South Dakota Politics

KELO's "First Monday" to feature Diedrich, Hildebrand

Legendary local anchor emeritus Steve Hemmingsen will host "First Monday" tonight on KELO at 6:30.  Steve Hildebrand, Senator Daschle's campaign manager, will be a guest with Daschle's defeat a topic for discussion.  This should be good. 

Information from:  Hemmingsen's latest contribution, in which he echoes the latest local Democratic talking point by "worrying" that John Thune, who has not yet taken office, has lost his influence with President Bush.  Give it a rest, guys.  By the time Thune stands for re-election, there will be a different occupant in the White House, and the political landscape will have dramatically changed.  If the Dems want to talk about clout in six years, I'm certain Thune will be glad to have that conversation, and I'm equally certain the Dems will not want to have that conversation.

Hemmingsen: What we need is more bloggers

Legendary KELO-TV anchor emeritus Steve Hemmingsen has posted an interesting piece today about the effect of blogs on the Daschle v. Thune race. Excerpt:

I don't know how you prove this or if it can be proven at all given the ethereal nature of this whole cyberspace thing, but I suspect that these bloggers are the ultramodern form of talk radio. I also suspect they had a lot of clout in this last election from Bush to Thune.

I think people are slowly beginning to grasp the significant role of the blogs in the Senate race. As DVT notes, there are those MSM types who are embracing the blogs, and those fighting a pitched battle against the blogs. DVT notes, too, that those fighting against the blogs are the ones who have made up facts and resorted to such histrionics as playing the Hitler card.

Hemmingsen suggests later in his piece that "What we need is more bloggers to keep the bloggers honest." I completely agree. I heartily subscribe to the First Amendment ideal that the more speech there is, the better off all of us are. I'm glad to see at least one person in the local MSM agrees. It has been amazing to me how many local establishment types who should know better seem to think more speech is somehow a bad thing. For example, last week, Bob Burns, a professor at South Dakota State University, said on KSFY television that he thought blogs were "bad for politics."

As DVT notes, perhaps Hemmingsen's venture into discussing the Dakota Blog Alliance will prompt wider debate about the quality and balance of all South Dakota media. That debate, it seems to me, is sorely needed.

Beware of those "fringe media outlets"

KELO-TV, the Sioux Falls CBS affiliate widely considered the establishment broadcast medium in South Dakota, discussed SDP on the 10:00 news tonight. You can access the internet stream of the segment HERE. I was never contacted by KELO for a comment, even though KELO News Director Mark Millage knows how to get in touch with me. The condescending tone of the segment was typical of the mainstream media dinosaurs' response to the New Media. That said, the KELO coverage of SDP was definitely not even in the same ballpark as the vitriolic response of the Argus Leader executive editor to the New Media. Below is a sampling of some of the remarks made by KELO co-anchor Angela Kennecke about the New Media generally and SDP specifically:

"There are so many sites out there that LOOK like real news, but are really just opinion or internet blogs. Just because they LOOK official or say 'news' doesn't mean that they ARE."

The following comment by Angela Kennecke about SDP is absolutely priceless:

"This is just a long internet blog. It is not an official mainstream media site."

That one's so good I'm putting it right at the top of the blog. What's sad is Angela Kennecke probably doesn't realize she paid me a compliment.

Hemmingsen: Daschle loading Thune's cannon

South Dakota television icon Steve Hemmingsen has a post headlined "From Nicey-Nice To Obviously-Obvious." Excerpt:

Is Senator Tom Daschle loading John Thune's cannon for him or what? Daschle's latest proposal sounds like the plot of an Elmer Fudd rabbit chase.

Daschle suddenly proclaims that he finds Rural America in decline and has a five-point plan to stop it. John Thune promptly asks where has our Tom been for the last thirty years. Heck, why not make it fifty. Having grown up in Rural America, the peak years I remember were in the 1950's. We've been in a noticeable slide ever since.

Princess Stephanie from the Democratic Duchy Of Herseth

Keloland TV's Steve Hemmingsen has some great commentary on the selection of Larry Diedrich by the GOP to run for South Dakota's sole House seat. You can access yesterday's commentary HERE (best line: "Princess Stephanie from the Democratic Duchy Of Herseth in Northeastern South Dakota"), and today's commentary HERE (best line: "I want to write this before I'm tainted by my old friend Dave Kranz's thoughts in the Argus Leader").

UPDATE: An out-of-state reader e-mailed wondering who Steve Hemingsen is. You can access Hemingsen's bio HERE.