Daschle

Tom Daschle reflects on the 2004 Senate race and his loss to Senator Thune in an Argus Leader interview today.  Despite the fact that his staffers, who Daschle allegedly still provides a paycheck, still constantly attack Thune, and are still bitter about losing, Daschle says that he does not "feel any animosity or any ill will":

Q: When I talked to John Thune a year ago I asked him the same thing. You two, I believe in your final debate or one of those debates, someone said "will you have a cup of coffee after this is all over?" And you both said, "Yeah, that's fine." It was a fairly divisive moment for South Dakota. Would it not be a healing gesture for the two of you to talk?

A: Oh, sure. I don't know that healing is necessary. I don't feel any animosity or any ill will. I didn't like the way the race turned out. But that's politics. And politics is not for the fainthearted. I knew that a long time ago. So, there's no ill will. I respect the decision made by the people of my state but that doesn't mean that doesn't go on. I don't think it should be artificial either. I don't think that there's any particular difficulties that have to be reconciled. It's just the way the race turned out.

Q: Are there still things on your mind from 2004? Do you wake up and say, "Why did I get in the race so early?" Or "Why did I agree to eight debates?" though in the end it was six. "Why the late lawsuit by the campaign the night before the election?" "Why didn't I come out and explain the 'I'm a D.C. resident' quote in its context?" Are there things you think about?

A: I really don't. ... There is nothing that can be done to change the way the election turned out. So there's very little value in reliving or restrategizing any aspect of the campaign. I'm proud of the campaign I ran. Probably knowing what I know now, I might do things differently. But I think it's so important to look forward, not backward. That's what I'm doing.

Q: What might you have done differently?

A: I haven't thought about it enough to be able to tell you that. I said there might be, but I seriously have not given much thought to what could have been done differently. I think it's important to be saying, what can I be doing now? And that's what we're talking about, what my plans are.

Q: Did you have the same fire in '04 as you did in '98 and '92 and '86? Did you want to win as badly in '04?

A: I think I did. The circumstances are always different. I'm older. But I worked just as hard. I don't know how I could have worked any harder. The work was different, of course. I spent a lot more time knocking on doors in my earlier races and wish I could have done that. But when you're the leader of the Senate Democratic caucus you don't have some of those opportunities. But I had a lot of fire, a lot of determination, a lot of commitment to work. My family did, too. But you know I think if the election were run this year, it would be a lot different.

Q: Because?

A: Because the circumstances have changed dramatically in these two years.

Q: Well, you're out of office most obviously.

A: No, I mean if I were not out of office. ...

Q: You mean because there's no presidential election this year?

A: No, even if there had been a presidential election. I'm saying if everything would have been the same this year as it was two years ago, circumstances would have been different.

Q: Because of the war?

A: There's just a lot of things. The climate is so different now than it was back then.

Q: Do you think you would defeat John Thune if the election were today?

A: As I said before, the political circumstances are vastly different than they were in 2004. However, I certainly can't predict an outcome of an election now any better than two years ago.