South Dakota Politics

Prof: Dems "can't be obstructionist"

The AP has a report headlined "Democrats' Choice: Dig in or Work With GOP."  Excerpt:

"Once they get out of the fetal position, which is what they're in right now, the Democrats in Congress are really going to have start catching the pitches that are thrown by the president," said Ross Baker, a political science professor at Rutgers University.

"They can't be obstructionist," Baker said, but should capitalize on the fact that President Bush's second-term proposals to overhaul the tax code and add private accounts to Social Security "are fairly radical things" that could be troublesome for Republican lawmakers seeking re-election in 2006.

Daschle farewell

The AP has published this photo taken at the conclusion of Senator Daschle's farewell remarks.  You can access a transcript of the tribute to Tom Daschle by his colleagues by clicking HERE.

Lalley: Blogs affected Argus Leader's election coverage

The National Journal has published an article on the Dakota Blog Alliance headlined "Bloggers Targeted Daschle and the Press."  You can read it in full below:

South Dakota Republicans opened a new and potentially powerful front in the war over public opinion during their successful bid to oust Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle in the November 2 election. Not only did they orchestrate a highly effective, Internet-based campaign against Daschle, but they also targeted the state's largest newspaper and primary news source, the Sioux Falls Argus Leader.

GOP activists in the state -- several of whom were paid thousands of dollars by Sen.-elect John Thune's campaign committee for research consulting -- launched an unprecedented assault on the Argus Leader. Through an alliance of South Dakota-based Web logs, or blogs, and a pseudo-news Web site, the activists hammered away continuously at the paper's coverage of Daschle and raised persistent questions about the objectivity of its writers.

The effort, which could test the limits of federal campaign finance
regulation of Internet activities, played a crucial role in shaping the news
coverage of the race. Commenting on the bloggers, Argus Leader Assistant Managing Editor Patrick Lalley said, "I don't think there's any way to say they didn't" affect the paper's coverage of the election.

The use of blogs to help shape media coverage and force issues to the front of a campaign has not gone unnoticed. A blog called DaytonvKennedy recently sprang up in Minnesota in advance of the expected 2006 race between Democratic Sen. Mark Dayton and GOP Rep. Mark Kennedy. Republican strategists said the blog phenomenon could be duplicated in many other states, particularly ones with smaller populations and just one or two dominant media outlets.

Thune's campaign manager, Dick Wadhams, called the blog's influence in the South Dakota race a "continuation of the diffusing of information
sources.... My first exposure to these blogs was in this campaign. And I don't think they're going to do anything but get bigger."

South Dakota Republicans have long chafed at the Argus Leader's political coverage, complaining among themselves that the paper has too liberal a slant for an outlet covering politics in a heavily conservative state. Their anger was magnified by the fact that the newspaper is the proverbial
800-pound gorilla in South Dakota's media room; virtually all of the state's other, smaller newspapers and television outlets essentially follow the paper's lead.

Almost every election cycle in South Dakota over the past two and a half decades has spawned its own media-bias complaints, including charges during the 1990 Senate race that led to a spate of stories, including items in the The New York Times and Roll Call, questioning the Argus Leader's objectivity.

With the rise of the "blogosphere" as a cultural phenomenon over the past two years, GOP activists seized on the use of blogs in the Daschle-Thune race as a solution to what they saw as their Argus Leader problem. In December 2002, state activists launched their first such blog, SouthDakotaPolitics. [No "state activists" launched SDP.  I launched SDP on my own, without consulting anyone. I was a nobody law student at USD when I began my blog, and basically started it on what can best be described as a whim.-ed] In his inaugural posting, site operator Jason Van Beek fired the first shot in the war against the Argus Leader."One of the themes of this blog will be the lazy journalism practiced by South Dakota's flagship newspaper, the Sioux Falls Argus Leader," Van Beek wrote. For the better part of the next year, Van Beek was the state activists' primary blogger, as he maintained a running critique of the paper's political coverage and of its top political reporter, David Kranz. Van Beek even started a "Kranz Watch" on the site and tracked not so much what Kranz wrote about Daschle, but rather the stories that Van Beek and other Republicans thought the paper should have covered but didn't.

Within a year, Van Beek was joined by a handful of other GOP bloggers, most notably University of South Dakota history professor Jon Lauck, who started DaschlevThune in January 2004. Lauck, like Van Beek and the other bloggers, made criticism of the Argus Leader a central aspect of their blogging.

Lauck, who quickly became one of the most public figures in the state's
blogger community, said he and others began writing about the race in hopes of starting a "populist prairie fire" that would challenge not only Daschle but also the newspaper. "There was all this stuff out there that was negative about Daschle ... that the Argus refused to run," Lauck charged, pointing to stories that ran in The Washington Post, The New York Times, and other outlets, and that predated stories in the Argus Leader, about Daschle's role in resisting the GOP agenda in the Senate.

Lauck, Van Beek, and other conservative activists in the state also tout a series of stories written by Jeff Gannon, the Washington bureau chief for TalonNews.com, as their ultimate proof of bias at the Argus Leader. The series, penned in summer 2003, alleged that Kranz, who went to college with Daschle, was not just sympathetic to his friend but was an actual part of Daschle's larger campaign machine.

However, TalonNews is not the independent news source it purports to be. It's run by GOPUSA, a conservative political publishing and consulting firm. While the Bush administration has provided Gannon with press credentials, the nonpartisan U.S. Senate Daily Press Gallery has rejected Gannon's repeated requests for congressional press credentials because of TalonNews' financial ties to GOPUSA.

But then, this past spring, Van Beek unearthed a series of memos from the 1970s that, according to Van Beek and Gannon, showed that Kranz had consulted on press strategy with aides to former Rep. James Abourezk, D-S.D. In the memos, aides refer to Kranz as a "good Democrat" whom Abourezk's office should work with.

The publication of the memos, as well as growing attention to the
Daschle-Thune race by national bloggers and conservative media outlets, prompted an angry response from Argus Leader Executive Editor Randell Beck. On a radio call-in show, Beck defended Kranz, called the memos "crap," and accused the bloggers of being part of an organized right-wing effort looking to damage the newspaper.

Kranz, who declined to talk during the race about the blogger attacks,
acknowledged in an interview that he has known Daschle for many years. "I'm not going to sit here and say that some of the connects on me didn't have some truth to them," Kranz said of the blog postings. "But a lot of them didn't." [Surely Kranz isn't attempting to claim the Bombshell Memos didn't have some truth to them, is he?  It would be nice to know which ones supposedly didn't.-ed]

Kranz also said he was approached during the campaign by some state
Republican officials who felt he was being attacked unfairly. He says he
rejected an offer from these GOP officials to try to quiet down the
bloggers. Although he refuted many of the accusations against him, Kranz said it would be inappropriate for a reporter to try to silence a critic.  [Really? Kranz refuted many of the accusations against him? This is the first I've heard of it. Which one of the Bombshell Memos did he "refute"?-ed.]  "That is what our job is all about -- protecting freedom of speech," Kranz said.

Shortly after the spat over the memos, Thune campaign manager Wadhams offered to pay Lauck and Van Beek as research consultants to Thune's campaign. The two men agreed, and, according to Lauck, they assisted in conducting research on Daschle and helped Republicans prepare for a series of candidate debates. According to documents that the Thune campaign filed with the Federal Election Commission, the campaign paid the two men $35,000-- $27,000 to Lauck and $8,000 to Van Beek -- between June and October of this year.

An August 9 Argus Leader story discussed Lauck's financial relationship with the Thune campaign, and Lauck later mentioned the relationship on his site. But neither DaschlevThune nor SouthDakotaPolitics included a disclaimer or other standing mention during the election that Thune's campaign was employing the authors.

Wadhams, Lauck, and Van Beek maintain there was no connection between the bloggers' research duties for Thune and their blog postings. They also say that the FEC has received no complaints alleging wrongdoing. Lauck, though, admits that his blogging benefited from the relationship. "I wouldn't have had access to a lot of the information if I hadn't been with the campaign," he said in an interview.

Reporters at the Argus Leader and other outlets, however, say they
recognized a pattern, beginning in the summer, that showed how the campaign and the blogs put out their message. First, the blogs would pounce on a particular story, and conservative radio talk shows would pick it up. Thune operatives would then weave the issues into their attacks on Daschle. Wadhams even hired the polling firm Public Opinion Strategies to conduct a poll on voters' opinions of the newspaper -- a poll that, according to Lauck, found that 55 percent of respondents saw the paper as biased.

"What it came down to was a disinformation campaign waged by the Republican Party in concert with Dick Wadhams," charged an Argus Leader source, who asked not to be identified. "The strategy seemed to be to use the Internet to disseminate the message and manipulate public perception under the guise of some sort of public groundswell, and then affirm the message in debates and other public pronouncements." [It's understandable why this person did not want to be identified, because then that person would have to explain what "disinformation" he's talking about.  My hunch is that the blind quote here was made by AL executive editor Randell Beck, who has been blog-swarmed in the past for falsely claiming that the AL had covered Daschle's fundraiser in the Hamptons "at least twice."-ed]

Argus Leader reporters said the pressure from the blogs increased until a "siege mentality" took over at the paper, according to one source. Complaints flooded the paper's office, and anti-Argus Leader pieces became a regular feature of the letters-to-the-editor section.

As the election entered the homestretch, Thune was clearly making inroads with the help of his campaign's relentless attacks on Daschle's ties to official Washington. The blogs and conservative pundits took Daschle to task over his wife's lobbying activities in the House, and they accused the Argus Leader of ignoring the story -- despite the fact that the newspaper's Washington reporter, Mike Madden, had written a lengthy front-page piece months earlier on Linda Daschle, a lobbyist in Washington with the firm Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz. Still, the Argus Leader published a second story on Linda Daschle -- a story that, sources say, was a result of the bloggers' criticisms.  [The chronology here is wrong.  The blogs did not accuse the AL of ignoring all of Linda Daschle's lobbying activities after Madden's report in June of 2003.  The blogs did consistently criticize the AL for consistently burying a report that Linda Daschle had lobbied on behalf of Schering-Plough, while Kranz falsely implied that John Thune lobbied for pharmaceutical companies in one of his columns.  In a telling example of the AL's pro-Daschle bias, the AL published a Los Angeles Times report on relatives of lawmakers being lobbyists as a companion piece with Madden's report on Linda Daschle.  The AL's editors actually changed the text of the LAT story to make it less damaging for Daschle.  Furthermore, the AL needed no prompting to publish two front page stories about Thune being a lobbyist, and in the waning days of the campaign, Daschle relentlessly attacked Thune for "getting rich" from lobbying, and falsely implying that Thune lobbied for pharmaceutical companies.-ed] 

Then, when TalonNews ran stories on Sen. Daschle's decision to claim a special tax credit on his home in Washington, the Argus Leader decided it had to write its own story, too. Because the tax credit applies only to a
primary residence, it fit perfectly with the "out-of-touch" theme that
dominated bloggers' criticism of Daschle. Earlier Argus Leader stories had mentioned the issue [That statement is patently false-ed]. Said an Argus Leader source, "I didn't think where he lived deserved its own headline, but I also don't think we ignored it." [Well, the simple fact is that it was ignored for over a year until Thune issued a press release on the matter-ed]  Still, the TalonNews piece "forced our hand. I can't deny that," the source said.

Although no one believes that the Argus Leader flap was the deciding factor in the race, the state's bloggers and media sources both said the campaign against the newspaper played a key role in the GOP's message-control effort to persuade voters to elect Thune over Daschle.

Daschle to deliver farewell on Senate floor this afternoon

Senator Daschle will deliver his farewell address to the Senate sometime this afternoon, which you can view on C-Span2.

Thune staff

The Rapid City Journal has a report today headlined "Thune names staff members."

The Magnificent Seven

A Knight-Ridder story headlined "Congressional freshmen confront traditions of their institution" accompanies the photo above.  Senator George Allen was handing out "game balls" to the new senators, embossed with each senator-elect's margin of victory.

Hartford Courant on Daschle's defeat

The Hartford (CT) Courant has an interesting report today headlined "Senate Voice Of Outrage Silenced By Defeat" (registration).  Excerpt:

How, Democrats are asking, should they move, not only philosophically, but stylistically? Should members match the Republicans in volume and, some would say, stridency? Or stick to the Daschle model of trying to have it both ways, of working inside the strange, complex system that is Congress while also speaking out - and alienating - the opposition?

[...]

Daschle is around Washington this week but he's not talking much. Reid and his team are the spokesmen, and Republicans are eager to work with them - though not for the reasons Democrats hope.

"Sen. Daschle was the chief obstructionist for so much of what we want to do," said Allen, who headed the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee. "A message was sent, and usually after an election like this, people get the message."

MPR on Thune

"Thune sees victory as a mandate and a warning": Minnesota Public Radio has this report.

Thune's rock star status

Ryne McClaren:

"[C]ompare the coverage of Thune with those of the new Golden Child of the Democratic party and fellow Senate freshman Barak Obama. Besides us South Dakota wonks, who would have dreamed that the little state would produce a young Republican rock star with early Rookie of the Year credentials, and before his predecessor has even left office!

AP compares Daschle's defeat to Speaker Foley's defeat

"Foley Sees Parallels in Daschle's Defeat": The AP has this fascinating report.  Excerpt:

For Tom Foley, Election Night was a bitter replay of a moment he would rather forget.

Ten years after the former Democratic House speaker was turned out of office in a humiliating defeat, Foley watched as Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle was vanquished in a race with parallels to his own.

In each case, voters more conservative than the veteran lawmaker representing them punished a leader they perceived as more in touch with the capital than his home state.

If anyone understands Daschle's pain, it is Foley. His 1994 defeat made him the first sitting House speaker since 1862 to lose a bid for re-election. Daschle, D-S.D., was the first party leader in the Senate to lose re-election in more than 50 years....

Foley said Daschle, who lost to former Rep. John Thune, suffered from many of the factors that ultimately felled him: Voters either did not appreciate or understand the value of service as party leader, a role that sometimes caused both men to act in ways contrary to their own political survival.

"I think sometimes there's a difficulty in understanding what a state receives from having a majority leader in the Senate or a speaker of the House - or that those things viewed as not as important as they once were," Foley said....

The twin defeats - a decade apart - offer Democrats a sobering lesson, Foley said.

"When I lost the principal problem was in the rural counties," just as it was for Daschle, he said. "That's the thing that Democrats have to be concerned about around the country: the growing split between rural and urban.

"We need to examine how it was are responding to this division ... particularly the sense in some rural areas that the Democratic Party is not a party that respects faith or family or has respect for values. I think that's wrong, but it's a dangerous perception if it develops as it has," he said.

DVT's 26 factors in Thune's win

The indefatigable DVT lists 26 factors explaining how John Thune defeated Senator Daschle.

Transcript of Thune's appearance on "Hannity & Colmes"

Below is the transcript of Senator-elect Thune's appearance on "Hannity & Colmes" last night:

We're now joined by the man who sent Tom Daschle back home to South Dakota, Republican Senator-elect John Thune.

Senator, how are you?

SENATOR-ELECT JOHN THUNE (R), SOUTH DAKOTA: Doing well, Sean. Thank you.

HANNITY: You're not sworn in, but it's all right. I can say that, right?

THUNE: Well, Senator-elect, anyway.

HANNITY: Well, congratulations to you.

THUNE: Thank you.

HANNITY: What do you think happened here for Tom Daschle? Did he come -- did he lose touch with the voters of South Dakota? Did he, being an obstructionist, was it a combination? What happened?

THUNE: Well, I think a central theme in the campaign, Sean, was the - - the lack of activity in the United States Senate, the fact that they weren't allowing votes on judges, the fact that they weren't moving energy policy or healthcare reforms.

And I think that caught up; the whole message of obstructionism and gridlock was something that people in South Dakota and people around the country really tuned in to.

And -- and I also think, too, for better or worse, by virtue of his position, having to be the leader of the National Democrat Party and carry the liberal agenda in the United States Senate, was an agenda that was very far out of step with where a majority of South Dakotans were.

And I think that eventually caught up. And we were able to effectively, I think, draw the contrasts and point out the differences and -- and demonstrate to people in South Dakota that the obstructionism wasn't serving their interests and that the voting record was very far left of where they are on the issues.

HANNITY: But Tom did have a pretty good track record of bringing home what we describe as bacon to the state. So you had an uphill battle. Because there was bringing a lot of -- there were a lot of benefits to being in the leadership position that he was in.

And I even read, I think -- what was it -- there were about 15 percent of voters that voted for George W. Bush or a little bit more also voted for Tom Daschle. Considering their differing views, that's pretty substantial.

THUNE: It is. But you know, we have a history in South Dakota. If you look at the Dakotas over time, we consistently have sent Democrats to Washington, D.C.

And I think that when he's been in office for 26 years, you know, held the title, and had $20 million to spend, you know, those were some formidable obstacles that we had to clear.

And there were a lot of Republicans in South Dakota who are persuaded by his argument. And I think, you know, there were some votes that went in his direction as a result of that.

But ultimately, we were able to hold enough of the Republican vote to win some of the conservative Democrats on some of the cultural issues and win enough of the independent vote to get to where we needed to be.

But it was a close election. It was hard fought. It was expensive. And at the end of the day, I think it was decided on the ground. The turnout is what I had said all along, was what was going to turn the election. And I think that really was true.

HANNITY: I watched it from a distance, and I thought you really conducted yourself well. I thought it was a hard fought election. I liked the debate in particular that you guys had on "Meet the Press" that day. I watched it closely. And I thought you handled yourself very well there.

What are the top issues that you think in the country right now, the ones that you want to work with in the country with the president? And what do you think about this divide. We saw a little bit in the last segment or two.

There's -- there is a deep divide in this country. There is great division. There are two competing visions. I've never heard the president attacked the way he was attacked in this election cycle.

Is there anything we can do to stop this, or is it just a case where you've just got to -- you win, your agenda goes forward?

THUNE: Well, I think it's the agenda of the majority of Americans. And it was a decisive win for the president. It was a decisive win in building a majority in the United States Senate, gaining seats in the House.

And I think what that says is that people in this country, or at least the majority of them, want us to govern from right of center. They want to build a coalition that develops solutions that are on the right side of the equation.

And that they were very concerned about the liberal drift, that the country was drifting further and further to the left.

The things that I want to work on are the things that I think people spoke loudly about in this last election. And that is, you know, getting judges confirmed, making sure that they have an up and down vote.

Moving energy policy, moving tax relief that will continue to grow the economy and create jobs. You know, lower health care costs. Social Security reform, the president has talked about tax reform.

I think he has an opportunity to lead in a bold way. And I think that the Congress is prepared to work with him. And I think there's an opportunity to work in a bipartisan way here.

The country is divided. There are some people with different views out there, but that's what these elections are about. They're about differences.

COLMES: Senator-elect, it's Alan Colmes. Good to have you. Welcome to the show, and congratulations on your victory.

How would you describe yourself for those who were not familiar with you? Would you say that you're socially liberal, fiscally conservative? Where do you say you would fall on that political spectrum?

THUNE: I'm a right of center conservative. I think, you know, I served three terms in the House, and if you look at my voting record, I'm fiscally conservative and socially conservative, but you know, willing to be able to work in a legislative body. You've got to be able to find that consensus. And I realize that.

And -- but I do think that when people voted in this election, they wanted to see solutions that were found right of center. I think that's what -- what we're going to do in order to solve problems in this country and meet some of these challenges. We've got to find coalitions.

And I think that is on the political spectrum, where we're going to have the most success.

COLMES: You know, we joke about bipartisanship. And if I say bipartisan, I guess to me that means you think Democratic. If you say bipartisan, you think I'm going to think Republican.

Where in the middle do you actually meet? And how can you really, if you're a social -- if you really believe there's a mandate to go right, and the large number of people voted for John Kerry and a large number of people voted for Tom Daschle, how do you serve those people, as well?

THUNE: Well, I think what you have to do is, you've got to realize that the elections are, you know, that's what this is about. It is about differences. There were some -- some, you know, some real differences in this election. There certainly were in our case -- in our race in South Dakota. And I think there were nationally, too.

But I think, Alan, at the end of the day, what has to happen is that elections are over. We've got to move on. We've got to govern. And you know, we've got majorities in the House and the Senate, although in the Senate, not a large enough majority to stop a filibuster, which means we have to be able to reach out to Democrats.

HANNITY: Senator...

THUNE: And I'm hopeful that we will be able on a lot of these issues that people feel deeply about.

HANNITY: We've got to run.

THUNE: ...to find a right of center solution.

HANNITY: Congratulations on your great victory, Senator. We're just out of time. We're going to take a break.

Thune "highest-profile member" of freshman class

Senator-elect John Thune officially ranks 93rd in the Senate.  With that in mind, see the article Sibby points to in The Hill, a Capitol Hill publication, headlined "Frist gains new powers."  Excerpt:

The Republican Conference changed its rules yesterday to give Majority Leader Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) new powers to ensure party discipline.

A coalition of loyalist and new senators managed unexpectedly to push through the more sweeping version of the proposed changes, defeating a watered-down proposal.

The stronger one, which passed on a 27-26 secret-ballot vote, allows Frist to fill half of all vacancies on “A” committees as he chooses.

This important development is good news for South Dakota and for Thune, who now has more ability to cash in on the political capital he earned defeating the other side's leader.  Then there's this passage:

Frist could use his powers to create a star out of the new freshman class. The highest-profile member of the class is probably Sen.-elect John Thune (R-S.D.), who knocked off Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.). Thune has already been a staple on television talk shows since the election.

Jockeying to be on the Finance Committee

"Senators vying for seat on power panel":  The Capitol Hill publication The Hill has this report.

Ben Nelson for Ag Secretary?

The always-scheming Karl Rove has reportedly approached Democratic Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska (South Dakota's southern neighbor for those of you out-of-state readers) to offer him the Secretary of Agriculture position in the administration.  If Ben Nelson were to accept, Nebraska governor Mike Johanns would appoint a Republican to take his place, increasing the Senate Republican majority to a cool 56.  It has been widely anticipated that Johanns would mount a tough challenge to Nelson in 2006, so the prospect of becoming Ag Secretary has to be rather tempting to Nelson.

Thune-Salazar joint appearance on PBS

Senator elect Thune appeared on PBS tonight in a segment with Gwen Ifill.  You can access a transcript HERE.

Brad Carson explains why he lost to Coburn

Brad Carson, the Democratic candidate for Oklahoma's open Senate seat, explains why he lost to Republican Tom Coburn in a piece for the New Republic headlined "Vote Righteously!"($)  Recall that Carson distanced himself from Senator Daschle during the campaign, saying he would not be an "enabler" for Daschle.  Excerpt from Carson's TNR piece:

For the vast majority of Oklahomans--and, I would suspect, voters in other red states--these transcendent cultural concerns are more important than universal health care or raising the minimum wage or preserving farm subsidies. Pace Thomas Frank, the voters aren't deluded or uneducated. They simply reject the notion that material concerns are more real than spiritual or cultural ones. The political left has always had a hard time understanding this, preferring to believe that the masses are enthralled by a "false consciousness" or Fox News or whatever today's excuse might be. But the truth is quite simple: Most voters in a state like Oklahoma--and I venture to say most other Southern and Midwestern states--reject the general direction of American culture and celebrate the political party that promises to reform or revise it.

Thune on "Hannity & Colmes" tonight

Sean Hannity just said on his show that Senator-elect Thune will be appearing on "Hannity and Colmes" tonight.

Compliments, compliments

"..Judge Gonzales is no Attila the Hun; he's far from that, and he's a more uniting figure." - Sen. Patrick Leahy, as quoted in today's edition of the New York Times.

More Gannon

Jeff Gannon, resident DC expert on South Dakota politics, has another article today headlined "GOP Hails 'Magnificent Seven' Freshman Senators." Excerpt:

The NRSC chairman singled out South Dakota Senator-elect John Thune for special praise, noting that he ousted the first leader of either party running for reelection in over 50 years. He had previously said that beating Daschle would be like picking up three seats. Allen said, "South Dakota voters saw the qualities of John Thune and wanted a man who says what he means and would vote that way in Washington."

Gannon

Jeff Gannon, whose reportage had a dramatic impact on the Daschle v. Thune race (his story about Sen. Daschle signing a legal document claiming to be a D.C. resident was published nearly the same day Thune began to run an ad showing Daschle saying "I'm a DC resident"), has written an analysis of the debacle headlined "Daschle Betrayed By Staff In Homestead Tax Debacle" Excerpt:

Although several factors contributed to the defeat of Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD), one of the most serious wounds the three-term incumbent suffered was self-inflicted. In claiming a property tax break limited to residents of the District of Columbia, the Senator drew attention to the very thing he had long worked to conceal: He was more a creature of Washington, DC than Aberdeen, SD.

(Via DVT.)

A Star is Born

Roll Call, the Capitol Hill publication, has an article today headlined "John Thune: A Star is Born" ($) One of the more interesting passages of the article addresses Thune's status as a national political figure. Relevant excerpt:

Regardless of how his new colleagues react, Thune has already been accepted with open arms by the media as a new national spokesman for Republicans.

On Nov. 10 alone, Thune appeared on CNBC and CNN twice ("Paula Zahn Now" and "Lou Dobbs Tonight") to discuss topics ranging from judicial nominations to the budget.

He also was a guest of George Stephanopoulos on "This Week" Nov. 7, appearing with Obama, who is arguably the only Senator-elect to eclipse Thune in press attention.

Thune, however, makes a point of downplaying talk of his status as a budding media darling, insisting that much of the attention is a result of "who I was running against." "The profile of this race generated some additional attention, and we are trying to use that in a way that enables us to serve the interests we believe in and the agenda we want to move," Thune said.

Some Democratic insiders argue that with Thune not likely to face a serious re-election race again in his career, he will quickly disappear to the back bench once the election afterglow wears off.

Still, Thune has clearly demonstrated a savvy understanding of the media and how best to present a conservative message. "Demeanor is important," saidThune. "You can be a right-of-center conservative with a conservative message, but how you communicate that is important."

Other Republicans agree that Thune's communication skills are uniquely suited to pushing the Republican agenda in the media. "John is very articulate," said Rep.Tom Osborne (R-Neb.), a Thune confidant. "He will be a great asset in the Senate."

Allen added that Thune's debate performances against Daschle showcased his talent for rhetorical repartee. "He held his own against Tom Daschle who knows all these procedures and is very knowledgeable about the workings of the Senate," the Virginia Senator said.

Sen. Johnson to ruminate on Daschle's career

Be sure to tune in to C-Span 2 tomorrow (Wednesday) to watch Senator Johnson and others deliver farewells on the Senate floor to Senator Daschle.

Headline of the Day

"Bipartisanship school begins — brawl scheduled after class": The Capitol Hill newspaper The Hill has this report.

Daschle farewell

"Daschle Bids Democrats Goodbye": The AP has this report.

Janklow appeal

The AP is reporting: "High court urged to overturn Janklow's manslaughter conviction."

Charlie Cook: Senate will be "most interesting show in town"

Charlie Cook's "Off to the Races" column today is about "the unexpectedly large 55-45 majority in the United States Senate."  Excerpt:

One of the most fascinating shows to watch for the next two years is a drama focusing on what Republicans will be able to do with their unexpectedly large 55-45 majority in the United States Senate. While most observers anticipated that Republicans would hold onto their majority, or maybe increase it by a seat or two, a four-seat gain -- halfway to a theoretical filibuster-proof majority -- was an outcome no one likely contemplated. Conservatives are already making great plans for an aggressive agenda, but whether those agenda items can win approval in the Senate remains an open question....

Republicans have legitimate beefs with Democrats over their use and threat of the filibuster against as many as 16 of President Bush's judicial nominations. Then again, Democrats have equally legitimate arguments that Republicans started this with their refusal to hold Judiciary Committee hearings for 62 of President Clinton's nominees during his eight years in office. Both parties are guilty of selective outrage on this issue, with Republican threats to invoke the "nuclear option" foreclosing on the ability of the minority to filibuster judicial nominations potentially setting the stage for an early fight that might set the tone for the next two years....

Incoming Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is widely expected to have a better working relationship with the GOP majority than did outgoing Minority Leader Tom Daschle. Then again, the Daschle loss and the testiness of attacks, going in both directions, in South Dakota and, for that matter, in the Kentucky Senate race with Republican Sen. Jim Bunning, are likely to reverberate around the chamber for some time to come.

All in all, it is not at all clear how productive the Senate will be over the next two years. But it promises to be the most interesting show in town.

Barone the first to call race for Thune

Steve Forbes has this to say about Michael Barone calling the race for Thune:

In the close Senate race in South Dakota, Barone had Fox declare Republican John Thune the winner over Democrat and Senate minority leader Tom Daschle, even though vote tallies were close and other pundits were observing that precincts with large Indian populations still had not reported in. Barone noted exactly which two counties had the uncounted Indian votes that would help Daschle but then pointed out that there was a heavily Republican suburban county in which only about one-third of the vote had been reported. Barone concluded that that county and the two predominantly Indian ones would effectively cancel each other out and that Thune's lead would hold. He was again right about a close and critical contest.

What is South Dakota?

A reader reports that a category on yesterday's Jeopardy television show was "At-large congressional districts."  One answer for $500 was the name "Herseth," as in newly elected Rep. Stephanie Herseth.  My source reports that all of the contestants were clueless.

UPDATE:  Another reader writes in: "This was a college semifinal episode, category, 'At Large States.' One fellow did get North Dakota."

Brokaw booed at Husker-Sooner game

One of South Dakota's favorite sons, Tom Brokaw, attended the Nebraska-Oklahoma game last weekend as a guest of OU's president, and was booed more heartily than were the Huskers by the OU crowd.  Sooner fans despise the mainstream media more than they despise the Huskers?  That's really saying something. 

If and when I watch network news, I always turn to Brokaw on NBC, as he's much better than alternatives Rather and Jennings.  Unfortunately, Brokaw is leaving the anchor's chair forever on December 22.  The New York Times profiled Tom Brokaw last Sunday in an article headlined "Anchor Away."  Excerpt:

Competitors and media critics may have gnashed their teeth, but the strategy was sound, and Mr. Brokaw gradually established his persona as the anchor most able to speak to the concerns of the American people.

Today Mr. Wright puts it in contemporary terms. "He's a red state guy and we live in a red state world."

The crimson state in question is South Dakota, where Mr. Brokaw was born, and which he says still lives in him despite his decades as a resident of Manhattan. Mr. Rather has Texas in his blood, of course, but his connections to his Southwest roots can seem forced, as in his country-fried election night witticisms. Mr. Jennings has no red or blue state background to call upon at all, since he's a native Canadian.

"I still have a South Dakota-Montana sensibility about certain things," Mr. Brokaw said. "I have an awareness of what people are thinking and talking about. I don't treat Middle America as flyover country."

Mr. Lack said, "They see him as the guy with the least pretensions. He's the guy you would want to go have a beer with."

This is, as even Mr. Brokaw concedes, something of a skewed impression. "People still think of me as from South Dakota," he said. "But I'm a bright lights, big city guy." That translates to living in an apartment on Park Avenue and interests ranging from the Yankees to the city's art galleries. Yes, Mr. Brokaw, who makes about $10 million a year, vacations on a ranch in Montana, but he often travels there on a private jet owned by Herbert Allen, the investment banker and one of Mr. Brokaw's closest friends.

In Mr. Lack's analysis, "Tom loves being hip, which is counter to the ordinary guy. I have been in more trendy restaurants with him that I ever would have imagined. Tom loved Hollywood when he was in L.A. He loves show business. He's very comfortable in all those areas, even if what he truly is is a regular guy from South Dakota who married a Miss South Dakota."

Diedrich for Ag Secretary?

The AP is reporting: "Thune says Diedrich would make good ag secretary."

Freshmen senators

The AP is reporting: "Freshman Lawmakers Arrive in Washington."  Excerpt:

Starting Sunday, the freshmen have been briefed on such subjects as security, legal liabilities, ethical rules, setting up an office and dealing with strains on family life.

They lunched Monday at the White House, took a class picture on the Capitol steps, were meeting with Republican and Democratic leaders and will participate in elections this week for party leaders in the coming 109th Congress.

Thune said he learned they would not have permanent office space until April or May. "This is our first exposure to the deliberative pace of the Senate," the former House member said.

What it means to be "Daschled"

The Hill, a Capitol Hill publication, defines the verb "Daschled" to mean "to aggressively target for defeat a liberal Democrat who represents an otherwise solidly Republican state."

Thune appearance on Fox News

Senator-elect John Thune appeared on "After Hours with Cal Thomas" Saturday night.  When I find a transcript, I'll post it.  Meanwhile, you can catch a glimpse of the liberal perspective of Thune's appearance at "News Hounds."

Weekly Standard piece by Bob Mercer

Pierre, South Dakota-based journalist Bob Mercer has an excellent piece in the latest edition of the Weekly Standard headlined "South Dakota Blues" (subscription) discussing in part the similarity of Senator Daschle's loss to Senator McGovern's loss in 1980.

Dakota Alliance member gets quoted

Professor Lauck of DVT gets quoted in today's edition of the Las Vegas Review-Journal:

Some believe Reid will walk a tightrope in representing a caucus that is more liberal than his Nevada constituents.

"Senator Reid will suffer from the same perils that Senator Daschle did, trying to carry the water for the liberal caucus in Washington when he has a red state constituency to worry about," said Jon Lauck, a South Dakota State University professor.

Dem observer: Daschle's position "hurt his effectiveness at home and in Washington"

I missed an interesting article in the Washington Times this past week headlined "Capitol Hill leadership."  The following passage in the article really jumped off the page:

Democratic Byron Dorgan of North Dakota tested the waters to run for the whip post, but also demurred. His situation is instructive. Watching Mr. Daschle lead an increasingly partisan and liberal caucus in Washington, representing a red state where President Bush garnered 60 percent was frustrating — a tension many believe led to his electoral demise. "It hurt his effectiveness at home and in Washington," a Democratic lobbyist told me.

LAT misses an important fact

Recently, I noted an article published in the Los Angeles Times about corporate lobbyists "cashing in" on Thune's victory that simply ignored the fact that Thune's opponent collected three times more corporate money than Thune.  Excerpt from the LAT:

The greatest contribution of Washington-based business organizations, however, was the on-the-ground effort for candidates in hard-fought congressional races.

Nowhere was this more dramatically displayed than in South Dakota, where Republican Congressman John Thune defeated Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle. Washington business lobbyists made an extraordinary effort to usher Daschle from power.

Um, Washington business lobbyists made an extraordinary effort to keep Daschle in power, too.  According to a May 5, 2004 story in Roll Call headlined "PAC Dollars Favor Daschle," Daschle "raised more than three times as much money for his re-election bid from U.S. corporations as former Rep. John Thune (R), his pro-business opponent."

If Daschle had won, I doubt the LAT would be writing stories about corporate interests "cashing in" on his victory.  It seems to me that the LAT reporter here fell victim to his preconceived notions about the GOP and missed a rather important fact about the corporate interests opposed to Thune.

Thune's appearance on "Capital Gang"

You can access a transcript of Senator-elect Thune's appearance on CNN's "Capital Gang" last night by clicking HERE.