Sunday, July 04, 2004
Signifying the increasing bitterness of the South Dakota senate race, GOP challenger John Thune called his opponent, Tom Daschle an embarrassment to S. Dakota. Very well. Thune has definitely drawn his line in the sand there, also saying that he was "running to kick Tom Daschle out of office, to remove the thorn in President Bush's side."
This may reflect a rightward trend in the South Dakota GOP, but running against your opponent in this manner was also tried in New York against Hillary Clinton. Hillary was more of an immigrant, though New York is of course far more liberal than South Dakota. Thune is speaking this way of a native son of South Dakota, whose efforts to stay in touch with his constituents are legendary - evidenced by his annual unscheduled driving trips through the state. The drawbacks of this harsh style of campaigning in a state where voters call their representatives by name are clear.
This may reflect a rightward trend in the South Dakota GOP, but running against your opponent in this manner was also tried in New York against Hillary Clinton. Hillary was more of an immigrant, though New York is of course far more liberal than South Dakota. Thune is speaking this way of a native son of South Dakota, whose efforts to stay in touch with his constituents are legendary - evidenced by his annual unscheduled driving trips through the state. The drawbacks of this harsh style of campaigning in a state where voters call their representatives by name are clear.
