The Beltway's Not America-- And It Sure Isn't South Dakota

Josh Kraushaar's National Journal post yesterday started off just right: "If Democrats fall a seat short of holding the Senate, there will be a lot of second-guessing on the one race that never materialized but should have held a lot more promise: South Dakota." But then he veered right off the rails. In regard to Rick Weiland's chance of holding the seat for the Democrats he asserts that "even the most optimistic Democrats will acknowledge [he] faces near-impossible odds in the solidly red state." That isn't true. Optimistic Democrats know Weiland could win if he weren't being cock-blocked by DSCC Executive Director Guy Cecil. Almost every Democrat in the Senate-- and every single good one-- has already endorsed Weiland but Kraushaar chose not to speak to any of them but to instead play stenographer for the poutraged Blue Dog-loving/progressive-hating Mr. Cecil. "It didn't have to be that way," commiserates Kraushaar, totally with the grain.

The Senate race to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson could have been one of the most consequential contests in the country, if Democrats had a little more luck. Just over a year ago, the political talk in South Dakota centered on which of their up-and-coming prospects would run-- former Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, one of the most popular figures in the state after representing it for three full terms in the House, or Tim Johnson's son Brendan Johnson, who's serving as a U.S. attorney. Despite the state's Republican moorings, now-Sen. Heidi Heitkamp's surprising 2012 victory in neighboring North Dakota served as a fresh reminder that strong candidates running in conservative-minded states can overcome disadvantages.

In the delusional Beltway world of the Cecils and Kraushaars, Stephanie Herseth Sandlin is indeed "one of the most popular figures in the state." But not in real life. And even if they're delusional, she isn't. Democrats in the state don't trust her and didn't turn out in 2010 to reselect her, allowing right-wing Republican Kristi Noem to beat her. Herseth Sandlin knew she could never win a Democratic primary and she only agreed to run if Cecil could assure her he would clear the field for her-- which he did, by persuading Brendon Johnson to not run. That's when Weiland jumped in… and Herseth Sandlin jumped out. "She announced," writes Kraushaar, "the desire to spend more time with her family as the reason for stepping aside, but several Democratic operatives familiar with her decision said she didn't want to face any primary opposition, even against a longer-shot candidate like Weiland… Against Weiland, Herseth Sandlin would have been a clear favorite to win the nomination. But against the more-liberal challenger, she would have been forced to defend her vote against the president's health care law, an issue she trumpeted in her unsuccessful 2010 reelection. In a state where Democrats have little margin for error, being pushed to the left in a primary would have been costly in a general election." Cecil has stomped his feet and barked and barked and barked-- and decided to tale it into his own hands to let Mitch McConnell and the Republicans take over the Senate rather than have his fragile ego bruised by something as messy as Democracy-- and dirty fucking hippies. More Krushaar commiseration for poor Cecil: "to the small universe of Democratic activists within the state, Weiland's progressive principles trumped Herseth Sandlin's more-electable profile."

Krushaar gets the rest of the story wrong and just presents a laughable Guy Cecil version, a dress rehearsal for the blame that will be coming his way when he tries getting the campaign manager job for Hillary in 2016. The reason South Dakota should be one of the top DSCC priorities-- and why they should fire Guy Cecil today before he can do any further damage-- has nothing to do with the Republican primary. It has to do with the 3 Republicans running in the general election, the tainted, Establishment corporate shill, Mike Rounds, plus former Republican Senator Larry Pressler and a Tea Party fave, Gordon Howie, the latter two both running as independents-- and both peeling off votes from Rounds.

Rick Weiland can keep that South Dakota Senate seat blue and the Democrats can hold onto the Senate-- despite Guy Cecil and the DSCC. If you'd like to help make sure that happens, please consider contributing what you can to Rick's campaign.


UPDATE: Last Night's Republican Primary

Rick's campaign sent this out this morning about the South Dakota GOP Senate primary and how it served to underscore Mike Rounds' vulnerability, asking that people consider the following:

• Former two term governor, Mike Rounds, spent $2.5 million dollars to win just 55% of the vote, while his four unknown opponents spent less than $75,000 on television advertising and received 45%. This should hardly be reason for optimism in the Rounds' camp.

• Despite Rounds egregiously high spending, he actually LOST ground on his favorable/unfavorable scores! In October, Rounds fav/unfav score was 42%/40%, but by early May, despite spending many hundreds of thousands of dollars on soft-positive 60 second ads, Rounds not only didn't move the dial forward, he slightly moved backwards-- his fav/unfav scores were 41%/41%. The folks who don't like him--half the electorate who can rate him-- are unmoved by his ads. And it's a truism in politics that an impression, once made, is not easily changed.

• One of Rounds' challenges is that he not only faces Rick Weiland in the general election, he also faces former three-term GOP U.S Senator Larry Pressler and former South Dakota GOP State Senator Gordon Howie, the latter two who certainly will draw tens of thousands of votes away from Rounds (GOP challengers to Rounds drew a combined 33,000 votes in the Senate primary yesterday).

• If “Weiland can get around 45 percent of the vote, a reasonable target for a Democrat in the state, and Pressler and Howie together get more than 10 percent, Rounds could wind up coming in second.” -- Tom Lawrence, Prairie Perspective Blog– April 11, 2014

• And this morning, conservative KELO radio host Greg Belfrage reiterated this point on his show-- Howie enjoys wide support among Tea Party Republicans and Pressler still appeals to "old-school" GOP voters.

• The May PPP poll showed that, despite the fact that Rounds had placed far more time on TV than Rick Weiland, he actually trailed Weiland by 2% among those respondents who could rate Weiland either favorably or unfavorably, which clearly indicates that Rounds lead (10%) was due entirely to his unsurprising advantage in name identification (67% for Weiland, 82% for Rounds). As Weiland gets better known-- not difficult in a low-cost television state like South Dakota-- Rounds' lead will shrink, and then disappear.

This race remains what it has been from the start-- entirely winnable, the only question being whether Weiland will received the relatively modest amount of funding that he needs to make his case to the voters of South Dakota. If he does, it's clear that Weiland-- who is outworking Rounds every day-- could easily win.

The Senate Candidate The DSCC Is Ignoring

Patty Murray (D-WA) made running the DSCC look like apiece of cake. She and her team practically swept the field last year, winning nearly every impossible race the pundits had already awarded to the GOP-- replacing Wall Street fave Scott Brown with Elizabeth Warren, beating back popular Wisconsin ex-Governor Tommy Thompson with an openly progressive lesbian from Madison, Tammy Baldwin, and winning in red states like Indiana, Missouri, North Dakota, Montana, West Virginia and purple Ohio, Florida and Virginia. The only close contest the DSCC lost was in Nevada where the Democrats were saddled with a fatally flawed candidate, a corrupt New Dem that grassroots Democratic voters just did not want to come and to vote for. (Obama took 528,801 votes in Nevada and won handily; almost 85,000 of them refused to pull the lever for Shelley Berkley. Who could blame them?

Anyway, running the DSCC looked so easy that this year they gave the job to ConservaDem Michael Bennet (CO). He's failing already and Democrats are wishing Murray would have taken the task on for a second cycle. Bennet had his tiny conservative heart set on recruiting former-- like in defeated by voters who couldn't stand her-- Blue Dog Stephanie Herseth Sandlin to run for the South Dakota Senate seat Tim Johnson is giving up. She agreed to run, but only if Bennet could guarantee her no primary. Bennet was responsible for then driving Johnson's son out of the race. All that work came to naught when independent-minded Democrat Rick Weiland jumped in in his place. Herseth Sandlin, fully realizing how disliked she is by grassroots Democrats, announced she wouldn't run. So what does Bennet do? Angrily ignores Weiland, playing as though he's willing to discount the seat. The Democrats can't afford to discount any viable seats; not one. Reid should have replaced Bennet immediately. But he didn't... and the DSCC still hasn't gotten behind Weiland. Benent could cost them control of the Senate. This is the lame message about the South Dakota Senate race on the DSCC website:

Senator Tim Johnson recently announced his decision to retire from the Senate at the end of his term in 2014. Senator Johnson has been a strong advocate for South Dakotans and America’s farm families. Democrats and the DSCC are committed to holding Senator Johnson’s seat next year and will devote all of the resources necessary to elect a new Democratic senator in South Dakota. Recent polls have shown that Democrats are in a strong position to hold the seat. This is another state where a likely divisive Republican primary could force the eventual nominee to the far right. A Tea Party group, the Senate Conservatives Fund, has already pledged to support a Tea Party candidate to take on the GOP establishment candidate, former Governor Mike Rounds.

This week Sen. Johnson, politely reminded South Dakota voters to ignore a corporate-oriented Beltway jackass and get behind Weiland.

It was almost 28 years ago that I announced my candidacy for South Dakota's only seat in the U.S House of Representatives. One year away from completing my third term in the US Senate, there remains one piece of unfinished business-- who will replace me.

I am proud to support Rick Weiland for Senate.

Most pundits believe that former Republican Governor Mike Rounds is a virtual cinch. Just like my first opponent Dale Bell was in 1986, just as Senator Larry Pressler was in 1996, just as Congressman John Thune was in 2002. But the pundits were wrong in all three of those races, and I believe they will be wrong in 2014 once again.

I've known Rick Weiland and his family for decades, starting when he was a student at USD, and got to know him better during the fifteen years that he spent working as a top aide to Tom Daschle. He is smart, hard-working, and perhaps most important, unafraid to take on the powerful special interests that have far too much influence in Washington, D.C.

I believe that folks are ready for a new direction in this country, one that places a much higher priority on addressing the needs of everyday people, rather than the greed of special interests.

Trust me, we can win this race. We MUST win this race. And with your help, we will.

Sounds like he was aiming that right at the tone-deaf Bennet. Meanwhile, Weiland hasn't been losing any sleep over Beltway machinations. He's been taking it to the people of South Dakota directly, working to visit every one of South Dakota's 311 communities over this year. Earlier this summer I found an article by Emily Niebrugge in the Yankton News about his visit there.

Weiland visited Yankton Thursday afternoon at Yesterday’s Cafe as part of a day-long listening tour.

“If there’s one thing we could do to take our country back, it would be to drive big money into the black hole that it crawled out of when it took our country away from us,” he told those in attendance.

Weiland said his message is not a Democratic or Republican message, but an honest message that he has seen people respond to during his campaign.

“I’m still talking about big money, and I’m going to keep talking about big money throughout this entire campaign,” he said. “Big money writes our energy policy in this country, it writes our farm policy in this country, it writes our healthcare policy in this country and it’s got a grip on our government and it’s ruining our country.”

The message is fueling Weiland’s “Take it Back” outreach program, which is taking him to the South Dakota communities.

“I’ve decided to spend 80 percent of my time on the road talking to people,” Weiland said.

During the next few months, Weiland is hoping to travel to more than 100 communities and hold more 57 meetings like the one held in Yankton. Earlier on Thursday, Weiland visited Irene, Centerville, Beresford, Canton and Alcester.

“A lot of this work is walking up and down the main streets and talking to shoppers and storefront owners, and then we’re having our meetings,” Weiland said. “When people run for government, run for Congress, run for the United States Senate, because of these extensive campaigns, they have to raise millions of dollars. ... Where’s the money coming from? Why does General Electric pay very little in taxes and have 600 tax attorneys on its payroll working the halls of Capitol Hill?”

During Thursday’s meeting, Weiland also addressed the issues of healthcare, maintaining a highway program in South Dakota, alternative energy and a national energy policy, ethanol and Big Oil, student loans and reforming the tax code.

Weiland said he is receiving push-back on the Affordable Care Act and knows it’s not perfect. But he said he does like the fact that young adults can stay on their family’s health insurance policy until they are age 26.

He also likes the fact that pre-existing conditions can no longer be used to deny health insurance coverage, along with the fact that lifetime caps have been lifted on medical expenses.

His main concern, he said, lies in the number of people who do not have insurance.

“At times, we’ve had anywhere between 40 and 50 million people in this country without healthcare,” Weiland said. “They still get sick, and when they get sick they end up going to the emergency room.

“When you go to the emergency room, that’s the most expensive healthcare you can use and not pay for. When you are going into the emergency room because you don’t have any insurance, and you’re getting healthcare and you’re not paying for it, what’s the hospital going to do? They’re going to pass it on.

“That’s really unfair to all of us who have private insurance. That happens all the time. We have to figure out how to take care of those folks in the middle.” Weiland also suggested allowing more people to buy into the Medicare program to aid with the nation’s healthcare problems.

“You’re going to pay with Obamacare, you’re going to have to pay an insurance company a premium, or you could have it taken out of your check and have the same healthcare that 65-70 of the people in this room have. What would be so bad about that?” he asked the Yankton audience.

“Big insurance didn’t want that to happen. There’s no money in that. They want to insure young people, because they don’t get sick, and that’s how the Affordable Care Act works. You have to get everybody into the system."

...Ultimately, Weiland said his devotion will be to the people of South Dakota and not to big business or special interests.

“I need to be accountable to the people of South Dakota,” he said. “If the people who come to me fall into the category of big business or special interest, there’s the door. If we can get big money out of politics, they aren’t going to have that access.

“That’s why this grass roots campaign is so important at this time in our political system. We need to get back to the grass roots. We need to have more meetings like this. This will make a difference.”

Meanwhile, the NRSC recruit, former Governor Mike Rounds, has been rejected by the Tea Party and will have at least two primary opponents, including far right extremist Stace Nelson, a state Rep who famously described himself as "probably the most conservative elected official in the state of South Dakota." Rounds is conservative. Nelson is a hard core reactionary or, less politely, a neo-fascist. Even the South Dakota GOP tossed him out of the party for a spell! That's going to be a fun primary to watch!

Will Michael Bennet Be As Bad At The DSCC As Steve Israel Has Been At The DCCC? Take South Dakota...

US Attorney Brendan Johnson-- Michael Bennet forced him out of the race

Anna Madsen is a progressive theologian from Sioux Falls, South Dakota. She's also a trusted Daily Kos blogger who understands the difference between a real Democrat and a side of bacon. In March we talked about why reactionary Blue Dog Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, would be a disaster for the Democrats if she runs for the South Dakota Senate Seat Tim Johnson is giving up next year-- a disaster whether she wins or, more likely, loses. This week, Anna explained it from the perspective of a Democrat living in South Dakota-- and I highly recommend that you read her entire post, since these excerpts strip out the poetry.

I know that South Dakota is predominantly Republican.

I know that often, Stephanie Herseth Sandlin voted Democratic.

But I also know that on the big issues, on issues central to the Democratic party, on the no-thank-you-we-don’t-eat-that issues, she voted with the Republicans.

  South Dakota Democrats, please do not forget:

Stephanie Herseth Sandlin voted for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage in 2004, a position which was discriminatory then and, by looking at national trends, is considered regressive now.

Stephanie Herseth Sandlin voted against the Affordable Care Act of 2009, a bill overwhelmingly supported by the Democrats, rallied for by President Obama, and which protects the most vulnerable of our society (and, keep in mind, any one of us can become vulnerable in this way at any sudden moment). All the while, she had health insurance paid for by the very ones who could not afford it for themselves, and against whom she was voting.

Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (was the sole Democrat who) voted nay in 2009 to a bill that protected consumers from credit card companies’ abusive and regressive policies against which customers had no recourse.

Stephanie Herseth Sandlin voted against extending unemployment benefits for those deeply hurting in the economy of 2010.

Stephanie Herseth Sandlin voted against the Energy bill of 2010, which would have allowed for higher safety standards for off-shore drilling, removed a liability cap for oil companies, and boosted solar and wind power on federal land (to name a few benefits of the bill).

Stephanie Herseth Sandlin signed a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in 2010 insisting that Bush’s tax breaks for the wealthy be extended.

But reports from Inside the Beltway are that conservative corporate whore Michael Bennet, who has taken over the DSCC chair from the startlingly successful Patty Murray and is likely to fail as gigantically as she succeeded, is adamant that the DSCC get behind Herseth Sandlin, a kindred spirit, while many DSCC staffers are expressing a preference for Johnson's son, Brendan, South Dakota's U.S. Attorney. Brendan Johnson is a regular, normal Democrat, not a Republican calling himself one like Herseth Sandlin. Did I mention she' was one of the most lock-step NRA shills in Congress?

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) is already working behind the scenes to brush aside Brendan Johnson, son of Senator Tim Johnson, in favor of former U.S. Representative Stephanie Herseth Sandlin... Herseth Sandlin is probably more conservative than half the Republicans currently in the U.S. Senate... The Republican Party of South Dakota might actually have a hard time finding a more philosophically solid conservative candidate.

Because of his job as U.S. Attorney, the younger Johnson can't discuss politics. Ryan Casey, chairman of the Lincoln County Democratic Party, is spearheading a Draft Brendan Johnson drive. Six other county Democratic party chairmen have signed onto the effort, remembering all too well what a disaster Herseth Sandlin was for South Dakota working families. Early today Rick Weiland, a former Tom Daschle aide, semi-officially threw his hat into the ring, amid reports that Brendan Johnson isn't going to do it.

“Brendan and I have had some pretty serious conversations about this,” Weiland said. “He’s focused on his job. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t feel that Brendan (wasn’t) going to get into this race.”

Meanwhile Ryan Casey, who led the “Draft Brendan Johnson” movement, related a similar conversation he had with Johnson on Tuesday.

“He informed me that he was going to continue to focus on his responsibilities as U.S. Attorney,” Casey said. “I’m pretty certain at this point that Brendan won’t enter the race for U.S. Senate.”

Casey said he’s now supporting Weiland, and sent an email to “Draft Brendan” backers urging them to do the same.

Far Right Democrat Stephanie Herseth Sandlin Is Lusting For A DC Comeback

The shady lobbyist husband wants the shady wife politician back in Congress

Blue Dogs like to say they're "just" fiscal conservatives. They are fiscal conservatives and almost always vote against economic justice, against the interests of working families and in the interests of the Wall Street banksters and corporations that subsidize their cushy careers. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin was a 3 term Rep from South Dakota and Blue Dog chairman until she was defeated, 48.1% to 45.9%, in the Great Blue Dog Apocalypse of 2010. She managed to amass one of the most right-wing voting records of any Democrat in Congress-- and not just on fiscal conservatism. She could almost always be counted on to back the Republicans on nearly their entire reactionary agenda. Let's take LGBT equality, since it's so much in the news lately. She's wasn't just against equality. There is no other way to describe Stephanie Herseth Sandlin than as a vicious homophobic bigot and hatemonger and dedicated, gratuitous enemy of LGBT families.

In September, 2004, soon after Herseth was elected to Congress, the Republicans proposed a Constitutional Amendment to prevent gays and lesbians from ever marrying anywhere inside the United States, regardless of what any states decided. It failed to get a 2/3s majority in the House but did "well," 227-186. 191 Republicans voted for it and 27 Republicans voted against it. 158 Democrats (+ Independent Bernie Sanders) voted against it and 36 Democrats voted with the GOP majority. Herseth was one of them, of course. Almost all of the Democratic bigots and hatemongers who voted for the amendment that day have since been defeated or otherwise driven out of politics, some in primaries, some in general elections and at least one so he could serve time in prison on bribery charges, conservatism and corruption being historically inseparable.

The only Democrats still serving in Congress today who voted for the Anti-Gay Constitutional Amendment are Sanford Bishop (Blue Dog-GA), Jim Cooper (Blue Dog/New Dem-TN), Jim Matheson (Blue Dog-UT), Mike McIntyre (Blue Dog-NC), Collin Peterson (Blue Dog-MN), Nick Rahall (WV), David Scott (Blue Dog/New Dem-GA), and Bennie Thompson (MS). The rest no longer have political careers (unless you consider lobbying a political career). At the time Herseth was quoted by the Associated Press as saying that "I agree with the President [George W. Bush] on this issue. Marriage should be between a man and a woman."

And the Republicans and their allies didn't give up in 2004. Two years later, hatemonger Marilyn Musgrave (R-CO) was back with another constitutional amendment to ban marriage equality. Herseth was still waving her "I Hate Homos" flag from the backbenches and was one of 27 Democrats-- again almost all Blue Dogs who, like herself, went on to defeat at the hands of grassroots Democrats unwilling to bother voting for reactionaries in 2010.

Of course, it's not just on equality that Herseth Sandlin is unqualified to run for office as a Democrat. She worked with the GOP to try to sabotage both health care reform and environmental legislation, voting against both the Affordable Care Act and Cap-and-Trade, and she was a shill for the NRA the entire time she served in the House. They gave her $5,000 during her 2004 campaign and supported her with hefty contributions against Republicans every time she ran. Besides giving her money flat out, the NRA Political Victory Fund endorsed her and spent $16,889 in 2010 on independent expenditures for her. Yesterday Greg Sargent did a column about wealthy Democratic donors who have had it with NRA shills like Herseth Sandlin and would no longer contribute to their campaigns. Kenneth Lerer of NY and David Bohnett of L.A. are done being suckered by right-wing, pro-NRA Democrats and the money faucet is shut. Hopefully, they're both savvy enough to figure out when they donate to the DSCC and the DNC that money goes right into the campaigns of faithless Democrats like Herseth Sandlin. Last year alone, Bohnett contributed $219,500 to Democratic candidates and PACs. In the same period Lerer gave over $80,000, including $30,800 to the DNC.

Normal Democrats in South Dakota, including several county chairmen, are circulating a petition to draft U.S. Attorney Brendan Johnson, the son of Senator Tim Johnson, who's stepping down, well aware that Herseth Sandlin is a proven loser who, as a candidate, will simply hand the Senate seat over to the GOP.

We believe that South Dakota needs someone in the U.S. Senate who will continue and expand upon Sen. Tim Johnson’s record of fighting for everyday people in Congress – even when that means standing up to big health insurance companies, Wall Street executives, Ag corporations, and oil tycoons.

We need a senator who will stand up for core Democratic values-- someone we can rely on to do the right thing without fear, especially when it comes to fighting for people who work for a living.

We need someone who believes that the role of government is to help people, and who is not afraid to ask the rich to pay their fair share. Someone who will make smart investments in our future and grow the middle class.

We believe Brendan Johnson should run for Senate.

As South Dakota’s U.S. Attorney, Brendan is our state's chief federal law enforcement officer. He has used that power to fight for the little guy.

Under Brendan Johnson’s leadership, South Dakota is the national leader in cracking down on deadbeat dads-- with over 50 percent of the nation's total federal prosecutions happening in South Dakota. Brendan Johnson was named 2013 Prosecutor of the Year by groups combating violence against women. And Johnson has played a national role in fighting on behalf of Native Americans.

Is Tim Johnson's Retirement A Disaster For The Democrats' Chance To Hold The Majority In The Senate?

Last cycle at this time, no one really thought the retirement of Kent Conrad from the Democratic Senate seat in North Dakota-- a state McCain won with 53% and Romney won with 58%-- would lead to a new Democratic freshman, Heidi Heitkamp. But while Obama's 124,966 votes yielded him 38%, Heitkamp squeaked past Rick Berg 160,752 to 157,758. It was one of the cycle's most stunning results.

In 2008 South Dakota had the same results as North Dakota-- McCain 53%, Obama 45%. In 2012, Obama did marginally better in South Dakota than North Dakota-- 40% as opposed to 38%. But Tim Johnson's announcement this week that he would not seek a 4th Senate term-- which was not totally unexpected-- still comes as a blow to a DSCC that has to defend an awful lot of seats in states Romney won last year, and is now looking at a 5th incumbent retiring.

The two obvious choices South Dakota-- and DC-- Democrats having been talking about to replace Johnson are Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, the former Blue Dog chairwoman who was ignominiously defeated in the 2010 Great Blue Dog Apocalypse, or Johnson's son, U.S. Attorney Brendan Johnson, purportedly a progressive. I first heard that Johnson's son might challenge Herseth Sandlin-- who is dying to get back into politics-- from astute Rapid City Journal political columnist Kevin Woster earlier this month:

Maybe the whole nepotism thing is a big deal. But I tend to think most voters, outside the hard Republican core, would look at Brendan Johnson, if he decided to run, for what he is: a bright, charismatic lawyer with astute political instincts.

He's also a guy who is meticulous about returning his phone calls, even if he can't say much. Funny, you could say much the same about Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, too. Not the returning-phone-calls thing. She's never been very good at that. Or the charismatic thing, either.

SHS isn't nearly as comfortable in conversation, particularly when it involves news reporters' questions,  as Brendan Johnson. He has a compelling mix of his mother's charm and his dad's steely determination.

Herseth Sandlin often comes off as guarded and self protective, in part because you get that way trying to survive as a statewide-elected Democratic in a Republican-leaning state. She's been there, done that, and knows how dicey it is.

She is, however, very bright, and she also has an astute sense of politics, even though she lost touch with a liberal wing that had grown unreasonable in its expectations.

SHS also has a history of winning. And her general political philosophy-- close on most issues to most South Dakotans-- makes her a candidate with a strong reach across independents and into moderate Republicans.

If she can hold on to those pesky liberals in her own party.

Republicans would have us believe that these two Democrats can't stand each other, and that there's a war between the SHS camp and the Johnson camp. They're not drinking buddies, for sure. But a war?

I haven't seen it yet. Maybe I'm too dense, or two focused on the Summit League tourney this weekend or the late-winter hatch on Rapid Creek. (Can you blame me?)

There certainly is some level of competition going on. Maybe even some bristly feelings. But given the state of the Democratic Party in South Dakota, I'd think they'd be celebrating the notion of two competitive candidates lining up for a run.

I also understand why they fear a potentially divisive primary, and why Republicans revel in that thought. It seems like SHS, with her experience and personal connections, would make the most sense from a party perspective to run for the Senate seat in 2014 if Tim Johnson declines.

I have no idea what she's thinking. She's not calling me back, you know. I don't have any more idea what Brendan Johnson is thinking, even though he is calling me back.

Johnson's son, of course, has no voting record to defend. Herseth Sandlin amassed one of the most Republican voting records of any Democrat in Congress during her 6 years in Washington. Although she's probably best known for her vote against healthcare reform, her record is generally abysmal for a Democrat-- anti-gay, anti-environment, and a warmonger... with an A from NRA (and a 92% lifetime score from their PAC) and a rating of ZERO from the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. And, of course, she was a corporate shill and anti-working family fanatic the whole time she was in Congress. She was 100% in the pocket of the banksters while she served. Her husband, Max Sandlin, a former Texas congressman and another piece of Blue Dog garbage, was defeated by Louie Gohmert and immediately went to work as a lobbyist.

The Hill reported a prediction that Herseth Sandlin and Johnson's son won't run against each other in a primary.

An official with the South Dakota Democratic Party predicted that Sandlin and Johnson’s son would not compete against each other in the primary.

The official, who did not speak for attribution because the senator has not publicly announced a decision, said one of the candidates would likely forgo a Senate race and run for either the House or the governor’s office in 2014.

“I don’t think we’ll have a primary,” the official said, while declining to speculate on which candidate would enter the Senate race.

Is It Fair To Penalize Members Of Congress Who Sleep With Lobbyists?

Simple answer to the above question-- YES! YES! YES! Republicans are attacking sleazy Blue Dog chairwoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin because her ex-congressman husband, Max Sandlin the conservative sad sack who was defeated in 2004 by Louie Gohmert when he first popped out of his trashcan, is now a sleazy K Street lobbyist. Never you mind that Republicans nominate actual lobbyists to Congress and that their leaders perform the functions of lobbyists once in Congress-- just think of John Boehner handing out pay-off checks on the floor of the House for his paymasters at Big Tobacco or, once again, John Boehner twisting GOP arms to change their votes and support Bush's 2008 no-strings-attached Wall Street bailout at the behest of his bankster paymasters. But that still doesn't make it wrong-- just grotesquely hypocritical-- for the GOP to squawk about members of Congress having lobbyists in the family. You'll know they're serious about more than just defeating Herseth Sandlin, though, when they tell John Mica (R-FL) to stop espousing the causes his family gets paid to present by their Big Oil lobbying clients.

Too close for comfort relationships between lobbyists and congressman are one of the keys to corrupt governance. In 2006 I watched how Pennsylvania voters in Delaware and Montgomery counties tossed longtime incumbent Curt Weldon out of office-- and elected Joe Sestak-- once it became apparent that Weldon's daughter set up a lobbying firm with the express purpose of acting as a bag lady and selling her father's influence to foreign potentates. It's long been standard operating procedure among Republicans and all too many Democrats have slipped into the same criminal behavior. Let me quote a Washington Post article from 2007:

When  Sen. Byron L. Dorgan (D-N.D.) rose to the Senate floor last summer and passionately argued for keeping the federal estate tax, he left one person with an interest in retaining the tax unmentioned.

The multibillion-dollar life-insurance industry, which was fighting to preserve the tax because life insurers have a lucrative business selling policies and annuities to Americans for estate planning, has employed Dorgan's wife as a lobbyist since 1999.

A few months earlier,  Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.) had pleaded for restraint as she urged colleagues to avoid overreacting to the news that the Bush administration had let a United Arab Emirates company take over operations at six U.S. ports. At the same time, her husband, Robert J. Dole, a former senator and presidential nominee, was registered to lobby for that company and was advising it on how to save the deal from the political firestorm.

Wives, husbands, brothers, children, nephews... scores of them depend on Members of Congress for their lobbying livelihood. Tom DeLay's brother was one of the most notorious ever. Other considered among the most corrupt and sleazy K Street pond scum are Roy Blunt's wife Abigail, Steven LaTourette's wife Jennifer, and Kay Bailey Hutchison's husband, Ray (the guy who hands out the goodies for Goldman Sachs and Halliburton). Republicans complaining about Stephanie Herseth Sandlin's lobbyist husband somehow forgot to have mentioned any of them.

According to Senate lobbying records, the former Member represents a number of big-named clients, including Peabody Energy, Air Canada, Advance Auto Parts, the National Association of Broadcasters and Vanguard Health Systems-- companies with substantial legislative interests during the 111th Congress.

Max Sandlin did not respond to requests for comment for this story. Herseth Sandlin’s campaign also declined to discuss the matter in detail, offering only this statement from campaign spokeswoman Betsy Hart in an e-mail: “It is the policy of Representative Herseth Sandlin that no member of her family may lobby her or any member of her staff.”

The Congresswoman’s policy appears to be in line with House ethics rules, said Ken Gross, a lawyer at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. After a wave of negative press, Democratic leaders in both chambers adopted new-- but separate-- guidelines in the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007, a proposal that attempted to curb the perceived cozy relationship both parties had with for-profit interests.

...Senate records show that Max Sandlin and his firm were paid $160,000 in 2009 by Baptist Health Care to lobby on its behalf, including for an “increase in [the] new market tax credit” in a Democratic-backed stimulus package that Herseth Sandlin ultimately voted for.

The National Association of Broadcasters paid Sandlin and his firm $320,000 over the past two years to lobby on a variety of issues, including a bill co-sponsored by his wife, the Local Radio Freedom Act.

And Advance Auto Parts employed Sandlin and his firm last year to lobby on the Employee Free Choice Act, legislation co-sponsored by Herseth Sandlin. The contentious “card check” bill, which would make it easier for workers to unionize, is a top target of manufacturers and others in the business community.

Republicans say Herseth Sandlin’s committee assignments make it difficult for her to avoid conflicts of interest. She is member of the Agriculture, Natural Resources, Veterans’ Affairs and Energy Independence and Global Warming panels, which have broad jurisdiction over many of her husband’s clients.

“If South Dakotans were put off by Tom Daschle’s lobbying problems, they’re going to be incensed with the arrangement between Rep. Herseth Sandlin and her husband,” National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Tom Erickson said in a statement. “The fact that Max Sandlin earns a living lobbying for legislation before his wife’s committee and bills she co-sponsors is troubling at best and potentially unethical at worst.”

And it isn't only relatives, of course, who are doing this. Former colleagues and staffers all do it. Among prominent former congressional members now lobbying their old pals are three former Senate majority leaders, Bob Dole (R-KS), Tom Daschle (D-SD) and Trent Lott (R-MS), two former House majority leaders, Dick Armey, (R-TX) and Dick Gephardt (D-MO) and one shamelessly corrupt former speaker of the House (Denny Hastert, R-IL). This is how Congress works and Congress will never stop it unless the voters force them to. Herseth Sandlin should be defeated in November, even though her opponent is even worse and likely to be even more corrupt.