SOUTH DAKOTA STRAIGHT TALK

John Thune was not elected solely because he guaranteed that Ellsworth Air Force Base would stay operational.

Playing Defense - The issue of the possible closing of Ellsworth came to the forefront because one of the principal components of any federal election is who can deliver federal expenditures to their district. The Thune campaign understood correctly that Tom Daschle would make his entire campaign about his position as Leader and how much federal money he had brought back to South Dakota. Beyond Veteran’s Issues (and by that I mean benefits) and Ethanol, Daschle never wanted to talk about what he was doing in Washington on national and federal issues. Nor did Senator Daschle want to discuss his opposition to the President, his love of higher taxes, more government involvement and his promotion of liberal causes and positions (sometimes contrary to what a majority of South Dakotans supported).

In his campaign John Thune emphasized the need to keep Ellsworth AFB to meet Tom Daschle’s claims head on. By highlighting Ellsworth and bringing Ellsworth’s value to the attention to national leader’s the Thune campaign was able to successfully blunt Daschle’s popularity on Ellsworth West River. This was necessary  because of Tim Johnson’s relative good showing in Pennington County in 2002.  Also do not forget that several years before the Rapid City Chamber of Commerce had honored Senator Daschle on his work on supporting Ellsworth. During the campaign however, unlike Daschle, Thune also talked about other issues including change, supporting more conservative values and working in a more bi partisan way to resolve problems. Ellsworth was not his entire campaign, just a component!

A possible Ellsworth closure was not the sole reason that Thune voter’s voted for him and I don’t think it was anywhere near the top issue with voters in other geographic regions of the State.

Who Get’s The Blame? - The saving Ellsworth passion play continues and despite the merits (don’t forget this is supposed to be a national defense issue not a pork issue) of keeping this important base to South Dakota open, people will always want to assess credit and blame.

John Thune is very high profile in these proceedings, but given that we hired him too fight for us, why would be expect any less. Unlike our other federal representatives he undoubtedly will get the blame if Ellsworth closes and he will get the credit if the base stays open. He also will get credit if the base is closed and subsequently successfully redeveloped. No matter what happens this issue is not going away. If Ellsworth closes Democrat partisans will beat these drums and harp on Ellsworth for the remainder of John Thune’s political career.

There were many reasons to elect John Thune to the Senate to replace Tom Daschle. Ellsworth is important to our State’s people and economy, but closing Ellsworth for a Daschle loss is an easy trade.