« October 17, 2004 - October 23, 2004 | Main | October 31, 2004 - November 6, 2004 »
Here's a photo from the NRA rally tonight in Sioux Falls, where Thune spoke to raucus crowd. That's Lee Greenwood singing up front. Remember that Daschle received an "F" from the NRA.
Meanwhile, a few doors down the Daschle lawyers and GOTV workers from the East Coast were congregating. Note the sign on the door. Daschle really is in the race of his life.
2 of 4--including Bob Novak--on the "Capital Gang" tonight said Thune would win and Margaret Carlson also thought Thune would win but went with Daschle for sentimental reasons. Hmmm, didn't Dave Kranz just report that Novak said Daschle would win?? Kranz had better fix that tomorrow in his column, one would think.
The Daschle family and Tim Johnson were in Mitchell today with the bus tour. There were 20 people at the "rally," reports say, but most of them were from Minnesota and Nebraska. Apparently, the Daschle bus carries a special podium for Daschle. Johnson spoke for 2 minutes and Daschle for 3 minutes. Last week, Thune had 500 people in Mitchell for a pancake feed.
See the following story from the Associated Press. Excerpts:
A tribal judge has no authority to keep Republicans from watching Tuesday's voting on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, U.S. Attorney James McMahon said Saturday."It would be my interpretation of that order that it does not comply with the law, and I have let it be known to law enforcement that they should not be enforcing any order on the reservation which purports to keep the Republican Party away from the polls," he said.
"If anyone does that, they're subjecting themselves to violating federal law."
The Four Directions Committee, which calls itself a nonpartisan group trying to increase American Indian voting, got a temporary restraining order Friday against the state GOP and Ryan Knutson.
Oglala Sioux tribal Judge Marina Fast Horse signed the order without telling Knutson or the party about it ahead of time and scheduled a hearing for Nov. 12.
Four Directions accuses Knutson of intimidating its workers on Wednesday at Pine Ridge by videotaping them on private property. The order does not accuse him of harassing voters.
On Saturday, Knutson called The Associated Press and said they've got the wrong guy.
"This is bizarre. I have never been to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in my entire life," he said in a telephone interview from his North Sioux City home.
"On Wednesday I was helping my brother bury his dog in Vermillion."
Also note the background of the Four Directions committee, which sought to block GOP poll watchers:
Glodt said Four Directions is effectively a front for the Democrats. Healy is a former Democratic Party executive director, the group printed negative ads against Republican U.S. House candidate Larry Diedrich before the June special election, and the Four Directions Political Action Committee - predecessor to the current group - contributed $544,500 to the state Democratic Party, Glodt said.Four Directions Committee "is not a front for party organizations," said Healy.
He said his past involvement with the party has nothing to do with Four Directions. The ads were cleared by the group's lawyer as being appropriate under tax law, and it was a former PAC by the same name, not the new committee, that gave money to the Democrats, according to Healy.
"There was a Four Directions PAC and I did have some relation to that, but only in that I was raising money for them for 2002," he said.
Maybe the GOP should go to court and get an injunction excluding Democratic lobbyists and lawyers from the polls. But seriously folks, what the Democrats did in an attempt to exclude legitimate poll watchers from the polls is ridiculous. The guy they claim did something wrong hasn't even been to Pine Ridge. Ever.
Powerline: "Daschle brings in the lawyers." A big plane arrived today at the Sioux Falls airport carrying lawyers and lobbyists trying to save Daschle.
The Daschle campaign is now calling voters and saying Thune advertises on pornographic websites and does not represent South Dakota values and they are also having a minister use an auto-dialer to spread the word that Daschle is pro-life. This is what it has come to.
You must read this letter from the South Dakota company BPI, which the Daschle campaign has been telling lies about. Despite what the Daschle campaign says, this company, which Thune lobbied for, NEVER opposed Country of Origin Labeling (COOL). The company is not happy with Daschle for smearing them, especially after Daschle was recently trying to squeeze campaign contributions out of them. Remember that the Daschle campaign also lied about Thune lobbying for pharmaceutical companies, which is NOT true. Again, I really despise using the term lie. But read the letter above and you'll see why it's necessary.
See this from today's Rapid City Journal:
Early voting probe startedA handful of Shannon County residents appear to have cast more than one ballot in South Dakota's first general election in which unrestricted early voting is allowed.
Fall River County State's Attorney Lance Russell said he is in the early stages of an investigation of multiple ballots cast by fewer than 10 voters.
"We do have a few people who have voted more than once," Russell said. "I have asked the auditor's office to put those in a pile. It is my intention to investigate it."
Shannon County, encompassed by Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, contracts for services with Fall River County, its neighbor to the west. Russell said he will have to turn the information over to federal investigators.
SDP is noting the story in today's Aberdeen American News about Daschle's dual homestead exemptions and notes that according to South Dakota tax regulations Daschle, given his use of the exemption in Aberdeen, loses his status as "owner." So he's not technically an "owner" of a house in South Dakota? Interesting. By the way, while a number of publications have explored the double-dipping issue, guess who hasn't? Naturally, the Argus Leader. More on this soon.
