HEADLINE: Notes From Sioux Falls; Politics on the Great Plains
BYLINE:
By Jake Tapper; Jake Tapper, a reporter for VH-1, writes
frequently about politics.
DATELINE: SIOUX
FALLS, S.D.
BODY: All politics is
local, but on the sparsely populated Great Plains, it may be more local than
elsewhere. The national parties and the Washington political consultants are
starting to focus on the Senate race in South Dakota, but there's little
evidence the voters, or the candidates, want the attention.
The race pits two incumbents against each other: Tim Johnson, the
present senator and a protege of Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, and John
Thune, the state's current representative in the House (South Dakota has only
one) and the handpicked candidate of President Bush. Both political parties are
pouring money and manpower into the race. Total spending could reach $15 million
-- a terrifying prospect for local television viewers: $15 million buys about
179 hours of ads in Sioux Falls. Control of the United States Senate, currently
tilted 50 to 49 in favor of Mr. Daschle and the Democrats, may hang in the
balance.
But on Main Street in Sioux Falls last
weekend, no one -- least of all the candidates -- seemed too concerned about
national politics. It was a parade, for St. Patrick's Day, and Mr. Johnson
walked down the center of the street surrounded by firefighters and seeming
oddly inconspicuous. About five minutes behind him jogged the challenger, Mr.
Thune. Accompanied by 15 junior high school girls and wearing what appeared to
be a high school letterman's jacket, Mr. Thune, a former high school basketball
star, veered from sidewalk to sidewalk, shaking hands and slapping fives.
Mr. Johnson, a moderate Democrat, and Mr. Thune, a
conservative Republican, have their differences on policy -- Mr. Johnson was an
early supporter of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform legislation, for
example, while Mr. Thune preferred other plans and only supported it later. But
the campaign thus far has been mostly about personal character and local issues:
the wonky Mr. Johnson and his seat on the Appropriations Committee vs. the
hustling Mr. Thune and his connections to the president. The issues, such as
they are, include rural health care and a provision in the farm
bill about whether meat packers can own livestock.
At the parade, both men drew smatterings of applause and occasional
cheers from the crowd. The importance of retail politics can't be overstated in
a state with a population of 754,844, smaller than that of Indianapolis.
According to polls, an astounding four of every five state voters know of both
candidates.
The voters have a history of punishing any
politician seen to have forgotten where he came from. George McGovern lost his
Senate seat in 1980 largely because he was "out of touch" with South Dakotans.
(He was guilty of the ultimate inside-the-Beltway sin: he had a Washington
driver's license.) Mr. Daschle has told friends that he is not going to repeat
Mr. McGovern's mistake, and he now spends two to three months in the state every
year.
Both Mr. Thune and Mr. Johnson spend most
weekends in the state, too. And Mr. Johnson is also well aware of South Dakota's
tradition of replacing one of its senators with its representative; as a member
of the House himself, he defeated Larry Pressler in 1996. (In 1980 Mr. McGovern
lost to Representative Jim Abdnor, while in 1986 Mr. Abdnor lost to
Representative Tom Daschle.)
So it's not surprising
that both candidates are diligently trying not to appear too Washingtonian.
Although Mr. Johnson toured the state with the majority leader, heralding the
pork they had brought home, Mr. Johnson can point to his record of voting 71
percent of the time with the president -- in fact, he sided with Mr. Bush
against Mr. Daschle on last year's tax cut. His campaign Web site even has a
quote from President Bush stripped across the top: "It makes no sense to replace
someone on the Appropriations Committee with someone who is not." (Never mind
that the president was referring to a Republican House member from Iowa.)
Mr. Thune, meanwhile, recognizes that Mr. Daschle is a
favorite son, so in his first campaign ad Mr. Thune pledged that he'd "work with
President Bush and with Tom Daschle" -- both of whom carried the state with more
than 60 percent of the vote in 2000 and 1998, respectively. Perhaps Mr. Thune is
also aware that Mr. Abdnor, the man Mr. Daschle defeated in '86, has been known
to look back at Ronald Reagan's campaign visit on his behalf as not particularly
helpful.
Still, the candidates have not been able to
keep the Washington heavies out of the state altogether. The National Republican
Senatorial Committee ran an ad criticizing Mr. Johnson for voting against a few
defense programs. Democrats responded by noting that Mr. Johnson's son, Brooks,
is a soldier in Afghanistan. Mr. Thune's commercials soon began featuring his
father, who was a World War II fighter pilot. It is now beyond question that
both candidates have brave and honorable relatives.
At
one point the two men had struck a deal to keep the Washington barbarians at the
border, agreeing not to allow third-party groups to air advertisements in the
state. But the deal, which was of dubious legality anyway, soon fell apart. So
third-party attack ads now pollute the state, to sometimes ridiculous effect, as
when the Family Research Council compared Senator Daschle to Saddam Hussein for
opposing drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
It's not at all clear that the rules of national politics apply in
South Dakota. Receiving the endorsement from the state firefighters' union last
week, Mr. Johnson pooh-poohed reports that Mr. Thune planned to deploy the
Republican Party's most potent weapon: former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.
"He can have Mayor Giuliani," Mr. Johnson said. "I'll take these firefighters
any day."
In most other states, such a casual dismissal
of the nation's most popular politician might seem foolhardy, if not suicidal.
But then, when's the last time Mr. Giuliani was in Sioux Falls?
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