Tag Archives: campaign

Thune appears in new Romney ad

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Mitt Romney has started to mention a few people as possible running mates.

Of course, that’s a tad premature, since a lot of Republicans seem to favor ABR — Anyone But Romney — for the 2012 GOP nomination. But Romney has named a few people as the type of VP candidate he’d want to run with next year.

Sen. John Thune’s name has appeared, as it did in 2008 when Sen. John McCain was the Republican candidate. Thune is playing it now like he did then: He said it’s nice to be considered but he doubts he will be selected.

Still, it’s interesting than in his new TV spot in Iowa, Romney, the former governor of  Massachusetts making his second bid for the presidency, features only one other politician: John Thune. The South Dakota senator is shown standing with Romney at an earlier appearance when Thune endorsed him for president.

Here’s a link to a blog on it and the ad itself.

Thune made appearances in Iowa, our neighboring state, when he was pondering a run for the White House, He’s a Midwestern guy with strong coservative credentials and experience in ag issues, which makes him a good match for Romney in Iowa — and maybe on the ticket.

A Huffington Post columnist also thinks Thune is a logical choice.

If Romney can persuade Republicans to nominate him, that is.

President Newt?

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Newt Gingrich has been a lot of things: a college professor, a backbencher in the U.S. House, an influential speaker of the House, a former congressman, a well-paid speaker and author.

Now, he’s a presidential candidate and one of the leaders of the Republican pack vying for the chance to run against President Obama in 2012. Newt was not supposed to be here at this point; most of the insiders and observers said Gingrich was dead in the water last summer when many of his staffers abandoned him to work for Texas Gov, Rick Perry and his campaign coffers appeared empty.

But Gingrich refused to accept the diagnosis that he was a walking political dead man and continued to show up for the seemingly endless GOP debates while campaigning, speaking to the media and denouncing reports of his political demise.

Now, after other Republican contenders have popped to the top and then faded, Gingrich has survived and surfaced near the front as the primaries loom ahead.

All this despite three wives, admissions of infidelity, questionable book deals, reports of million-dollar paychecks from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and a checkered career in Congress that ended with him leaving Washington, D.C., after being outfoxed by another white-haired Southern rascal, Bill Clinton.

Now, interestingly enough, Bill Clinton has kind words for his former foe.

Newt has risen this year with strong performances at the debates and with Republicans recalling him as a powerful figure and advocate for their causes and beliefs. It also helps that the frontrunner, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, is a Mormon who is also perceived as a, gasp, moderate. That’s a pair of strikes for many GOP voters.

Speaking of which, it is unusual with two Mormons in the running for the GOP nomination — Romney and former Utah governor Jon Huntsman — Gingrich is the one with multiple wives. Will that hurt him eventually?

Can Newt survive? Does he have a real chance to win the GOP nomination? Would you vote for him in 2012? And what kind of president would Newt be if he does win?

Stephanie on politics today

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Stephanie Herseth Sandlin isn’t in politics anymore. At least as an elected, paid, empowered official.

SHS, still just 40 for another month, has an amazing six campaigns for Congress under her belt. Even out of office, she remains an informed, experienced observer of the South Dakota and national political scenes. The political world has evolved, she said recently, and it continues to do so as candidates consider campaigns.

She would know about the shifting sands of politics very well.

Think of it: George McGovern ran for Congress seven times, winning five, in his career from 1956 to 1980; Tom Daschle was on the ballot eight times, going 7-1, from 1978 to 2004 and Bill Janklow won six of seven races for three offices from 1974-2002, beating Herseth Sandlin in his final campaign.

It is impressive to note that SHS was in six elections just from 2002-2010, going 4-2. Herseth Sandlin won in landslides in 2006 and 2008 and lost in 2010, which she discussed during her appearance at her old school recently.

She was invited to a high-profile forum at Georgetown University, her alma mater, on Oct. 28, and offered interesting views on the 2012 presidential race, her past campaigns and the impact of outside dollars from hidden sources on campaigns.

Here’s my story on the event.

The event featured former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, a prince, a former NFL commissioner (which is American royalty, it seems) and other Georgetown grads and government officials. If you watch it, and I recommend it, you will notice that SHS is often turned to as a source with smart insights.

It’s a long video. The segment with our former congresswoman starts at the 2 hour, 43 minute mark.

At one point, moderator E.J. Dionne, a Georgetown professor and Washington Post columnist, referred to SHS as a member of Congress.

“I’ll still think of you as Congresswoman Herseth until I think of you as Senator Herseth,” he said.

She just smiled.

SHS is history … at SDSU, that is

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Republicans have wanted to hear for years that Stephanie Herseth Sandlin was history.

Monday night, she gave them their wish. Sorta.

Herseth Sandlin gave a Harding Lecture at SDSU Monday night and before she gave the speech she met with the media. The former Democratic congresswoman also announced she will teach a few classes at the SDSU History and Political Science Department.

She has a wealth of knowledge on both and will be able to provide a personal perspective on recent American political history, since she served more than six years in Congress while Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama were in office.

Another prominent person in South Dakota politics also has a tie to the SDSU History and Political Science Department. Jon Lauck, senior adviser/counsel to Sen. John Thune, D-S.D., was a professor at the department a few years back.

Lauck said they were colleagues at the department during the 2003-04 school year, their offices just down the hall from each other. He said he told her she would run the state’s House seat in 2004 (she had lost to Bill Janklow in her first bid for office in 2002). Lauck said he also told SHS that Thune would defeat Tom Daschle for the Senate seat.

He was right on both counts, if can trust a political operative to tell the truth. I do, since he’s also a good historian. His book “Prairie Republic: The Political Culture of Dakota Territory, 1879-1889,” is an excellent account of the shaping of early South Dakota.

I have swapped a few stories about the department with Lauck, since I majored in history at SDSU. It’s nice to see the denizens of Scobey Hall get some time in the spotlight. Most of the students who studied there went on to successful, solid careers, unlike some who were sidetracked into newspaper and online scribbling.

SHS’s 2010 election opponent, Rep. Kristi Noem, also made some news Tuesday. Noem announced she has had a very successful start to raising cash for her 2012 campaign.

According to a press release, Noem said her campaign raised more money in the first quarter of 2011 than any other previous South Dakota incumbent member of the House of Representatives in any quarter of a non-election year. Noem raised $396,099 in the first quarter of 2011 and reported $316,364 cash on hand.

“South Dakotans continue to step up and invest in our effort because they believe in the work we are trying to accomplish,” said Noem.

Noem raised $222,549 of her funds from individual contributors.

Thune at peace with decision

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John Thune sounded very content Tuesday afternoon as he explained to me why he wasn’t running for president.

Thune said he just didn’t feel the time was right. He said he wants to keep working in the Senate. The idea of striving to raise hundreds of millions of dollars while traveling across the country and competing with numerous other Republicans who want the nation’s top job just didn’t appeal to him.

In 1975, Minnesota Sen. Walter Mondale, a Democrat, said he didn’t have the “fire in the belly” to run for president in 1976. Mondale also said he didn’t want to spend two years of his life in Holiday Inns.

I asked Thune, a Republican, if he felt the same way as Mondale. While he didn’t discuss the condition of the blaze in his belly, he did admit he wasn’t thrilled by the idea of flying around the country and staying in hotels.

Thune said he genuinely enjoys the Senate and likes working for the people of South Dakota. He was just elected to a second term in the Senate without opposition and at 50, has a long political career ahead of him if he wants it.

Thune is a conservative and Mondale a liberal. But it’s worth noting that after bowing out of the 1976 presidential race, Mondale accepted Jimmy Carter’s offer to run as his VP candidate and he served four years in that office. Will Thune emulate his Midwest neighbor  next year?

And Mondale got over his aversion to a presidential run. He was the Democratic nominee in 1984 and was crushed by President Reagan. Thune certainly doesn’t want to follow that path, but he may decide to run for the White House down the road.

Here’s Mondale reflecting on his career:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kg5hVQYQto0

And here’s Thune talking about how the GOP can win in 2012:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNaiOGSzeBM&feature=related