The amazing part of this story is how calmly people are taking it:
S.D. Dems Skip Senate Race Against GOP’s Thune
PIERRE — South Dakota Democrats have failed to find a candidate to challenge Republican U.S. Sen. John Thune.
Democratic Party officials had acknowledged earlier they might not find anyone to run against Thune, a popular politician who is seeking a second term in the Senate. The lack of a Democratic candidate became official Thursday when election officials posted the final list of candidates who submitted nominating petitions to run for statewide offices and the Legislature in the June primary.
Jim Geraghty notes that this isn’t going to help Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin; I’ll add that it’s not good news for probable Democratic gubernatorial challenger Scott Heidepriem, either. On paper, this is not a bad battleground for the Democratic party. They have an incumbent Democrat in the at-large House seat: a retiring Republican governor opening up that position; and a Republican Senator who beat the Democratic Senate Majority Leader in a squeaker in a GOP-friendly year up for re-election. They should be aiming for a sweep; instead, they’ve cut their resources down to the bone.
Well, it’s easy to bet big when you’re winning anyway.
Moe Lane
PS: Thanks for the seat! We’re going to use the resources we saved from not having to defend it to pick off a couple of Democratic-held House districts. Much obliged!
And Nevada Republicans thank Thune for the extra help that’s going to come by to help the eventual GOP nominee pull off a similar feat against Harry Reid.
BTW, South Dakota hasn’t elected a Dem governor since the mid 1970s! And I’m pretty sure that most older SD Republicans have long memories of Scott Heidepriem changing parties because he didn’t like the pro-lifers.