The Hardest Working Candidate In South Dakota Is Supposed To Quit?

This morning Bob Mercer, presumably fully dosed on coffee and Red Bull, suggests that Rick Weiland should drop out of the United States Senate race in order to give Larry Pressler and Gordon Howie a chance to defeat Mike Rounds. Predictably, Cory Heidelberger takes umbrage while Pat Powers chortles. Were Weiland to act on Mercer's suggestion, Rounds's over/under in the November election would move from 48.5% to 69.5%.

Mercer points out "[n]o candidate for statewide office worked harder than Rick Weiland did in the past year." Therein lies the proverbial rub. The Democrats have their hardest working candidate race that will be the most difficult to win. The party rejected its second hardest working candidate Joe Lowe in favor of Susan Wismer in the gubernatorial race. In the United States House race, Corinna Robinson has been the political equivalent of Susan Storm Richards, Marvel Comics Invisible Woman. So far the party has no announced candidates for the attorney general or secretary of state races.

In a state filled with people who pride themselves on their work ethic, it is ironic that a respected political commentator would seriously urge the hardest working candidate to withdraw. Those of us who want a functioning two-party within the state find it depressing that minority parties within the state have so few candidates willing to emulate Weiland's Sisyphean efforts.