Want to see Dennis Daugaard jump in the Missouri?

If you do, better break out your checkbook. This Wednesday in Pierre by the American Legion cabin is the second annual Polar Plunge event, part of the Law Enforcement Torch Run fundraising drive for the Special Olympics.

Daschle stuck in D.C. snow

The Daily Republic has a great catch today — footage from a Washington, D.C. Fox affiliate of a correspondent (citizen correspondent?) driving around in the big blizzard the East Coast had this weekend, coming across a stuck motorist — and finding it was ex-Sen. Tom Daschle. The man helped push Daschle's car out, on camera.

Online nymity

The South Dakota blogosphere is all a-twitter over two new bills introduced past the last minute by Rep. Noel Hamiel and Sen. Nancy Turbak Berry.

Herseth Sandlin's shift on the EPA

Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin this week announced she was signing on to a bill to curtail the Environmental Protection Agency after the agency's new Renewable Fuel Standard rule incorporated a controversial factor called "international indirect land use" that could threaten corn ethanol.

2010 session bill load: a comparison

With the addition of Rep. Noel Hamiel's controversial last pair of bills (and more on them later today), that brings this session's total bill load to 278 House bills and 196 Senate bills. That's not unusually different from past sessions — since Gov. Mike Rounds took office (not counting this year), there's been an average of 279.14 House bills and 214.86 Senate bills introduced.

Obama appoints Rounds to 'Council of Governors'

Just got this press release from the governor's office about Gov. Mike Rounds being appointed by President Barack Obama to a 10-member "Council of Governors." The council includes five Democratic governors and five Republican governors.

Rounds: Campaign funds maintaining list of supporters

Bob Mercer had a great catch a few days ago, noting that Gov. Mike Rounds had filed a campaign finance report reflecting $439,875 in the bank and expenditures of $92,043 — including $69,298 on "salaries."

Quiet day at the legislature this afternoon

Just had an update from Senate Majority Leader Dave Knudson and House Assistant Majority Leader Kristi Noem. Both houses, convening early at 12:30 p.m. today, expect to do little more than address their consent calendars today before adjourning.

Pat Powers gets his recognition

Blogger/campaign manager Pat Powers, after his earlier (joking) complaints, got himself introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Brock Greenfield.

The culprit found!

House Speaker Tim Rave declined to name names but revealed the cause of yesterday's voting machine outage: a legislator from the back of the room on the far left column of desks spilled pop on the circuit board.

Mitt Romney to fundraise for Thune

The National Journal's Hotline On Call blog reports that ex-Massachusetts governor and potential 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney will be visiting Sioux Falls Feb. 19 to raise money for Sen. John Thune.

Thune to spread the wealth

So what exactly IS Sen. John Thune going to do with the $5 million he has in the bank despite no credible challenger? I asked him about that on today's conference call with the South Dakota press.

Thune and rights for terrorists

Sen. Thune's weekly conference call starts in an hour, which to me says there's no better time than to finally write up an exchange I had with him on LAST week's conference call. (Yes, I know, I get behind on non-deadline stuff.)

Tim Rounds files underage drinking bill

Rep. Tim Rounds remains convinced his bill to allow 19- and 20-year-olds to drink is the right thing to do. And despite doubts among his peers in the Legislature, Rounds said many of them agree with him.

Rule 5-17

HB1002 was scheduled to be reconsidered today after its narrow, bipartisan one-vote defeat Monday. The bill, which permits liquor sales on Sundays, Memorial Day and Christmas Day, was the subject of heated debate, so its backers brought an amendment weakening the language. Instead of making those sales legal unless a community opted out, it would give communities that wanted to permit sales on any or all of those days the ability to opt in.

"I don't see a problem at all"

Voting on a noncontroversial house bill on the consent calendar, HB1089, was just interrupted by a spate of voting machine problems. When a legislator is unable to vote by the machine, he or she calls out his or her vote and the clerk enters it in manually. For every vote there's usually one or two legislators calling out their votes. This time, though, there was a chorus.

Thune's fundraising: a visual guide

In today's Capital Journal, my article on campaign fundraising was accompanied by a graphic I made showing each major candidate's fundraising graphically. It looked like this.

Munsterman raises $55,254; spends $123,137

Ex-Brookings mayor Scott Munsterman's report wasn't online for my fundraising wrapup that ran in today's paper, due to what Munsterman said was a clerical error requiring him to refile the report. But it's online now, and it's an interesting report — even more interesting than last year's report would have been.

Bipartisan disagreement

Rep. Jim Bolin, R-Canton, came up to me a little while ago with an interesting fact.

Separated at birth, cont.

When Pat Powers suggested a certain resemblance between myself and Public Utilities Commissioner Dusty Johnson, I was skeptical and didn't quite see it. But I'm increasingly prepared to surrender the point: Rep. Ed Iron Cloud just walked up to me to tell me about a State-Tribal Relations Committee meeting — but prefaced his remarks by saying that he had just walked up to Johnson, thinking he was me, and gotten a few minutes into his pitch before Johnson said, "I think you're looking for David Montgomery."

Delegation statements on President's budget

From my inbox to your RSS feed or browser, here's what South Dakota's representatives in D.C. think about President Obama's proposed budget.

Curd cash breakdown

According to the Curd campaign, Congressional candidate Rep. Blake Curd has raised $144,331.50 for the primary election and $37,050 for the general election.

Primary cash and general election cash

In my last post, I said I'd revisit the issue of funds raised for the primary election versus the general election. Then I didn't. Whoops.

Checking the numbers: Big and small donations

Secretary of State and congressional candidate Chris Nelson has a post up on his Facebook page after getting significantly outraised in the fourth quarter of 2010 by his primary rival Rep. Blake Curd:

Herseth Sandlin raises $224,424.05 in fourth quarter

Alright, let's try posting about fundraising again, slightly less hastily.

The perils of jumping the gun

For about nine hours, this post was an elaborate analysis of gubernatorial candidate Scott Munsterman's fundraising numbers, how they compared to other candidates and what they meant for his candidacy.

Getting his name out

One of my stories in today's paper was about a significant new multimillion-dollar marina/shopping/restaurant development planned for Fort Pierre.

Knuppe raises $14,183.84

Republican gubernatorial candidate Ken Knuppe's dark horse candidacy had a quiet 2009 in fundraising, bringing in $14,183.84. That's just more than the $13,426.46 he spent, leaving him $6,170.40 cash on hand.

Bernanke confirmed 70-30

The Senate just confirmed Ben Bernanke for a second term by a 70-30 vote, after a cloture motion succeeded 77-23.

Knudson raises more than $500,000 in 2009

In a conference call with reporters, Sen. Dave Knudson just said he raised "in excess of $500,000" for his gubernatorial campaign in 2009.

Knudson leading push to reorganize Tourism & Economic Development

Sen. Dave Knudson introduced a bill today, SB140, which would significantly reorganize the Department of Tourism and Economic Development into independent departments.

Thune to vote against confirming Bernanke

Republican Sen. John Thune plans to vote against the reconfirmation of controversial Federal Reserve Board chairman Ben Bernanke this afternoon.

Congressional responses to the State of the Union

Here's how South Dakota's congressional delegation responded to Obama's State of the Union address this evening:

Senate skipping town early tomorrow

It's going to be a short week for one house of the Legislature.

Legislative picture time!

It seems like school all over again as the members of the House of Representatives arrange themselves for an official portrait. Everyone lined up next to their desks, closed the desk-tops, and smiled up at the rear balcony as Speaker Tim Rave tried to take attendance and see if anyone was missing. Unlike school pictures, however, the whole thing was done in less than five minutes and no one (to my knowledge) brought out a beachball or tried to make a goofy face.

Tax hikes in Oregon

Oregon voters on Tuesday approved two measures raising taxes both on wealthy individuals and on corporations.

Thune vs. Obama on budget cuts

Earlier today I took a look at some rhetoric from Sen. John Thune's open letter to President Obama about the budget. Here's a look at the substance of one of Thune's proposals:

Johnson announces birth of sixth grandchild

Release from Sen. Tim Johnson's office:

Daugaard raises $710,000 in 2009

I'm apparently not on the Daugaard campaign's media email list, but I see from near-simultaneous posts on Bob Mercer's and the Daily Republic's blogs that Lt. Gov. Dennis Daugaard raised more than $700,000 for his gubernatorial campaign in 2009, giving him $1.2 million cash on hand.

Who's to blame for the deficit?

The short answer: everyone.

Heidepriem raises $339,000

Sen. Scott Heidepriem's campaign is out today with a press release declaring he raised around $339,000 for his gubernatorial campaign in 2009.

Thune keeps raking in funds

Sen. John Thune, still without a declared Democratic challenger for reelection in 2010, continued his strong fundraising in the fourth quarter of 2009. Later today his campaign will announce they've raised around $898,000, leaving them a war chest of $6 million.

Senate defers and adjourns, too

The Senate, which had barely mustered a quorum of 18 members with the late arrival of Sen. Mike Vehle, just followed the House's example and adjourned after deferring all action — even the consent calendar.

House defers all action to tomorrow

I'm now sitting in the House, which has a quorum (by a fair margin, it looks like) and is on routine business like approval of reports.

Daugaard: "I think we're going to have a quorum"

Legislators are whipping out cell phones to call their comrades who aren't here, seeing who's going to show up late and who not at all.

A lot of empty seats in the Capitol

It's about 4:30 now, when both houses of the Legislature are scheduled to convene. And there's a lot of empty seats. They'll count in a moment to see if they have the necessary 18 senators and 36 representatives to convene.

Curd outraises Nelson in fourth quarter [Corrected]

Congressional candidate and state Rep. Blake Curd raised $125,000 more than primary rival and Secretary of State Chris Nelson in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Legislative session today still on... for now

I just called the Legislative Research Council to ask about today's scheduled 4:30 p.m. (CST) meeting of the House and Senate. All committee meetings today were cancelled and the sessions of the full houses were pushed last week back from their normal early afternoon starts due to bad whether, which was expected to make travel difficult.

Impact of winter weather on state budget

On a media briefing about the ongoing storm, Greg Fuller with the state Department of Transportation was just asked how the severe weather South Dakota has had over the last month will impact the department's budget.

Rounds to lawmakers: No new spending

When past legislatures have passed budgets exceeding Gov. Mike Rounds’ proposals, he has worked with them.

Gov. Rounds' "Top 10 Changes I'll Face As A Former Governor"

Thursday night saw the Ramkota in Pierre packed for the awards gala of the 2010 Governor's Conference on Tourism.

Full story: Thune TARP amendment fails

PIERRE — An amendment sponsored by Sen. John Thune to end the controversial Troubled Asset Relief Program failed in the Senate Thursday.

Thune amendment fails to get 60 votes

Sen. John Thune's bill to end the controversial Troubled Asset Relief Program picked up 53 votes in the Senate but failed to reach the 60-vote threshold needed to cut off debate. The measure was withdrawn.

Republican praise for Europe

American conservatives aren't known for their love of Europe. In fact, Europe seems to be a frequent punching bag for conservatives who see it as some combination of socialist, godless, pacifist and decadent.

Supreme Court overturns campaign finance law

Huge news from the Supreme Court this morning: in a 5-4 decision the court ruled that corporations (and probably labor unions) can spend freely on political advertisements from their general fund rather than having to set up political action committees.

Packed house at the sex offender hearing

The Senate Judiciary Committee's hearing on bills relevant to the sex offender registry is pretty full, including with some legislative leaders. In addition to Senate Minority Leader Scott Heidepriem, who's on the committee, House Majority Leader Bob Faehn and House Minority Leader Bernie Hunhoff are both in the room watching. This is one of the most interesting non-budget issues facing the legislature this year, and the crowd's interest seems to reflect that.

Thune formally introduces bill to end TARP

Sen. John Thune just finished speaking on CSPAN-2 introducing his bill to end the federal Troubled Asset Relief Program, which would direct the $320 billion of unspent TARP money to debt reduction and end further TARP spending.

How much would you pay for news?

The New York Times announced today it will, by 2011, start charging for access to its Web site.

A Pyrrhic victory in Massachusetts?

This is pure counterintuitive speculation on my part (one of my favorite hobbies!), but here's a scenario where the GOP's triumph yesterday in Massachusetts could end up hurting them.

Herseth Sandlin still a no...

Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin today said the current Senate bill doesn't do enough to win her vote for health care reform. In a statement she had several objections but only highlighted one: the so-called "Nebraska compromise" in which the federal government will pick up the cost of expanding Medicaid for Nebraska but not other states.

Johnson: options remain for health care reform

PIERRE — The election of Republican Scott Brown as a new senator from Massachusetts Tuesday has cast doubt on Democratic plans to pass comprehensive health care reform, but Sen. Tim Johnson said Democrats have several options left to pass a final bill.

Curd statement on Mass. senate

"I join with many South Dakotans tonight in celebrating the victory of Massachusetts Senator-Elect Scott Brown.  This is an important win for America and for South Dakota, for Brown will be the 41st Republican Senator, and so throws a wrench into the Pelosi-Reid-Obama plans for the worst health care bill in American history.

Thune TARP amendment up for a vote

Want to see whether Senate Democrats will be running scared after Republican Scott Brown's victory yesterday? Watch today or tomorrow, when Sen. John Thune's bill ending the TARP program comes up for a vote today. He's been pushing this for a while and hasn't been given the time of day by Democratic leadership; many of his measures never made it out of committee. Today he's due for a vote, and I can definitely see it passing. (Whether or not President Obama will sign it is another matter.)

Chris Nelson hails Brown victory

Spin however Democrats might (and they will try), Scott Brown's victory in Massachusetts is unqualified good news for Republicans. As someone who used to hold Scott Brown's new seat, President John Kennedy, once said (though I'm sure he didn't originate this), "Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan."

How reconciliation would work

Jeff Davis at The New Republican has a fascinating post on the options for Democrats if they can't get a 60th vote for health care now.

Brown wins in Massachusetts

The AP is reporting that Republican Scott Brown has beaten Democrat Martha Coakley in the Massachusetts Senate race.

Johnson, Thune find common cause: Haitian orphans

South Dakota's two senators are on opposite sides of the bitter partisan fight in Congress over health care reform, but today both Sen. Tim Johnson and Sen. John Thune are pushing the same cause: Haitian orphans.

Howie calls for more cuts

PIERRE — Gubernatorial candidate Sen. Gordon Howie (profiled here) called today for sharp budget cuts this year.

What do you do when no one understands a bill?

That's a question the Senate Education Committee just dealt with when debating SB25. A bill to repeal what Education Secretary Tom Oster said is a provision in the law that no one follows, it got a "Do Pass" motion right away — and then half an hour of questions as legislators realized they didn't know exactly what the bill did.

Just asking...

But why is the prospect of Massachusetts (a reliably Democratic state) electing a Republican senator so much more shocking than the prospect of a reliably Republican state like South Dakota, Nebraska or Louisiana electing a Democratic senator?

Interesting idea out of Nebraska

The Associated Press is reporting that Nebraska legislators are considering county consolidation, reducing the state's 100+ counties down to 30 or so. Proponents claim it will save money while preserving local control; opponents say it won't save any money while making government less local and less convenient.

Pierre real estate appraiser to run for District 24 House

Pierre real estate appraiser Terry Leibel is the fourth District 24 Republican to declare his candidacy for the two state House seats opening up in November.

The curious excise tax compromise

Democratic negotiators in Washington have apparently come up with a compromise to bring labor unions on board with the excise tax on high-value health care plans that unions — who often have negotiated high value plans — have been fiercely opposed to.

Hunhoff: Proposed Dem budget caps not ironclad

Republicans yesterday criticized Democratic proposals to cap increases in government spending at 3 percent or the rate of inflation as tying the hands of government. Sen. Dave Knudson, a gubernatorial candidate, likened it to putting on a straitjacket and then diving into a river.

Republicans call for budget cuts

Legislative Republicans broke with Gov. Mike Rounds Friday and called for significant budget cuts this year to eliminate the state’s $32 million structural deficit.

Herseth Sandlin might vote for health care reform? Not a huge surprise.

Republicans have been beating the drum over the last several days about reports that moderate Democratic Representatives such as Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin who voted against the House version of health care reform last year might vote in favor of the compromise bill.

Knudson retiring from law

The Argus Leader's Jonathan Ellis has the scoop that Sen. Dave Knudson, a Republican gubernatorial candidate, is retiring from his business law practice to focus on his campaign for governor. Now I know what Ellis and Knudson were huddling about after the Republican leadership's press conference today.

Levity in the Senate

Sen. Thomas Dempster, R-Sioux Falls, just delivered a statement to the senators encouraging them to attend a reception tonight at the Cultural Heritage Center. Dempster said senators should go there to learn about how Pierre became the state capitol — and then recited, in a less than scintillating statement, the vote totals for each of the towns in the running for state capitol in one of the several popular votes taken in the 19th century.

One way to solve FTE growth...

...declare it doesn't exist.

"Thune 2012" bandwagon grows among insiders

Sen. John Thune's name keeps getting tossed around more and more as a 2012 dark horse candidate. The senator himself insists he's focusing only on his 2010 reeelection campaign but in a recent conference call with reporters refused to make a Shermanesque statement ruling anything out.

Fact-checking Rounds on ACT scores

One surprising claim Gov. Mike Rounds made in his State of the State address is that South Dakota's ACT scores are better than any other state with the same or higher number of students taking the ACT test.

Rounds and DUSEL

Gov. Mike Rounds has been talking about the Deep Underground Science and Engineering Lab at Homestake for some time now during his State of the State. It's a subject about which he seems genuinely excited — and more excited every time he talks about it.

Not tooting his own horn

Gov. Mike Rounds told reporters Monday he wasn't going to take a victory lap in his State of the State speech today.

State of the State quick hits

Quick hits about Gov. Rounds' State of the State address beginning now:

Governor: Across-the-board cuts not the answer

PIERRE -- Gov. Mike Rounds said Monday he’s skeptical about some lawmakers’ calls for broader spending cuts this year.

Wasson endorses Curd

As Bob Ellis reported last night, Thad Wasson has ended his long-shot campaign for Congress.

Breaking: Sen. Johnson moving up?

Could 2011 be the year Sen. Tim Johnson finally gets a committee chairmanship?

How Democrats will (try to) move health care reform to passage

An explanation of all the procedural back-and-forth. Beware: this gets complicated.

Breaking: Thune in Iraq

Sen. John Thune's office just announced that the Republican senator traveled to Iraq today on a Congressional tour with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., and Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn.

Health care reform beyond the polemics

My article in today's print edition of the Capital Journal looks at some of the ways the health care reform bill will impact South Dakota (and the country) beyond the high profile debates over taxes, Medicare cuts, public options (and/or lack thereof), mandates, and so forth.

Ex-regents director Tad Perry to run for legislature

Ex-Board of Regents executive director and Fort Pierre resident Tad Perry is planning to run for the state House of Representatives in District 24 as a Republican.

My top movies of the decade

A bit of diversion here from the usual political news. Here, for discussion fodder, is a list I've compiled of my favorite movies from the past 10 years. My methodology was pretty haphazard and I'm sure I'm forgetting something good, but this probably tracks pretty closely with what I enjoyed most this decade:

How seriously should we treat terrorism?

This post's title seems like a silly question. Of COURSE we should treat terrorism exceptionally seriously. Human lives are at stake, to say nothing of the consequences to our economy and our way of life.

Getting the poll results you want...

Polling is a really useful tool for understanding politics. But polls can also be misleading — especially when you move away from simple favorability ratings and political horse race questions to asking people about issues they might not understand.

My story on the PPP polls

PIERRE — Six months away from the gubernatorial primaries, a majority of South Dakota voters have yet to form an opinion about any of the candidates seeking to run the state, a new poll finds.

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