South Dakota War College

After he's barely able to remain Republican after he strung everyone out for the overly-dramatic announcement over whether or not he was running again, a report tonight at Rapidcityjournal.com has soon-to-be-former State Senator Stan Adelstein even acting coy over which gubernatorial candidate he's behind this election: State Sen. Stan Adelstein has reaffirmed his Republican roots, but he stopped short of reaffirming his past support for Republican Gov. Mike Rounds. During a news conference Friday afternoon Adelstein announced that he would not switch parties and replace Tom Katus as the Senate candidate from District 32. Instead, Adelstein endorsed Katus and said he would help him with campaign contributions and door-to-door contacts in the district. Adelstein said his “Republican commitment runs too strong and deep” to allow him to switch parties. But when asked if he would support Rounds in his reelection campaign against Democratic candidate Jack Billion, Adelstein avo...

I'm starting to pick apart the Amendment E financial filing...well, at least their attempt at financial filing which has yet to be submitted in a matter acceptable to the Secretary of State's Office. Those darned laws that everyone else has to follow... And the requirement that the totals actually add up. Darn those laws! All that aside, the big question is "where is Amendment E getting their loot?" For starters, much of it is coming from out of state. And one of the people in for the biggest amount is Loren Parks of Oregon. Loren donated a substantial $5000 towards the JAIL effort. I'll warn you that from here on out, it gets a little racy. Not to mention very, very weird. And this is just what I'm clipping. The rest is worse. Since little details such as statute requiring that his place of business be listed, I'll even help on this one. It's pretty easy to find information on Loren Parks of Aloha, Oregon. Just look it up on the internet, and you can ...

Mary Nosbush was nice enough to send me a copy of this a little while back, and it's been sitting on my desk until now. This postcard goes along the same theme as her nicely done campaign card; Beautiful photography on heavy glossy stock - you can't pull this off on anything less, and the quality shows. If there's one thing I'd want to see differently on this campaign piece, it would be a different photo screened in the background on the flip side. The close-up is intimate, however I tend to like more action photos (but that's probably just my own personal preference). As a possible alternative - I'd also consider making it an oversize postcard. There's no bulk rate for postcards, so why not take it to the size limit for regular bulk rate? (But again, that my personal preference). Regardless - this item gets an "A" in my book anyday - keep up the hard work Mary!

The AP is reporting today (via the Argus Leader's website) that the county commission redistricting case in Charles Mix county has been approved by Judge Piersol: A federal judge has approved a redistricting plan forged by the Charles Mix County Commission after it was sued by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of several American Indians in a voting rights lawsuit. U.S. District Judge Lawrence Piersol said the plan, which established a commissioner district with a majority of Indians, solves the problem of having too large a deviation in the populations of the three county commissioner districts. Piersol had ruled earlier that the previous districts were unconstitutional. Commissioners redrew them in November, and an Indian won the Democratic primary on June 6. Sharon Drapeau, who is one of the plaintiffs in the ACLU lawsuit, automatically will become a county commissioner on Jan. 1 because no Republican ran in that district. Read it all here, as we still wait for the ...

Yahoo! News via the Associated press has an interesting story tonight on why we should be more vigilant about thinning out those numbers, and not just because we want a cool rug by the fireplace: Carrie Ann Warner has repeatedly called authorities about the stalker that has peered into her son's bedroom window at night, killed the family cat and even chased the family into their home in the wooded hills west of Denver. The mountain lion has eluded wildlife officers perched on the porch with shotguns, traps baited with roadkill and even a motion-detection camera fastened to a pine tree. Six-year-old Schylure told his parents the lion stared into his room "like it was mad at me." "We're living in this vale of fear," said Carrie Ann Warner, whose family has built a steel enclosure around their back porch. "I've reached my wit's end. I don't know what to do." Reports of mountain lions roaming neighborhoods and devouring family pets hav...

After reading about the dilemma of a "soon-to-be former State Senator" and the decision he made this afternoon, it gave me pause to wonder - does South Dakota have one of it's first "South Park Republicans?" A friend sent this to me knowing of my ribald enjoyment of the foul mouthed 5th graders, and it oddly fits in this situation. For those of you not familiar with the term, as I wasn't until a few days ago, here's a bit of mild amusement for the late evening. From the Wikipedia definition of "South Park Republican: " South Park Republican is a term that was circulated in a few articles and weblogs on the Internet circa 2001 and 2002 , to describe what was claimed by the authors as a "new wave" of young adults and teenagers who hold political beliefs that are, in general, aligned with those that seem to underpin gags and storylines in the popular television cartoon. The phrase was coined in 2001 by commentator Andrew Sullivan , ...

Did I tell you, or what ? From tonight at RapidCityJournal.com : After weeks of indecision, state Rep. Stan Adelstein announced Friday that he would not leave the Republican Party and replace Tom Katus as the Democratic Senate candidate for District 32 in the general election this fall. But Adelstein will give financial contributions and door-to-door campaign support to Katus in his general-election campaign against Elli Schwiesow, who beat Adestein in the Republican primary. and... Katus said Adelstein made his decision despite polling by a Democratic firm that showed that Adelstein would have started a campaign against Schwiesow with a healthy lead in District 32. “Let me assure you that this would have been a slam dunk for Sen. Adelstein,” Katus said. “He outpolled Elli and me by 20 points.” add to that .. Those results differ from those from a District 32 voter survey done within the last 10 days for the Republican Party, state party Chairman Randy Frederick of Hayti said Friday af...

The financial filing from the Medical Marijuana people this month was quite deceptive. Not in a sinister way, mind you. But I think it's catching people off guard. Because as everyone looked at the first one and said "eh, just as expected" they've completely ignored the second one. And that's where the big money is pouring into South Dakota through. The South Dakotans for Medical Cannabis group submitted the first filing from treasurer S. Jeremy Briggs on 7/5 which showed that they had no income other than $1000 raised from the "hemp hoe down," with expenditures. I think most people glanced at that report and dismissed it (as I did) with a thought that it was as expected in South Dakota - that this measure does not enjoy much support. But as I perused the reports more recently as of 7/10, another pro-medical marijuana group filed a report. And this one is where the big bucks are coming in. And this PAC report submitted by Karen O'Keefe shows receipt...

Kevin Woster filed an early report in preparation for Senator Adelstein's possible switch to Democrat at a press conference tomorrow at 2pm* which would allow him to be considered for the Democrat's Senate candidate seat. As stated in the Rapid City Journal : Adelstein, who has been courted by Democrats since he lost the June 6 primary, plans to end speculation about his immediate political future during a 2 p.m. news conference at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. Adelstein seemed in interviews Wednesday and Thursday to be leaning away from a party switch, but he also mused aloud about how he would handle a general-election campaign against his GOP nemesis. and... The overriding issue in the Adelstein-Schwiesow race was HB1215, a controversial near-total ban on abortions easily approved by the state Legislature this year. Adlestein voted against the bill, which Schwiesow strongly supports. Funded in part by Adelstein, opponents referred HB1215 to a publi...

The whole family is reunited in Brookings tonight. And my daughter came back with some neat pictures. Here's just a sampling before I get back to spending time with my wife:

WWSD - What Will Stan do? On this website, as we as on many others, and in the mainstream media, there has been oodles of speculation as to whether or not Senator Adelstein will jump ship from the GOP. “Will he stay and continue to spend money on candidates to try to reshape the GOP into his own vision of it.” “Will he become a Democrat, since many of his views parallel theirs.” Yes, I talk about this a lot. And by the amount of Mainstream Media coverage, it is a hot topic among politicos. Just so we can establish the basis for where I’m coming from, my irritation with Stan is not over his views. They’re his, and he’s quite welcome to them at the end of the day. My griping comes from his continual bashing of the GOP and doing his darndest to split the party down the middle through the Mainstream Coalition, and his political attacks at his fellow GOP legislators. Yes, it came back at him in spades this year, but if you go back and look, I’d say he started it. Regardless, tomorrow is su...

I'm going to be traveling later this afternoon, so don't look for much in the way of new posting tonight. However, I think I'll have a bit of a juicy one on J.A.I.L. tonight (aside from their new spokesman Jake Hanes pulling down his comments on the Survivalists against the NWO discussion board to "blog the sh*t out" of Tim Gebhart and the fact he calls Tim a "bitch" on his website after Tim pointed out his pictures with the automatic weapon. Great spokesman there , guys. You picked yourself a winner on that one. Anyway, for J.A.I.L. Haters across South Dakota, this will be a very enlightening one, so stay tuned.

From a press release yesterday by the National Republican Congressional Committee: Does Stephanie Herseth Agree with Despicable DCCC Fundraising Tactics? Herseth must repudiate tactics and return DCCC money WASHINGTON – This week, the Democrat Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) released a fundraising solicitation video containing images of caskets of U.S. soldiers killed in the War on Terror. Here is a link to the DCCC video: http://www.dccc.org/r/17033/483923 . The DCCC’s fundraising solicitation also contained a fabricated mug shot of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay marked “91108GOP” – a very troubling and short-sighted combination of numbers to use. At best, the DCCC is politicizing the tragedies of 9/11; at worst, they are suggesting that another terrorist attack is imminent as a result of a Republican-controlled Congress. This cycle, Stephanie Herseth has accepted $608 in contributions from the DCCC. “Washington Democrats have gone beyond the pale of politically accept...

In an attempt to continue to offset my costs, I'm also considering a new advertising possibility for my posts where a person can sponsor one of a rotation of posts directly, such as every fourth one, in line within the text of a message. If anyone is interested, they should get ahold of me at dakotawarcollege@yahoo.com This idea was the brainchild of my better half, who thought it would be a good idea. (I think she's gradually accepting that I have more than 13 people who read a this point.)

Tim over at A Progressive on the Prairie takes note tonight of a recent request of the Amendment E spokesman Jake Hanes. Apparently, for someone who is representing a group calling judges and public officials corrupt, he can't take it when the spotlight is turned on him. On the MySpace group " Survivalists against the NWO " he's posted an open request for his cronies to "Blog the sh*t out of this guy," in response to Tim's posting of photos on Jake's website Jake toting an automatic weapon and talking about "getting ready" for a domestic war. Just remember, the new face of Amendment E. Just as questionable as the old one.

Mt. Blogmore points out tonight that both Governor Mike Rounds and his challenger Jack Billion are renting their campaign headquarters from Stan Adelstein. Read it here .

I'm hearing reports that Congresswoman Stephanie Herseth had accepted an invitation to debate Republican Candidate Bruce Whalen at the State Fair this year, but oddly withdrew from the challenge. I'm not sure why she would duck out of it. State Fair debates are as South Dakotan as kuchen and Schmeckfest. We like to see our candidates duke it out and explain where they stand on issues. In this fast food world, it's one of the purest forms of political competition left. The story goes that the Whalen campaign has issued several challenges to debate on several issues which have mostly been ignored by Stephanie. For the life of me, I can't imagine why. It's not like she hasn't done it before versus Janklow or Diedrich. Right now, the first big public debate where they're both set to appear is for Dakotafest. Let's wait and see if it actually happens.

Tom Lawrence at The Black Hills Pioneer is reporting tonight that the decision on whether we get a re-run of Adelstein (after the voters made that choice once this year ) is coming Friday in a Joint Press Conference with Democrat Tom Katus: Stan Adelstein and Tom Katus call themselves moderates. On Friday, they will call each other partners. Adelstein, a Republican state senator, and Katus, the Democratic candidate for state Senate District 32, will hold a joint press conference at 2 p.m. Friday. One man will endorse the other as the Democratic candidate to run against Republican Elli Schwiesow. Both men confirmed the joint appearance during interviews Tuesday night but declined to say who would be the candidate. "This is still in process," Katus said. "That's as far as I'll go." Adelstein was defeated by Schwiesow in the June 6 Republican primary. He declined to endorse her and soon was being courted by South Dakota Democrats to switch pa...

I think I used that post title before, but it's so darned appropriate. First, according to Roger Larsen of the Huron Daily Plainsman , the Huron City Commission kicked their rear ends on Monday: The city of Huron has gone on record opposing Amendment E, a November ballot issue that it says in a resolution would abolish judicial immunity, create a special grand jury and allow for jury nullification. In the resolution adopted Monday, the City Commission said the amendment, if approved by voters, would cause potential damage not only to the state’s judicial system but would threaten those who serve on municipal boards. The Legislature unanimously approved a concurrent resolution earlier this year strongly urging the ballot issue’s defeat “to protect our system of justice, to protect economic development” and “to protect citizens from frivolous lawsuits.” Next, the Pierre City Commission gave them what for according to Tony Mangan over at KCCR Radio: Pierre city commissioners have gon...

How come Sioux Valley Hospital bans smoking on their campus for being unhealthy, but only a few months later announce that they're putting "Hot Stuff" meals and snacks in thier new food court?

I did a little checking today on those who still had post-primary financial reports out. The list is whittled down pretty far, with many of them turned in, but not accepted yet because of technical glitches in their addition, etc., that are anticipated to be corrected in short order. And a few who lost primaries still have them out. But for those who won, there are two who stand out like a sore thumb. They're incumbents who have gone down this path before, begging the question - why don't these guys have their's in? And the offenders are Democrat and Senate Minority Leader Garry Moore and Democratic House member Burt Elliot. It's not like they don't know about the requirement. But supposedly, neither of them have provided even an incorrect filing. Not even an excuse that their dog ate it. No, the earth is not going to open up and swallow us all if they don't get them in. But why would they hand their opponents a campaign issue like that? Stay tuned.

Democrat Jessica Nathanson , an Augustana Professor and essayist who just came off of a Primary night win has oddly withdrawn from her House Race in Sioux Falls. If you recall, she got a little attention in the blogosphere for comments attributed to her in the Augustana Newspaper abut Marriage being an oppressive institution; which she tried to later clarify as that marriage started out being about ownership . Anyway, this District 12 candidate who managed a fairly impressive lead over the next contender in line is now out of the race. No reports yet as to who is going to fill the slot.

Just got the news this AM that District 25 Democratic Senate Candidate Mitch Kannenberg has withdrawn from the race, leaving a vacancy that could potentially be filled by Republican Primary loser Clarence Kooistra . This comes after Kooistra cryptically dropped a hint this past Sunday that this could be in the works. From my blogpost , and the Rapid City Journal : Has Kooistra changed his mind? It seems just in the past two or three days I know I read it again where he was looking at running against Bob Kolbe in a few years. I certainly blogged on it earlier . Now, it appears his true stripes are coming out. Back to today's sweeping Rapid City Journal Article : Kooistra expects to be more comfortable as a Democrat. He is now waiting to see if some possible reshuffling of the Democratic candidates in District 25 will give him a spot on the November ballot. So, as he mentioned, the seat is now available. Despite Kooistra's prior comments on the fact that he planned to sit thi...

Senator Lee Schoenbeck is putting his foot down with Forward South Dakota, the group running the ads against Chris Nelson for asking for an AG's opinion (who asked for a Supreme Court Ruling) on whether or not the Video Lottery could be placed on the ballot: A state lawmaker from Watertown says it is wrong that television ads attacking Secretary of State Chris Nelson for refusing to put a video lottery repeal measure on the fall ballot don’t list the sponsor. “These cowards aren’t putting their name on it. They’re attacking Chris Nelson for doing his job, and they don’t say who it is,” Republican state Sen. Lee Schoenbeck said. The ad — being aired by Forward South Dakota, the group promoting the video-lottery repeal — shows hands pulling the strings of a puppet that resembles Nelson. The ads ask: “Who’s pulling the secretary’s strings? Is this another favor to protect special interests, or has our state video-lottery addiction become so strong that our current administration ...

From the Rapid City Journal : Finding ways to provide health insurance for the uninsured in South Dakota will be one of four issues that Jack Billion will highlight in his campaign against Republican Gov. Mike Rounds. Billion, the Democratic nominee for governor, will soon begin releasing position statements on health care, education, economic development and agriculture and its related energy development. No issue will be more important than health care and finding ways to expand medical coverage among the almost 90,000 uninsured South Dakotans, the retired orthopedic surgeon from Sioux Falls said Tuesday. "Certainly, health care is going to be one of the major issues of the campaign," Billion said. "One of the single most important things we need to do in this state is provide some kind of coverage for the 90,000 who are uninsured, 17,000 of whom are children." Billion said 31,000 of the uninsured are below the federal poverty level. South Dakota could...

I had promised that I'd track this down, and thanks to the courtesy of the SD GOP, they were nice enought to provide me copies. The platform and resolutions were approved without much of a hitch, excepting a spirited debate over the resolution on abortion. Once they've been completed, these are filed with the Secretary of State's office, and included in the "Blue Book" of state government this next year which is publicly available. Ans also, where they will be completely and utterly forgotten until the next convention. Really, I'll be the first to admit that these are not much more than a loose statement of belief. I don't think I've ever seen nor heard of a candidate invoking them for all the fuss they bring to the table. When I'm working for a candidate, I'm not checking off boxes on a checklist on how they compare to the GOP platform. I'm more concerned with how they fit with what my agenda is (usually, less gvernment, lower taxes, and p...

My wife informs me that she had a phenomenal visit with Senator Thune this morning in her travels in the DC area - and my name even came up. (Not to tell any secrets, but apparently there are people out in that neck of the woods who breeze through my little mess on the interent from time to time.) The wife is promising me pictures upon her return, and I can't wait. She tells me she couldn't have been happier with how things went and had big kudos for Senator Thune and his staff. Over the last few days, they're been seeing the sights, such as Arlington Cemetery and th Smithsonian. My daughter mP snapped a picture of comedian Mo Rocca while they were dining the other night. Plus they were in attendance at the 1yr b-day party of the panda at the National Zoo. Apparently, with the mob scene going for the free little stuffed bears. Literally, it was " panda -monium." (yes, a groan is appropriate here). But back to the political part - apparently they're meeting wi...

(HT to Brian) One of the commenters noticed that the AG also provided his opinion on Amendment E . I'm not going to say this one was written in a tongue-in-cheek manner, but some of the assertions are so ludicrous, they're laughable: Constitutional Amendment E Title: An Amendment to Article VI of the South Dakota Constitution, relating to judicial decisions. Attorney General Explanation: Citizens serving on juries, school boards, city councils, county commissions, or in similar capacities, and prosecutors and judges, are all required to make judicial decisions. Their decisions may be reversed on appeal, or they may be removed from office for misconduct or by election. However, they cannot be made to pay money damages for making such decisions. This allows them to do their job without fear of threat or reprisal from either side. The proposed amendment to the State Constitution would allow thirteen volunteers to expose these decision makers to fines and jail, and strip them of pu...

Jeez, Tim's getting a lot of press lately. His latest article on the new face of J.A.I.L. came to the attention of Dave Kranz at the Argus Leader, automatic weapons and all: We've heard a lot in recent months about the abortion bill, HB1215, and its entry into the November elections, but the people wanting to hold judges accountable have been silent. The last significant news was their decision to eliminate a public relations problem as they seek to sell the Judicial Accountability Initiative Law to South Dakotans. Better known as J.A.I.L, or Amendment E on the November ballot, the issue was raised largely through the effort of Californians. Yet, to local supporters, the idea that out-of-staters arrived here to tell the citizens of this state how they should do things needed a response. So Bill Stegmeier of Tea, state coordinator of the amendment drive, decided to send the Californians packing. and... Proponents are quiet, but they haven't disappeared. Sioux Falls law...

If you are a teenager or have a teenager and want them to learn about leadership, I just got a note that the South Dakota Teenage Republican Camp has a few spots left for interested people that they'd like to see filled. (Actually, I need to talk to my crabby teenager myself about it). What's the itinerary? From the website : What do campers do at camp? TAR Camp offers unprecedented access to South Dakota's Republican leaders. Campers will be able to hear our state's leaders address current issues and ask questions. There are also sessions on political campaigns, conservative philosophy and citizenship. Of course, the main focus at TAR Camp is F U N and we visit the Black Hills Playhouse, Rushmore Waterslide, and watch movies. One thing I'm noticing is that there will be transportation provided from many locations in South Dakota. Always a plus when figuring out how to get a teenager across the state. It's fairly inexpensive to send your teenager - $250 for e...

If you haven't noticed, I'm changing things around a bit. I've dropped the newsfeed on the right tonight, I've added some advertising space, etc. I'm also instituting a new e-mail address. For correspondence, please use dakotawarcollege@yahoo.com The old red_touch@yahoo.com still works, but I and others giving me unsolicited advice (yes, you, Happy Trails) thought that it sounded a bit creepy, and it would be better to go with something closer to the SDWC brand. As promised, I'm running a special on ads for a short time - until the 15th. Ads will be at the previous pricing of $20 for the top, and $50 for the sides until then. (of course, I'll honor all existing business). After that, I'll be making my big push, and the prices will go to thier new rate, which are based on traffic levels. Actually, it's quite reasonable - about $.01 per website hit monthly. I'll even break the rates down weekly. Unfortunately, it's costing me money, so I need t...

The Rapid City Journal is reporting tonight that the Attorney General's ballot explanation for referred law 6, otherwise known as HB 1215, makes note that even if the measure passes, it could be challened in court and found unconstitutional: Attorney General Larry Long's official explanation of an abortion measure that will appear on this fall's ballot says that if South Dakota voters approve the measure, it could be challenged in court and might be found to be unconstitutional. Long on Monday gave Secretary of State Chris Nelson his official explanations of all proposed constitutional amendments, proposed laws and referred measures that will appear on the November ballot. The explanations, not the full texts of the measures, will be printed on ballots to guide voters. The Legislature this year passed a law that would ban nearly all abortions in South Dakota. It was intended to prompt a court challenge aimed at getting the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn its 1973 Roe v...

As reported in the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, the group promoting a yes vote on the HB1215 amendment, Referred Law 6 is making a bus tour around South Dakota this week: VoteYesForLife.com, the campaign in support of a "yes" vote on Referred Law 6, has announced plans to tour the state of South Dakota. “The science shows that abortion hurts women and kills a living human life,” said Leslee Unruh, campaign manager for VoteYesForLife.com. and... Tour locations, dates and times are: – Mitchell, noon to 12:30 p.m., Wednesday, Corn Palace. – Watertown, 6 to 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, Past Times Coffeehouse and Deli,16 West Kemp Ave, – Pierre, 6 to 6:30 p.m., Thursday, South Dakota Right to Life Headquarters, 314 S. Central St. – Aberdeen, noon to 12:30 p.m., Thursday, Ramada Inn – Rapid City, noon to 12:30 p.m., Friday, Civic Center Parking lot. Read it all here .

As printed at argusleader.com , the associated press is reporting that GFP Secretary John Cooper has announced that he is retiring at the end of the end of the year: The South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks Department has started a yearlong transition caused by the retirement of longtime veterans in management positions. Secretary John Cooper and state Wildlife Director Doug Hansen are two of the officials who plan to retire. Cooper, 61, was hired by former Gov. Bill Janklow in April 1995 and oversees a department with more than 500 employees and a budget of almost $60 million. The high-profile post has often put the secretary in the position of defending agency policy that occasionally upset hunters, anglers, landowners, and politicians. Two of the most recent controversies involved GF&P management policies on mountain lions and an ongoing dispute with West River landowners over law-enforcement policies for conservation officers. Cooper is planning to retire at the end of the ...

From the Billion Campaign tonight, something we haven't seen in South Dakota Campaigns before. They're setting up Internet Discussion groups at various places on the Internet: BILLION FOR GOVERNOR ON MYSPACE, GOOGLE GROUPS, FORUMSPLACE SIOUX FALLS--The Billion for Governor campaign has established sites in cyberspace where voters and supporters can interact. Jack Billion has a MySpace site located at http://www.myspace.com/jackbillion . It includes a blog and bulletin board. Videos will also be available there. MySpace members can request to be friends of Jack at the page. The campaign has also established public forum sites at Google Groups at http://groups.google.com/group/billionforgovernor and at Forumsplace at http://ibackjack.s10.forumsplace.com . Readers will need to register to participate. The forums are moderated. "We're hoping to reach out to the 18-30 year old generation that hasn't always been involved in politics," said Tim Billion, Ja...

I'm jealous of Tim Gebhart over at " A Progressive on the Prairie ." Did he ever get a scoop on the new face of the South Dakota J.A.I.L. movement, Jake Hanes, who seems to be doing most of the media duty at a time when "Media Consultant" Bonnie Russell is no where to be seen, except sending snotty e-mails about me. (I'll mention that story another time). Check out part of his post and the man who is one of the new faces of JAIL: Remember when South Dakota J.A.I.L. distanced itself from JAIL4Judges because of a perception that national group was a " bunch of wacko Californians "? It tried selling South Dakota J.A.I.L.er-in-Chief, Bill Stegmeier, as " a regular American , trying to do the right thing." It also brought in Jake Hanes as " campaign media coordinator " and he is South Dakota J.A.I.L's main contact person . So now that J.A.I.L. claims to have rid itself of wackos, let's take a look at the new face of J.A....

Governor Rounds will be doing his monthly KGFX Radio interview tomorrow, according to this note from the KGFX Daily News: Governor Mike Rounds will be in our studios TOMORROW for this month’s “A Conversation with Governor Rounds”. This is an open forum show in which you can pose your questions or comments to the Governor live by phone, or by sending them in ahead of time to governor@amfmradio.biz . It’s “A Conversation with Governor Rounds” Tuesday, starting at 2:05 p.m., here on 1060-KGFX. A mildly humorous anecdote, The Governor had a similar question request on his website during the 2002 primary where it said "Ask Mike Rounds a Question." So one day, I did. Smarty pants me asked him "how high is up?" The response back? "about 48%" Which was a pretty good response in that 3 way primary. (Nowadays, I suspect the response would be considerably higher.)

I'm in the process of making some changes to the website that you'll see over the course of the next few days. Gone will be some on the news on the right hand side of the page, since all I ever seem to read on it are the obituaries for Huron. I'll still have some of it there, but it's going to be greatly reduced in focus. Again, why would I highlight obits? This is a political website. I've gone out and purchased "dakotawarcollege.com" which I'll be linking up to the website soon as well. If you've ever tried to explain http://dakotawarcollege.blogspot.com, you'll understand why I'm opting for an easier URL. The old one will work fine, but I'm in a big push to drive more traffic here. And if you've been thinking about an ad, or a linked picture at the top, I'd tell you to jump on the bandwagon fast. With 16k+ monthly visitors, and 40,000+ hits, my ad rates are going to be going up as I make a marketing push. I reach more South ...

If you'll allow me to indulge myself, Dave Kranz writes in today's Argus about a project I'm involved with which has nothing to do with politics. It's the South Dakota Vietnam War Memorial Dedication in Pierre on September 15th and 16th: South Dakota Vietnam Veterans by the thousands will make a pilgrimage to Pierre this fall to find a remedy for the hurt they have felt for four decades. It likely will be an emotion-charged gathering. Some will go still feeling the physical pain from their time served. Others still will be affected by emotions from the experience or loss of comrades. There will be a dedication of the Vietnam War Memorial, but Gov. Mike Rounds says the gathering is for other purposes. Prominent this day is facing the sadness many veterans still feel because a seemingly ungrateful country never welcomed them home after the politically charged conflict overtook a common-sense response. There are about 28,000 Vietnam veterans with ties to South Dakota, and...

( again, refer back to today's RCJ Article ) Who is being truthful? Dave Newquist or Duane Sutton? Because both are offering differing accounts of who approached who for Duane to become a Democrat. First, here's Duane's accounting of the matter from today's Rapid City Journal : "I got a call Wednesday, June 7, the day after the election from a state Democratic official, asking if I'd consider it," Sutton said. "I did give it some thought. But I just didn't think for me that it was the right decision." Sutton said Democrats assured him that the party nominee in his district, Ted Kneebone, would step aside if he agreed to run as a Democrat. Sutton spoke to Kneebone to confirm that and sought guidance from other Democrats and Republican colleagues. Sutton said he believes he stood a good chance in the general election of beating Isaac Latterell, the man who topped him in the Republican primary, in part by focusing on HB1215. (Aside from the fact...

The Rapid City Journal has a huge Sunday front page above the fold article on whether or not Stan Adelstein will change over to the Democratic Party : Republican state Sen. Stan Adelstein is caught in a crossfire of conflicting opinions about whether he should switch his party affiliation to Democrat and challenge GOP rival Elli Schwiesow in the general election this fall. And the impact of his decision could be felt well beyond his home district in Rapid City. Some Democrats are trying to sweet talk Adelstein into their party and onto the November ballot in the District 32 Senate race. But others oppose the idea, questioning whether Adelstein would be a phony Democrat simply using the party for a chance to hold on to his Senate seat and pay back Schwiesow. And faithful party members on both sides debate whether Adelstein's switch - if it comes - would be telling evidence of a backlash against extremist views in the Republican Party or simply one more attempt by the long-outgu...