What's in a name? That which we call Herseth by any other name would get so elected?

I want to work on a couple of big posts about the power of incumbency, so I thought I'd drop this little one in, in the meantime.

A few weeks back (April 12, 2005), Dave Kranz had noted a few of the people who are being talked about for Governor, and I had opportunity to razz one of them about being noted as a "Kranz Contender." In response, he commented to me that he thought Dave left a few legitimate contenders off the list, first and foremost, Mark Mickelson.

The Kranz Contender noted, that if Mark Mickelson stood up today and indicated that he was going to run for Governor in 2010, despite having not held previous political office, he would be taken as serious as a heart attack. The contender noted "He's photogenic, he has money, and more than anything, he has the family name."

Now, let it be known on the record that I dislike the anointing thing, because I don't think anyone deserves anything because of their name. Very possibly because my forbearers had a disdain for politics, so none of them ever ran for anything. But, the Kranz Contender has a good point. Second and third generation political names have been seeping out of the woodwork lately, and are starting to make a huge impact in South Dakota politics.

First and foremost, Stephanie Herseth. Think if she didn't have that last name that she would have been so strong in her first race? A young, unmarried woman with a law degree with no previous electoral experience who doesn't look much older than 20? Forget it. But you put that Herseth name on her, and she's South Dakota Royalty. With a grandfather who was governor, a dad who ran for governor and served in the legislature, and a grandmother who was secretary of state, how can people help but know the name. I don't think this fact has escaped our new congresswoman, who happens to note it on her bio page.

Now, we happen to like our royalty, on either side of the aisle. It's not particular to either party. All you need is a lineage that was able to run successfully on a statewide basis. People are already talking about Tim Johnson's son Brendan as a soon to be up and comer. I'd be surprised if we didn't see Russ Janklow - who was a year ahead of me in school, and whom I personally like - give it a go. And we have the previous example of Mark Mickelson.

Those last names evoke strong positive feelings in people who had voted for their parents for years which don't go away so easily. That almost creates an aura of electability that might not be there to begin with otherwise. When they ran against Tim Johnson, if Jan Berkhout or John Timmer had come from a lineage like Foss or Berry, and had the name to match, they likely would not have been dismissed by the media so easily.

It's an interesting thing, certainly not unique to South Dakota. Its evocative of the Kennedy Dynasty in Massachusetts, or the Landon/Kassenbaum thing in Kansas. Or the Daley family in Illinois. There’s literally a hundred examples you can probably come up with of a family lineage of successful politicians.

The only thing left for me to do is to see if John Thune might be willing to adopt a 38 year old with 6 kids. I'd even change my name.