up-or-down vote on repealing the D.C. gun ban.

What does this signal to you in terms of the direction the country's going in with the gun lobby? And what future in the Senate do you think repealing a ban in D.C. will have?

DASCHLE: I just can't believe with what limited there is remaining that the House or the Senate would see fit to take up legislation like that.

As I said, we have only passed, I think it's three of the appropriations bills -- three. Ten appropriations bills remain to be considered, virtually running the entire federal government. The whole country is dependent upon whether or not we can complete our work on appropriations and on so many other issues.

And so, again, it's another illustration of the extraordinary demonstration of poor judgment with regard to scheduling.

QUESTION: Senator, specifically on the gun lobby, on the gun ban, what does that say to you in terms of the grip that the gun lobby may have on the Republicans, which you've alluded to in the past?

DASCHLE: Well, I think that President Bush was right. Others have expressed the same view that I have, that the assault weapons ban should have been extended. And it's unfortunate that it was not.

(Emphasis added.)

Kranz skates by Senate poll

Yesterday, I predicted David Kranz, the dean of South Dakota political reporters, would skip the latest Rasmussen poll in his column today. Well, my prediction was wrong, sort of. If you blinked, you missed it. Here's how Kranz reported the results of the poll, in a paragraph near the end of his column:

...Thune over Daschle, 50-47...

That's how the dean of South Dakota political reporters reports the historic news that a Senate leader is losing to a challenger. That hasn't happened since 1952, when Senate Majority Leader Ernest McFarland of Arizona began falling behind his 43 year old challenger, Barry Goldwater.

Also, as predicted, Kranz skipped the Bob Novak quote on CNN reporting that "[T]he Democrats I talked to here in Washington are very worried about South Dakota, where the Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle is actually a point or two behind in the polls[.]"

Kranz Watch

David Kranz, the dean of South Dakota political reporters, as well as the Argus Leader, came in for some blistering criticism from former U.S. Rep. Clint Roberts yesterday:

The Argus Leader "has been a pretty strong supporter of Daschle over the years" and Kranz "is about as biased as they come," although he's a nice guy personally.

Kranz's pro-Daschle bias will soon become more evident, because it's almost a lead pipe cinch that he won't mention the latest independent poll that shows Thune leading Daschle in his column tomorrow. It's too damaging to Daschle for Kranz's taste.

And it's a complete lead pipe cinch that Kranz won't mention the following quote from conservative commentator Bob Novak on CNN yesterday:

"[T]he Democrats I talked to here in Washington are very worried about South Dakota, where the Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle is actually a point or two behind in the polls[.]"

For the sake of the last remaining vestige of his credibility, I hope Kranz proves me wrong. I'm not holding my breath, though.

Thune has yet to run an ad that even mentions Daschle

Senator Daschle has begun running an ad that states in part "John Thune is running another negative, misleading ad." There's one major problem, though. John Thune has not run a single ad that even mentions Senator Daschle. Even the Argus Leader says Daschle is wrong to say John Thune is running a negative ad:

The National Republican Senatorial Committee, not John Thune, paid for the gas-tax ad. In this respect, Daschle's spot is wrong because it deems the source commercial a "THUNE AD."

Even the Rapid City Journal says Daschle can't get his facts straight:

In response to the NRSC's gas-tax ad, Daschle's campaign responded with an ad that accuses Thune of running the "negative ad." Of course, it isn't an ad from the Thune campaign, but from the NRSC.

Clearly, it's Senator Daschle who is running the negative and misleading ad.

DVT interviews former Daschle opponent

DVT has posted excerpts of a recent interview with former U.S. Representative Clint Roberts, the man Daschle defeated in 1982 after South Dakota was consolidated from two districts to a single, at-large district. The interview illustrates how Daschle was elected to office under false pretences, running as a conservative to get elected, and once elected moving sharply to the left. I think it's safe to say that one does not become the Democratic Leader of the Senate by being a conservative. Today, according to the National Journal, Daschle is more liberal than 80 percent of the entire Senate.

WaPo reports Daschle's stance on flag amendment

The Washington Post has a report today headlined "Kerry, Edwards and Daschle May Face Vote on Flag." Excerpt:

For some Republicans it is the perfect political storm: a Senate vote on a constitutional amendment to protect the U.S. flag that would put Democratic presidential nominee John F. Kerry, running mate John Edwards and Minority Leader Thomas A. Daschle on the spot just a few weeks before the Nov. 2 elections....

As senators, Kerry (Mass.), Edwards (N.C.) and Daschle (S.D.) have voted against the amendment and are described by colleagues as still opposed to it.

Quote of the Day

"This is a gun-owning culture out here. I'm training my daughters on how to use a semiautomatic handgun because ... someday they're going to be out living on their own, and it's something they need to know." - John Thune, quoted in an Argus Leader story today headlined "Lines drawn in gun-ban battle: Daschle supports law; Thune happy to see it go."

Argus Leader Daschle Endorsement Countdown

Regular SDP readers will note that I have initiated a countdown on the right side of this blog numbering the days until the Argus Leader's editors publish their endorsement of Senator Daschle. The Argus Leader should forego the charade of interviewing the candidates and just issue the endorsement already.

The latest Rasmussen poll

The Rasmussen Reports website has now posted the results of a poll conducted last Wednesday that shows John Thune leading Senator Daschle by three points.

Word on the street

Bob Burns, a South Dakota State University professor who is frequently quoted in the Argus Leader by David Kranz as some sort of objective "expert," was spotted today in Brookings plastered with Daschle and Herseth stickers at a League of Women Voters meeting. It's perfectly fine for Burns to take sides, but holding himself out as a "neutral" analyst and being frequently quoted by the "neutral" Argus Leader's "neutral" David Kranz is a total sham.

For more on Bob Burns' "neutral" background, see this post. Interestingly, every quote of his in any Argus Leader article that discusses Daschle (as well as in other publications) is almost invariably pro-Daschle. It's a total sham that Burns is held out to be a neutral observer. Take the following delightful example from only 12 days ago, where Burns says John Thune is "confusing voters":

"It is a close race," says Bob Burns, political science professor at South Dakota State University.

But he thinks Daschle still holds the edge.

Thune is confusing voters with his television ads, Burns says.

"There are two contradicting messages. He says he is independent and not tied to the White House with every vote, and then the other message is that Senator Daschle is an obstructionist and he will be fully supportive of the president," Burns said.

FLASHBACK: Daschle and the "Homestead Tax Deduction"

A recent story in the Anchorage Daily News headlined "Murkowski owes D.C. back taxes" jogged my memory of a flap that occurred a year ago regarding Senator Daschle's $1.9 million D.C. home and whether it was his "principal place of residence." Here's the relevant graf from the Anchorage Daily News:

The congressional newsletter Roll Call reported last year that a conservative group attacked Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, a South Dakota Democrat, for claiming the deduction on his $1.9 million home in the district. The group argued that his principal residence was supposed to be in South Dakota, not Washington, D.C.

Daschle responded that he wasn't breaking the law, because his wife, Linda, a prominent lobbyist, qualified for the exemption.

Washington tax officials agreed but said that in "98 percent" of the cases a member of Congress wouldn't qualify.

You can read the entire Roll Call story headlined "Daschle Hit On Tax Break; Wife Claims ‘Homestead’ Exemption" by clicking HERE. Excerpt:

Public records show that Daschle is in fact receiving the $30,000 tax deduction that reduces his property tax bill by a few hundred dollars annually as long as the property is the principal residence of the owner.

“I don’t profess to be a D.C. property tax expert, but it appears from what they have on the Web site that it would be improper because it’s supposed to be your main residence and these politicians profess to their constituents, ‘I represent you,’” Keating explained. “It would seem strange to take a property tax break aimed at D.C. residents.”

Talon News, a conservative Web-based publication that first reported the charges last week, suggested in its story that Daschle “may not even qualify for the tax credit, since one of the requirements is that the property must be the owner’s primary residence.”

But both Daschle aides and a spokesman for Williams dismissed the charges as baseless, partisan attacks and said the South Dakota Democrat is in complete compliance with the law because his wife, Linda, qualifies for the tax break.

“The Daschles are most definitely entitled to the homestead deduction, just as I am,” Williams’ spokesman Tony Bullock said, adding that the notion that the tax break is somehow a targeted program for low-income households is erroneous.

“It’s available to all homeowners in the District, regardless of the value of their property or their level of income,” Bullock continued. “The reason the Daschles’ are entitled to it has everything to do with Mrs. Daschle and nothing to do with Mr. Daschle. She pays District income taxes, so she qualifies.”

The question is not just about income taxes. Washington, DC's city government website flatly states that in order to qualify for the deduction, Washington DC must be the person's "principal residence." Apparently, Linda Daschle (a highly compensated corporate lobbyist) qualifies for the homestead deduction because Washington, DC is her principal residence. It stands to reason that a person can only have one principal place of residence, and in the case of Linda Daschle, it seems South Dakota isn't it.

By the way, although a newspaper in Alaska and a newspaper in Washington, DC (Roll Call) have reported this story, the Argus Leader has yet to say boo about it. Of course, the Argus Leader only reports stories from Roll Call that negatively impact John Thune, so go figure.

New poll: Thune leading, 50%-47%

DVT reports the latest poll by Rasmussen, and the most astounding number is Daschle's unfavorability rating (45%!). There's lots of clock left in this race, but I think the Daschle campaign is running out of options. They've been running ads for over a year, and these days, you can't watch even a small amount of television without seeing at least a couple of Daschle ads. My girlfriend told me she even saw a Daschle ad on The Learning Channel's "Trading Spaces" recently. Daschle's ad saturation isn't working (it seems the more he advertises, the further he sinks in the polls), and I think the only option left to him, particularly when Daschle's unfavorability rating is so high, is to start running ads that will drive up Thune's unfavorability rating.