« September 19, 2004 - September 25, 2004 | Main | October 3, 2004 - October 9, 2004 »
The readers of this blog are great. One found that there was a protest at Daschle's secret meeting with Tim Giago via the SD Highway Patrol website:
Trooper Boersma escorted Senator Daschle on a trip to Crazy Horse Memorial for an Indian Leaders Summit Meeting. Several Protesters were present. No major problems were reported.
Who knew? I hadn't heard a word. If you want the details, such as they are, about the meeting, see here.
From Rasmussen Reports: South Dakota, Survey of 500 Likely Voters, Conducted September 27, 2004:
Thune 50% Daschle 46%Daschle: Favorable 52%, Unfavorable 46%
Thune: Favorable 58%, Unfavorable 37%
UPDATE: Instapundit and Powerline are taking interest in this new poll. For those readers who want to know a bit more about why Daschle is losing--i.e. the chickens coming home to roost from all his contradictory positions--see this article I did for NRO. I think the chickens-coming-home-to-roost theory has some merit, but there are certainly other reasons too. Read below for more reasons.
Bush is leading in South Dakota 57%-29% according to the Rapid City Journal version of the new Zogby poll. Also, on the war:
About 55 percent of those polled also said they support the war in Iraq, and 30 percent said they "strongly support" it. Thirty-six percent said they opposed the war, and 21 percent were "strongly opposed." Only 8.1 percent of those polled were "not sure" whether they supported the war.
The Argus Leader poll also noted the importance of foreign policy matters:
The war in Iraq and homeland security were the top concerns for more than 40 percent of the registered voters contacted by Mason-Dixon Polling and Research.
Anyway, the realities of the Presidential race and the war obviously aren't helpful to Senator Daschle, who is President Bush's chief opponent and a war critic. More generally, it's interesting how important foreign policy has become in this race. I was thinking about this today when reading an article about Woodrow Wilson's trip to Sioux Falls in 1919 to promote the Versailles Treaty (he spoke at the Coliseum, for you Sioux Falls readers--aren't you glad we saved it! I am). Wilson was also promoting an ambitious plan of democratization just as Bush is pushing a grand plan to bring democracy to the Middle East. During Wilson's visit, the Argus Leader said he had been "chief executive during one of the most trying periods of the world's history." Argus Leader, September 8, 1919.
Today is October 2nd, which means it has been one month since the Argus Leader "blog" spoke. So much for Argus openness and transparency and communicating with readers. RIP, Argus "blog," or whatever you were supposed to be.
NOTE: There's still lots of fun stuff going on at the Rapid City Journal blog, Mt. Blogmore.
Remember that Daschle is the largest recipient of Hollywood money this cycle. Here's another Hollywoodite for Daschle:
STREISAND, BARBRA
6/3/2004 $1,000.00
WOODLAND HILLS, CA 91367
ENTERTAINER -[Contribution]
A LOT OF PEOPLE SUPPORTING TOM DASCHLE INC
If you want to know how much she despises President Bush, see this. I wonder if she knows her money is being used to pay for ads of Daschle hugging Bush?
The Watertown Public Opinion is reporting on the new Zogby poll and notes that President Bush is defeating Senator Kerry 56%-30%. They also report on the gay marriage findings:
On the issues involving same sex civil unions and same sex marriages, the poll found South Dakotans in strong opposition to both ideas.Only 21 percent of respondents said they agreed with idea that civil unions between people of the same sex should have the same legal rights as married couples, while 74 percent said they disagreed. Nearly two out of three, 65 percent, said they strongly disagreed, as did a majority of most of the sub-groups in the poll.
In the issue of allowing same sex marriages in South Dakota, 80 percent said they disagreed with the idea, while just 16 percent were in favor. Of those responding, there was strong opposition voiced by 73 percent.
As you may or may not know, Linda Daschle has been called by The Hill and other publications a "top lobbyist" in Washington. Several publications say that she is the reason Daschle didn't run for President. Anyway, today I heard on the radio that a former Pentagon and Boeing employee will be going to jail for helping to grease a $23 billion tanker contract with the government. Mrs. Daschle lobbies for Boeing (and SDP has discovered that she was the lead lobbyist on Boeing matters, including the tanker deal). Roll Call and a number of other publications have questioned whether the family of members of Congress should be lobbying. Adding to the awkward nature of this situation is the fact that a lot of Mrs. Daschle's clients have given money to Senator Daschle. Mrs. Daschle's lobbying has received quite a bit attention OUTSIDE of South Dakota. The liberal magazine The Washington Monthly ran a long and critical piece entitled "Tom Daschle's Hillary Problem" which provides lots of details ("the ethical questions woven into their marriage have gotten more complex as both Daschles have grown in power and stature in Washington---he as a senator and she as a high-powered lobbyist"). The liberal journal Slate has also been rough ("It's unsettling enough that the Democrats' Senate leader is married to an influence peddler. It may even unsettle Linda Daschle, who was quoted two years ago saying she took a "not at all favorable" view of Daschle's running for president."). LA Weekly also ran a rather devastating piece about Mrs. Daschle's clients after the Senator decided not to run for President (President Clinton "appointed Linda Daschle deputy administrator of the FAA, putting her in charge of regulating her once-and-future clients; and she wound up running the agency as acting administrator. This, of course, significantly boosted the Daschle family income by hyping the amount Linda could charge her clients when she left government service. She didn’t wait long to cash in."). Now you'd think that the Argus Leader would be very concerned about this situation given how much they've scrutinized the wives of Republicans:
The Argus Leader wrote a 1995 editorial critical of Marianne Gingrich, wife of the House Speaker, Republican Newt Gingrich, for taking a position with Israel Export Development Company. The newspaper wrote, "The spouses of U.S. leaders should be held to a high standard: Not only should they avoid impropriety, they should avoid all appearances of impropriety."In 1990, the South Dakota newspaper published a thirty-six-paragraph article about Harriet Pressler, wife of Republican Sen. Larry Pressler that suggested the senator had used his office to help his wife's real estate business. By contrast, the recent purchase of a $2 million Washington, DC home by Sen. Daschle and his wife is mentioned by the paper in only five sentences.
Tuesday's New York Times reported on a $20 billion Pentagon plan to lease air-refueling tankers from the Boeing Company. The newspaper cited that liberal and conservative groups opposed to the arrangement called it a "sweetheart deal" that must be approved by Congress. The article pointed out that Boeing has hired lobbyist Linda Daschle, the wife of the Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle to represent the company. South Dakota's largest newspaper did not find that story newsworthy, having yet to make any reference to it at all.
You'd think the Argus Leader would scrutinize this situation, but, alas, you'd be wrong. The Argus has done nothing to scrutinize this situation during this crucial election. Surely there must still be some populist blood pumping in Argus political editor Patrick Lalley's veins which would cause him to question this situation.
Now the Aberdeen American News is saying that the secret meeting between Daschle and Giago et al should have been open to the public. The Rapid City Journal and the Mitchell Daily Republic have said the same thing. Who hasn't said that? Or even reported the meeting? Ah yes, that paragon of virtue and crusader for openness and candor and transparency the Sioux Falls Argus Leader. You know, the newspaper which has an editor that compares bloggers to Hitler, calls them "violent yahoos," simply makes stuff up and refuses to correct it, and refuses to publicly address criticisms. Anyway, here's an excerpt from the Aberdeen paper:
Participants rejected the idea that deals were being brokered and expressed frustration that their motives were being called into question. But isn't that precisely what happens when the media are locked out of such meetings? People begin to wonder what's going on. People begin to ask the questions that they are asking: was this just a political stunt, what with the elections being so close and the Indian vote highly sought after. If not, why were Republican contenders and the Republican governor not invited? Was it just a payback to get Giago out of the race.
SDP:
In light of an earlier story about Oklahoma's Democratic Senate candidate saying he will not be an "enabler" for Senator Daschle, and that he will be more like Democratic Senator John Breaux of Louisiana if elected, it's useful to compare Tom Daschle's rating by Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) with John Breaux's rating.ADA is the country's oldest independent liberal lobbying organization. The ADA's "lifetime liberal quotient" for Senator Daschle is 83%. Compare that with Senator Breaux's "lifetime liberal quotient," which is 55%. Daschle's "lifetime liberal quotient" is even higher than Senator McGovern's, and Senator McGovern lost his bid for a fourth Senate term in 1980, largely because he was perceived as too liberal.
In 2003 alone, Daschle received an 80% rating from ADA, while Breaux received a 45% rating. Senator Kerry received an 85% rating. Daschle is almost as liberal as Kerry, according to the country's oldest liberal lobbying organization.
And I might add that McGovern was actually President of the ADA in the 1970s, proud liberal that he was. Daschle tries to pretend that he's not a liberal by hugging Bush and what-not.
Some have wondered about the debate. Seemed rather predictable to me. But there's plenty of commentary on that around to blogosphere, and it's a bit off-topic for me, with one exception. At one point Kerry said he had the support of General McPeak and Admiral Crowe. They are they ones who just got on a phone call for Daschle and said how terrible Thune is. McPeak said Thune's lack of service was outrageous or something like that. Anyway, I guess we know where McPeak and Crowe are coming from now.
