Forget The Who Would You Want To Have A Beer With? As A Test For Supporting A Candidate.. . .

. . . Or yet another reason not to vote for Mike Rounds.

During every election cycle some talking head will claim that voters wind up voting for the candidate that they want to have a beer with. If the pundit it correct, I shouldn't vote. I don't recall any politician for statewide or federal office that I would want to have a beer with.

I propose, therefore,a new criterion to apply to the 2014 South Dakota Senate race: which candidate do you trust to help you if your child runs into trouble in a foreign country?

I believe Rick Weiland would do everything in his power to help me in that situation. I believe Larry Pressler would do everything in his power to help me in that situation. I believe Mike Rounds would not lift a finger to help me. He'd take time to take a phone call from Joop Bollen, but my problem would never appear on his radar.

Because one of the young'uns actually resides in a foreign county, this is not an academic question for me. It strikes at the core, and convinces me that there is no policy reason or personal reason to consider voting for Mike Rounds.

Mike Rounds And The Big Lie: Ending Waste, Fraud, And Abuse

If I understand Republicans correctly, they view government as being filled with "waste, fraud, and abuse." They contend that if government has any legitimate reason to exist, these irregularities must be eliminated. Further, they claim that because Republicans fulminate the two prior contentions, they deserve to be elected to whatever board, commission, legislature, or executive office they seek.

EB-5 may be a complicated mess, but it's a prime example of wasting millions and abusing any system of adequate checks and balances. Whether the legal definition of fraud occurred may be an open question, but the whole affair has the stench of corruption.

EB-5 occurred under Mike Rounds watch. Republicans allege ending "waste, fraud, and abuse" is their raison d'être. If a Republican enabled such practices rather than ended them,,one would hope voters would end that Republican's, in this case Mike Rounds, career.

The First C Of Political Survival: Campaign

I have become quite fascinated with the 5 Cs of survival: cutting tool, cover, container, cordage, and combustion. The idea of 5 alliterative essentials is an excellent mnemonic device and, dare I say, a workable organizing principle.

It with that spirit in mind that I offer Democrats the first C of political survival, campaign.

Professor Jon Schaff believes "Weiland has run an almost perfect campaign," and "Rounds is in trouble." I agree with Schaff that Rounds is merely bruised not bloodied. Further, in blood red South Dakota, Weiland needs a knockout not merely a knockdown to win. Those caveats aside, Weiland still has a chance because he is running a campaign.

It is difficult to imagine every Democrat running for statewide office having the energy to do Weiland's statewide tours. In addition Rounds may have bigger flaws and have more negative baggage than most other Republicans seeking statewide office. That said, Susan Wismer's campaign has provoked skirmishes but falls far short of full scale political guerrilla warfare necessary to win. There's little evidence than any other Democrats are running for statewide office.

Campaigns matter and only one Democrat running statewide seems to be running a complete one.

A Minor Musing On EB-5 And Logical Fallicies

Over at Madville, Cory has been beating a consistent drum about the irregularities in the EB-5 program that lost millions. His posts point to malfeasance that illustrates a culture of corruption under the Mike Rounds administration

PNR has been more circumspect when posting about this matter, but this post has him concluding that Mike Rounds may have been guilty of mismanagement.

Normally, I would reject the either Rounds is either a crook or an incompetent argument as an either/or logical fallacy. Rounds, however, has not offered a plausible alternative to either scenario, so until he does, one is left concluding that a vote for Rounds represents support for corruption or incompetence or both. I not sure why anyone would want to cast that vote.

Weiland Needs To Talk About His Rural Development Plan

I missed Rick Weiland's appearance and fundraiser yesterday.

I was in Brookings to meet with a few other debate coaches discussing how to limit the policy debate topic "Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase its non-military exploration and/or development of the Earth's oceans" so that freshmen don't drown in it. (Sorry for the bad pun.) The young'uns will discuss aquaculture, alternative energy limited to ocean specific options such as tidal or algae, and the exploration of and development of rare earth minerals.

The Weiland campaign could learn from topic limits. Like Weiland, I believe it's dangerous that those with unlimited coffers have more political speech than a poor person with good ideas especially when the former's political utterances likely involve advocating only ideas that will further fill their coffers.

I also think Weiland's visit everywhere in South Dakota twice twice is his only viable strategy against a former Governor Rounds.

That said, novice debaters have to discuss more than one issue.  If yesterday's press reports are accurate, Weiland spent most of his time rehashing the evils of money in politics.

One of the main issues Weiland has brought to the table on his cross-state tour is how money has gotten in the way of communicating with the voters.

“I've been talking about how big money has so gotten in the way of talking to the voters versus buying your way,” he said. “Big money has definitely influenced how these campaigns are run these days. I made the boast early on about visiting every town — I did that — and one of my opponents has made the boast that he was going to raise $9 million and most of it was going to come from out of state. I think there’s going to be quite a choice at the end of this campaign between someone who’s actually visited all of these communities and spent the time to sit down and talk to the voters versus someone who’s tried to raise all of this money from out of state who’s dominating the airwaves and print media.”

Weiland said one of his goals is to give people more influence.

One could argue Weiland is the only candidate actively campaigning. The music videos and the "talk fast" ads are fun and effective. Weiland is, however, in danger of sounding like one of Herman's Hermits biggest hit, "second verse same as the first."

Everyone who thinks the love affair between money and politics is the root of all evil. is likely in the Weiland camp by now. Weiland has a rural development platform. The plan has several planks but improving broadband and rebuilding infrastructure in rural areas should be especially easy planks to sell. Weiland needs to talk about those plans and get that message out.

Chart Of The Day: Nate Silver Gives Mike Rounds A 95% Chance Of Winning Edition

From this FiveThirtyEight article that concludes odds favor a Republican takeover of the United States Senate.

Summing the probabilities of each race yields an estimate of 51 seats for Republicans. That makes them very slight favorites — perhaps somewhere in the neighborhood of 60-40 — to take control of the Senate, but also doesn’t leave them much room for error.

Mike Rounds Is Liked But He's Not Well Liked

The results of a Nielson Brothers/Northern Plain News poll released yesterday indicate that nearly as many many people dislike Mike as like him. The poll shows Rounds with a 13 point lead over his Democratic opponent Rick Wieland. The more interesting fact is that people know Rounds but may not really like him

The overwhelming majority of the "likely voters" polled know who Rounds is.

Mike Rounds's Name ID

Fewer than half have a favorable view of the two-term former Governor.

Mikes Rounds's Favorable Rating

Nearly as many have an unfavorable view

Mike Rounds's Unfavorable Rating

Those numbers can't be comforting for Rounds who believes "I Like Mike" videos are so important enough that his campaign web page asks for submissions. Given these results, I wonder if Mike Rounds ever looks at his wife and quotes Willy Loman, the protagonist of  Death of a Salesman, "You know, the trouble is, [Jean] people don’t seem to take to me."

The Weiland Campaign's Sisyphean Task

Rick Weiland has released a pair of well-done new ads. They reinforce a major campaign theme that big money is bad for politics, and they show Weiland as a happy prairie populist warrior. Well done and fun should be a winning formula






And yet, Weiland still faces a long, uphill path to victory. Cory Heidelberger tweets that the Weiland campaign today released poll that showed Weiland within 10 points of Mike Rounds. That's much closer than other recent polls.

@People4Weiland release SDDP poll showing Rounds 34%, undecided 29%, Weiland 24%, Pressler 10%, Howie 3% (7/16-23, 3,387 voters, ±1.44%)
— CAHeidelberger (@coralhei) July 30, 2014

A lot of things have to happen for Weiland to catch Mike Rounds

If all things stay as they are now, Weiland needs to get two out of every three of the undecided voters. I really don't know if that feat is possible for any Democrat in South Dakota. Mike Rounds is not going to bleed voters. He is going to get some undecided to swing his way on name recognition alone. He may get some Gordon Howie and Larry Pressler voters to return to the GOP fold as well

Further, Pressler and Howie can't take any of the undecideds who would otherwise vote for Weiland. Howie may have peaked, but Pressler may still win some of the undecideds to his column. The Weiland campaign has to see every undecided that goes to Pressler as going to Rounds. It's one more vote that they need but won't get.

Perhaps a perfect storm will happen. A scandal may stick to Rounds. Pressler may withdraw and endorse Weiland, but in late July 2014 those occurrences are as unlikely as the mythological Sisyphus being able to get the boulder to sit still on top of the hill.

Spying, Politics, And Crowd Shots

Over at Dakota War College, Pat Powers is attempting to create a tsunami in a teacup by pointing out that a longtime Republican is seen talking to Rick Weiland in Wieland's new campaign video. The gentleman claims he didn't know cameras were rolling while he was talking to Weiland, a candidate the Republican gentleman obviously doesn't support.

As political incidents go, this seems to be one of failing to pay attention to detail not one of malice. On the other hand, Steve Benen reports that Michigan Republicans have undertaken "repeated efforts to record Democratic gatherings with a spy camera mounted to eyeglasses." Benen doesn't undertake speculation about whether Michigan Republicans eschewed Google Glass because the product is still too expensive or because they consider it passe. These spies are not "trackers" that every campaign expects to shadow them. Instead the people with the spy glasses are told "misrepresent themselves when attending events."

Benen concludes,

. . .what’s striking is the operation itself. Parties on both sides may rely on trackers as a matter of course, but it’s highly unusual – indeed, it’s arguably without precedent – for a state party to launch a deliberate spying operation, get caught, and accidentally leave behind evidence documenting the scope of that operation. [Benen 7/21/14]

Weiland's people should have edited the video more carefully. Weiland, however, certainly did not claim to be anything other than a Democratic candidate for the United States Senate, and  I'm pretty sure nobody was filming with spy glasses.

Robocalls Attacking Weiland In July?

This tweet came across my timeline a few minutes ago.

Apparently the RNC is robocalling South Dakota with an anti-Harry Reid, anti-@People4Weiland message.
— David Montgomery (@ArgusMontgomery) July 22, 2014

I don't doubt the report is accurate, but the timing strikes one as curious. First, few people really pay attention to politics until Labor Day. Late July seems very early.

Further, negative ads this early smack of desperation. Rounds is a prohibitive favorite. He smiled throughout a Republican primary that saw Stace Nelson hit him with harder shots than Weiland has used so far. Going negative when one has a big lead makes one doubt the strength of the lead or wonder what the frontrunner is worried about. Either way, the veneer of inevitability seems to be being scraped away.

By way of looking at all options, I doubt that any group tied to Pressler would attack Weiland for being too close to Reid. Of course, a group not associated with the Rounds campaign might be making these calls, and everyone knows that such a group's activities can't be coordinated with the official campaign. That convenient fiction still leaves open the questions "Why now?" and "What's Rounds worried about?"

Public Service Announcement: Always Follow The Links

Pat Powers gleefully quotes the following passages from this Washington Post article about the South Dakota U.S Senate campaign:

After all, Weiland, a Democrat, was not the first — or even second — choice for the national party. He last ran for office in 1996. His positions on issues such as abortion and the Keystone XL pipeline have led some to conclude he may be too liberal for a state that is trending Republican at the federal level.

 *****

Weiland was far from the national party’s first choice in a state where convincing conservatives and moderates to vote for the Democratic candidate is a necessity. Former congresswoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin was heavily recruited by national Democrats and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), but decided not to run. So was Johnson’s son, South Dakota U.S. Attorney Brendan Johnson, who also chose not to jump into the race.

***** 

Weiland is decidedly liberal. He is pro-choice, against Keystone, supports universal background checks for guns and is against the federal subsidization of big agriculture, which he believes is killing family farms.

The passages certainly fit the narrative Powers has worked hard to create: Wieland will lose because he's too liberal for South Dakota and national Democrats don't care if he wins.The quoted passages, in the main, fit the tone of the article, but the article does show Weiland to be an optimistic hard working campaigner.

Also left out is the fact that one could, if one were so inclined, go to the same article and produce the following headline: Rounds Wasteful and Scandal Plagued Campaign Fails To Excite Conservatives."

Rounds has raised $2.8 million and has spent the vast majority of the money.

***** 

Rounds ticked off his conservative credentials; he has, however, been criticized by some conservatives for tax increases.

***** 

Rounds is also dealing with continued fallout over a scandal involving a program that offered immigrant investors visas. It was found that the state lost money on the program, records were destroyed and state and federal authorities are investigating.

Always follow the link

South Dakota Democratic Party 2014 Banquet: A Minor Musing With A Boxing Metaphor Edition

I suspect there will be two stories that will dominate discussions of both Republican and Democratic true believers in the morning. The first is Tim Johnson's $200,000 gift to the South Dakota Democratic party. The second is Rick Weiland's decision to challenge Mike Rounds on EB-5.

Neither event should surprise anyone. Tim Johnson, who tonight reminded the audience that he is South Dakota's longest serving Democrat, likely doesn't want to be the last Democrat South Dakota elects to the United States Senate. The EB-5 imbroglio is a chink in Rounds's armor, and Weiland would be foolish not to attempt to exploit it. Tonight, he did a fairly good job of simplifying the story as well. Weiland took on the program not just alleged mismanagement of the program: "To sell residency to rich foreigners, as my opponent aggressively advocated throughout his tenure as Governor, and in a debate just this Spring, is not economic development, it is government enabled extortion, and it is wrong," Weiland said.

The major question I had this morning as I sat down to begin taking notes during Bernie Hunhoff's address was simple: can any of the Democrats at the top of the ballot give themselves a puncher's chance? In fact, I was wondering if any of them even knew how to throw a punch, let alone one that landed and would be scored.

Tonight Rick Weiland, Susan Wismer, and Corinna Robinson convinced me that each can deliver a solid, effective punch.. 

Weiland, Wismer, and especially Robinson need Ann Tornberg to put on her speech and debate coach hat and work with them on their delivery a bit. (When Tornberg coached at Beresford, she produced some of the best orators I have ever judged in my 20 years on the South Dakota high school debate circuit.) Robinson did, however, convince me that she knows how to tell her story in a way that will prevent Kristi Noem from reprising the sorts of ads and YouTube videos she used to mock Matt Varilek. Robinson was particularly effective in dismissing the  difficulty of unseating Noem when she said "tough is hugging your sons good-bye before going on yet another deployment."

I generally hate politicians' use of a friend or relative to tell an Horatio Alger story or a "win just one more for the Gipper" tale. Susan Wismer, however, delivered that sort of anecdote and I didn't start cursing. In fact, I found the story of a church full of people returning from out of state to honor a man at his funeral rather telling. Further, Wismer was able to simply categorize Governor Daugaard's economic development efforts as "bringing in out-of-state companies with an out-of-state work force."

Weiland seems much more comfortable in his own skin and much better able to deliver the populist rhetoric than he was last summer. Weiland mentioned his appreciation for the late Paul Wellstone and Wellstone's skills as a campaigner. Tonight, however, Wieland reminded me of another United States Senator from Minnesota, Hubert Humphrey who was called "The Happy Warrior." Weiland seems to be thoroughly enjoying the campaign.

Each of these candidates is still an underdog and each will have to hope that their Republican opponent makes an unforced error or two. Before this evening, I was fairly convinced that none of them could take advantage of any error their opponents might make. After their performance tonight, I believe each can.

My favorite political color is purple. I'm certain that some Democrats in Hawaii or California display the same hubris and sense of entitlement that some South Dakota Republicans exhibit. I'm also not an optimist by nature. Every glass I own is half empty and cracked. There will not be a blue tide in November, but Democrats have a puncher's chance of preventing a blood red November.That's a better chance than I thought they had this morning.

I Offer Gordon Howie Unsolicited Campaign Advice

Gordon Howie has run for statewide office more than I have, but he apparently has learned little from his experience. I'm going to try to keep this simple. In order to defeat Mike Rounds Howie has to get tens of thousands more South Dakotans to vote for him than he did in his last campaign. He seems to be on track to drive off everyone who did not vote for him last time.

Let's start with this clip art that graced a campaign post about Eric Cantor's defeat.

First, some might consider using this image to celebrate the defeat of Jewish candidate bad form at best anti-Semitic at worst. Let's leave those discussions aside for the moment. This image might bring scores of people to a mega-church; it's going to bring zero voters to the campaign. Mistakes happen, but this image needs to go back to the clip art file for the rest of the campaign.

Second, a good campaign would politely tell @RiNOMikeSD to STFU!

God, Guns & Gordon! http://t.co/CD2Wt27z5S #SDSEN #TeaParty #2A
— RiNO Mike (@RinoMikeSD) June 13, 2014

Every South Dakotan who follows politics and most who don't  know Howie loves God and guns. Some may question whether he loves the deity more than weapon, but none doubt his devotion.. Some cynical folk may even read the tweet to indicate that Howie believes he's a god among men. If that phrase becomes part of the Howie campaign talking points, Howie will lose every undecided voter whose politics are to the left of Atilla the Hun.

There's my free advice. Nothing too drastic, but it may keep Howie about 2%.

Weiland's Populist Rhetoric May Catch On

Rick Weiland may be on to something with his "I'm a populist" rhetoric. Democratic strategist Doug Sosnick senses that the country is ready for some populist leadership:

There is a pent up desire for dramatic change that has been shaped by a confluence of major events in the United States and around the world. In the last 10 years the country has fought two wars, faced the greatest worldwide economic meltdown since the 1930s and experienced the most significant technological transformation since the Industrial Revolution. The nation has also undergone a major demographic makeover, shifting from a majority white country to an increasingly multicultural society. Throughout this period our leaders have failed to manage the pace of all this change and to face up to the severity of our challenges, resulting in disillusionment and deep divisions among the public by race, age and income.

Writing at the National Journal, Ron Fournier sums up Sosnick's analysis and adds some concrete examples:

Populists from the right and the left—from the tea party and libertarian-leaning Rand Paul to economic populist Elizabeth Warren—are positioning themselves among the insurgents. Sosnik pointed to six areas of consensus that eventually may unite the divergent populist forces:

• A pullback from the rest of the world, with more of an inward focus.
• A desire to go after big banks and other large financial institutions.
• Elimination of corporate welfare.
• Reducing special deals for the rich.
• Pushing back on the violation of the public's privacy by the government and big business.
• Reducing the size of government.

Thinking about traditional Republicans going on tilt over a fusion ticket combining Rand Paul and Elizabeth Warren may make me smile for the rest of the summer. (The quotation doesn't mention a fusion ticket, but a blogger can dream.

The populist agenda that Sosnick and Fournier outline should make Weiland smile as well. Weiland can take that agenda for his own, but Rounds cannot, even if one counts eliminating the Department of Education as a serious effort to reduce the size of government.

Rounds, of course, will spend nearly all of time trying to tell voters that Weiland will increase the size of government and hope that they will not notice that the former governor will maintain the status quo on the the other five issues

The devil, as always, is in the details, but quite frankly, this would be a platform worth supporting. If Weiland can craft the details carefully, the race  may become much more competitive,

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.

Developing South Dakota's Democratic And Independent Candidates' Personas: Marvel Universe Edition

It's Saturday morning. The primary season made some folks testy and gave others a headache. There's going to be a long, hot, humid summer before Labor Day and then we will be bombarded by too many bad commercials and too much noisy campaigning between Labor Day and election day. It's time for a little levity.

The South .Dakota Republican candidates are prohibitive favorites in each of the statewide races that have been determined by primary: governor, United States Senate, and United States House of Representatives. It, therefore, behooves fans of both politics and comics to look at what Marvel Comics personas the Loyal Opposition, a motley but plucky collective who will be opposing the Republican nominees, should adopt.

In the United States Senate race, the Republicans have nominated Mike Rounds who seems protected by Teflon and Kevlar. He will be opposed by Democrat Rick Weiland and Independents Larry Pressler and Gordon Howie.

Having visited every town in South Dakota, loyal opponent Rick Weiland has showed he has plenty of endurance, one of 'Wolverine's powers. All Weiland needs to do is add adamantium claws and mean streak to cut through both Teflon and Kevlar.

Gordon Howie wants to bring true conservative thunder to the race. Quite frankly, the best fit for anyone trying to bring that thunder is Thor, the Norse god of thunder. Taking on the persona of a pagan god might also allow Howie to show that he's willing to be inclusive of those beyond his conservative Christian base.

Former Senator Larry Pressler has been out of the public view since he left office in January of 1997. Captain America was on ice from the end of World War II until the Avengers revived him in the early 1960s. Captain America uses his age to bring to the fore good old-fashioned American virtues; Pressler has video of his ability to avoid the vice of greed. Rounds association with EB 5 program and its assorted irregularities may make him vulnerable on that front. More importantly Pressler has political history that is being mined for for weak spots. Cap's shield may come in handy if Rounds decides to run a a few attack ads.

In the gubernatorial race, incumbent Dennis Daugaard will face loyal opponents Democrat Susan Wismer and Independent Mike Myers.

Conventional wisdom has it that Wismer needs to bring a little lightning to her campaign. No female superhero can do that job better than Storm.

Myers is the longest of long shots who needs to dramatically alter all known laws of probability. Fortunately, the Marvel Universe has a relatively unknown character with the proper name and probability altering powers, Longshot.

Finally Corinna Robinson needs to demonstrate strength and intellect to defeat incumbent Republican Congresswoman Kristi Noem. Although the individual titles have been played for laughs, She-Hulk's appearance is assorted team books demonstrate the character has the necessary power, intellect, and wit that Robinson will need to dispatch Noem.

There you have, The Loyal Opposition. The name doesn't have the ring of The Avengers, but should Democrats and Independents adopt these personas, the races might be a little closer and a little more interesting.

A Preview Of Mike Rounds's Fall Campaign: Jumping The Gun Part Deux

Unless tons of fecal matter hit thousands of large spinning blades in a manner unique to human history, June 4 will dawn with Mike Rounds as the Republican nominee for the South Dakota Senate seat currently held by Tim Johnson. He will then begin his campaign against Democrat Rick Weiland and Independents Larry Pressler and Gordon Howie.

On Wednesday, Rounds will begin using the following talking points.

1. Rick Weiland is a liberal.

2. I agree with Mr. Howie that Obamacare is the worst legislation to see the light of day in my lifetime; some of Gordon's positions, however, are so far out of the mainstream that they do not reflect the values of hard working South Dakotans.

3. Larry Pressler has forgotten his South Dakota roots.

4. Rick Weiland's take it back slogan is clear evidence that Weiland is waging class warfare against South Dakota's job creators.

5. Larry Pressler will lead us to a return of failed policies of the past at a time when it imperative that this country move forward to face the 21st Century's new challenges.

6. Rick Weiland is waging war on the Second Amendment, traditional South Dakota values, and Christmas.

7, While I was working hard to create jobs in South Dakota, Rick Weiland headed an organization that killed jobs by creating onerous regulations.

8. By leaving the Republican party, both Larry Pressler and Gordon Howie have shown that they will put their ambition above principle.

9, John Thune likes me better than he likes the other candidates. He needs me there to help him put South Dakota first. My opponents will work on an agenda that Senator Thune and I know will hurt South Dakota.

10. A vote for Rick Weiland is a vote for Obamacare, activist judges, and a big government that will break the backs of our children with unsustainable debt.

Bonus Talking Point: Whenever one of his opponents uses a word that begins with the letter "E," Rounds will say something like, "My opponent is attempting to score political points by bringing up the EB-5 program which has been used in nearly every state and which, in South Dakota, has been carefully investigated. I call on my opponents to stop their negative campaigning and focus on the issues. I have been trying to run a positive campaign but my opponents insist on turning this into one of the most negative election cycles in South Dakota history.

I hope no one was expecting the fall campaign to be about policy proposals and concrete issues. Buzzwords are so much easier.

An Unreleased Annette Bosworth Ad (Sort Of)

I've been feeling a little left out of the Annette Bosworth video frenzy. Over at DWC, Pat Powers is putting them up, seemingly seconds after Bosworth posts them. Over at Madville, Cory and Toby have transcribed her videos to help voters understand her intricate policy positions, but I have done little to help South Dakotans comprehend the Bosworth video oeuvre.

I, therefore, felt fortunate that a mindless web search for Bosworth videos turned up this gem that may or may not run on election day.

I Try To Make Sense Of The "Jason Ravnsborg Is A Mike Rounds Plant" Storyline

Throughout an interminable albeit entertaining primary season the comment sections of Dakota War College have been filled with charges that one or more of Mike Rounds's challengers is a plant to draw votes away from one of the other candidates, usually Stace Nelson.

The most recent candidate to be charged with being a plant is Jason Ravnsborg. In the past few days, Ken Crow, a former campaign associate has claimed that Ravnsborg was not attempting to win the race. Ravnsborg may or may not have fired Crow.

I like stories of political intrigue more than the next person, but I also believe William of Ockham held a pretty sharp razor, so I tried to see if seeing and hearing the story play out helped it make sense.



After hearing and seeing the story play out. the conspiracy still doesn't make sense. I, therefore, offer another Plainsman corollary to a famous principle: without firm proof, never attribute to a conspiracy that which can easily be answered by incompetence or self-aggrandizement.

2014 Republican Primary Senate Race: Two Weeks Out View

I was never in the military, so I will not copy PNR's "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot." I deal with young'uns and blog, so I'll use social media and blogging platforms: What the Wordpress Twitter Facebook is going on?

Governor Mike Rounds, the front runner with the best name ID, smiles a lot. He has some folks wondering about some questionable practices dealing with the EB-5 program. When he left office, the state had a structural deficit that his successor, Dennis Daugaard, dealt with in a rather draconian manner. Daugaard, who wears red plaid shirts to remind everyone he's just a normal guy, has endorsed Rounds, an act that cemented Rounds front runner status. Did I mention Rounds smiles a lot?

In a normal political universe, the four candidates challenging Rounds would be exploiting Rounds's record. Given that there are four challengers, one might expect, in a rational political universe, that the airwaves and newspapers would be plastered with advertisements chronicling Rounds errant ways, but South Dakota is, apparently, an alternate political universe. (Trekkers should feel free to insert their own Mirror Mirror reference here.)

One candidate, Larry Rhoden, is a state legislator with leadership experience. One would think he has some political skills. Rhoden, however, seems content to copy Rounds. During the recent debate, he even used the phrase "South Dakota common sense"; Rounds has made that phrase one of the key catch phrases of his campaign. Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but one would think that Rhoden would want to metaphorically bury Rounds not flatter him.

Two other challengers, Messrs. Nelson and Ravnsborg, have taken to arguing about which man had the greater military service and whose service created the person more fit to serve as senator. Instead of attacking Rounds, they are attacking each other. Rounds didn't even have to implement his own divide and conquer strategy. The performed the circular firing squad maneuver of their own volition.

The final candidate, Dr. Annette Bosworth, has not paid some of her former employees and conducted a raffle for which no prizes were awarded. She may have perjured herself to get her name on the ballot. She claims that she is undertaking a heroic quest. The comparison is not totally without merit; she has the hubris of an epic hero. She merely lacks any of redeeming qualities that epic heroes traditionally possess. Yet, Bosworth, the most flawed of all the candidates, is the only one who seems to understand that forcefully attacking Rounds is the only chance any of the challengers have. Of course, Bosworth's ethical lapses mean Cassandra had a better chance of being believed in Troy than Bosworth does in this campaign.

In The Picture of Dorain Gray, Oscar Wilde writes, "A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies." Rounds could not have hand picked a better set of opponents to create the opportunity for an easy victory. It will take the most monumental of gaffes to keep him from the Republican nomination on June 3.