Thune Denies Ties to Gannon

From the Rapid City Journal:

Thune said he appeared on Gannon's radio show once early in the campaign and later may have done another interview to be printed on Talon News' Web site. Thune said his campaign didn't pay Gannon for his reporting services and didn't coordinate its campaign strategy with him, as some critics have implied.

The campaign did, however, see the value of working with a journalist with a clear conservative philosophy, Thune said.

"As far as we knew, he was just another reporter at a conservative news organization. We talked to hundreds, if not thousands, of news sources through the course of the campaign," Thune said. "We figured if he was reaching a conservative audience, it was going to be helpful for us."

For their part, Daschle's people seem to agree with this.  Said Steve Hildebrand, Daschle's 2004 campaign manager:

"In my opinion, that has nothing to do with John Thune. It has everything to do with the fact that the communications director for the White House was allowing this guy a daily pass to sit in the briefing room and ask the president of the United States, the leader of the free world, questions that were less than newsworthy," Hildebrand said.

I have long suspected the Gannon story to be pretty thin.  This supports my suspicion.