BWM

South Dakota Blog Watch Man has been shopping for the editor of the Argus.  He's also ranking SD newspapers.  BWM has come alive of late and SDP needs to pay better attention.  One thing BWM might want to rethink, however, is his claim that Senator Johnson "didn't promise South Dakota that he'd protect Ellsworth last fall."  During his last race in 2002, BWM should note, Johnson's television advertising said quite boldly that "Clearly the best thing we can do to protect Ellsworth is to keep Tim Johnson in the United States Senate."

So who is Blog Watch Man, anyway? 

BWM responds:

Johnson did claim to have enough influence to keep Ellsworth open, but I'm sure that the senior senator never expected the leader of the senate Democrats -- Daschle -- to be beaten in an election. It's like the kid with the tough older brother a couple years older than him shoving class bully and saying, "you'll be sorry if you keep this up." ...

No matter how much finger pointing the Apple Dumpling Gang does, it's going to be very hard for them to advance the notion that Johnson -- in the minority party and in the party without White House ties -- can be blamed for the Ellsworth closing.

Nobody blames Johnson for closing, as BWM asserts, but it's worth noting that Johnson ran TV ads saying he could keep the base open.  Thune never ran TV ads on Ellsworth, but Daschle ran at least a few.  And Thune never guaranteed that the base would stay open.  He simply said something very close to what BWM says about it being better to be in the GOP than in the "minority party and in the party without White House ties," i.e. that it would be better to have some compatibility with the President instead of constantly blocking everything he wanted to do.  The closure process was de-politicized in the end and everyone took lumps, unfortunately for Ellsworth.  In any event, this string started with a question about why Johnson doesn't get more calls to discuss BRAC when he ran TV ads saying he could save Ellsworth, a question worth considering.  Maybe the answer tells us more about the press than anything.

Again, who is BWM?  Some readers have interesting theories, which SDPers enjoy reading.

UPDATE:  Sibby is calling BWM an "anonymous chicken."  Why the anonymity, BWM?  While BWM apparently finds it amusing to take jabs at Sibby, it should be noted that Sibby is willing to openly express his opinions and sign his name to his posts.