S. Dakota Senate Race Causes Stir

S P E A R F I S H, S.D., Oct. 22 -- South Dakota Republican Rep. John Thune is locked in a close race against the incumbent Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D. Never heard of them? Rest assured the White House has.

President Bush and his political honcho, Karl Rove, have staked a great deal on the performance of the 6-foot-5 Thune, a former state basketball favorite. They saw in him the potential to strip one very important seat from the grasp of the Democrats in Washington. And one seat is all it will take to swing control of the Senate back to the GOP.

Thune was not exactly chomping at the bit to make this race. Indeed, he had decided to run for governor of South Dakota; and had even moved his family back from Washington to re-establish his roots. But after a little White House persuasion, Thune for Goveror became Thune for Senator.

Arrayed against the Republicans are Tim Johnson and his most influential political ally — the state's more famous Democrat: Tom Daschle, the majority leader of the Senate.

Johnson was first elected to the Senate in 1996, ousting veteran Republican Larry Pressler. Today Johnson says that having two Democrats in the Senate is good for the state.

"That is a one-two punch in terms of clout for the state of South Dakota that frankly we've never had before," he said in a recent interview.

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Recent polls suggest that that idea has a strong base of support.

"Something like 35 percent of the people say that they would rather vote for Johnson to keep Daschle as majority leader," said Patrick Lalley of the Sioux Falls Argus-Leader.

Thune sees it differently.

"You have Tom Daschle as the leader of the Democrats and you've got Tim Johnson," Thune said. "And you've essentially got a leader and a follower."

Bush vs. Daschle in 2004?

In fact, Daschle and Bush get talked about as much as those two other guys running for the office here. So much so that some believe this is really a proxy fight between Bush and Daschle that foreshadows a possible presidential contest two years hence.