Behind Govt Lines

• Road-sign primary update

  I'm writing this from Minneapolis, one stop on my trip home for Thanksgiving. I'll take advantage of the week off to clear out my notes with some older interviews. In the meantime, two observations from my drive east on U.S. Highway 14: the highway patrol is very active around Huron, [...]
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  Posted: November 23, 2009, 11:23pm EST
  

• UPDATED: The people who has been waiting for?

  UPPDATED: Bob Mercer informs me that the phrase, in it's "we are the ones" variant, was first used by poet June Jordan in her 1980 "Poem for South African Women." Since then, it's been broadly adopted, including by Rev. Jim Wallis in a 2004 speech at Stanford, author Alice Walker [...]
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  Posted: November 21, 2009, 7:01pm EST
  

• Gubernatorial candidates pledge support for K-12 education

  [...]
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  Posted: November 20, 2009, 10:45pm EST
  

• The people who has been waiting for?

  I just got out of the Associated School Boards of South Dakota education forum with gubernatorial candidates. I'll have a story on that sometime tonight on this blog, but I wanted to take a break to momentarily address a quirk from ex-Brookings mayor Scott Munsterman's speech tonight. Here's how he' [...]
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  Posted: November 20, 2009, 9:54pm EST
  

• Web TV for political junkies

  Marc Ambinder's blog recently flagged Zolitics.com for me — a newly launched Internet TV network devoted to "the entertaining side of politics." Started by a bipartisan group of political consultants — including Republican media consultant John Brabender (alum of Giuliani, Ridge, and Santorum, among others) and Democratic media consultant Tad [...]
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  Posted: November 20, 2009, 4:04pm EST
  

• In the dead tree edition: Gubernatorial preview

  I started working on a story introducing the gubernatorial race six weeks ago (and in the case of some of the interviews that went into it, six months ago), but today it finally ran, along with the graphic I made for it. [...]
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  Posted: November 20, 2009, 11:34am EST
  

• Gubernatorial candidates to talk education in Pierre

  The election is still six months away, but the gubernatorial campaign is in full swing. Four of the six declared major-party gubernatorial candidates will be in Pierre Friday for a forum focusing on K-12 education. [...]
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  Posted: November 19, 2009, 9:34am EST
  

• Johnson backs Herseth Sandlin against liberal critics

  Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin has been taking a lot of heat from progressive groups for her vote against the House health care reform bill. But one prominent South Dakota supporter of health care reform gave his backing to Herseth Sandlin Wednesday — Sen. Tim Johnson. [...]
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  Posted: November 18, 2009, 11:12am EST
  

• More press for Thune

  Pivoting off David Brooks' declaration of Sen. John Thune as a future big name in the Republican Party, Washington Post reporter/blogger Chris Cilizza today annointed Thune as his official dark-horse pick for the 2012 nomination.' [...]
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  Posted: November 17, 2009, 10:55am EST
  

• Who's the 2009 Person of the Year?

  Every year, Time Magazine famously declares a "person of the year" who had an outsized influence or symbolic value given the year's events. But unlike least year, when Barack Obama dominated the year's news literally from the beginning (the Iowa Caucuses) to the end (winning the election), this year there [...]
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  Posted: November 17, 2009, 10:19am EST
  

• Science in Hollywood!

  If you pay close attention in Roland Emmerich's new world-destruction film "2012", you'll see a little bit of science.' [...]
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  Posted: November 15, 2009, 10:46am EST
  

• David Brooks lauds Thune

  I've been arguing for some time that John Thune should be on the radar as a 2012 dark horse, as he has become more vocal and risen through the Republican leadership ranks in the Senate. Now New York Times columnist David Brooks — a center-right wonk — devoted his entire' [...]
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  Posted: November 13, 2009, 1:11pm EST
  

• Liberal group targets Herseth Sandlin for health care vote

  Pressure is building on moderates from both sides as the health care debate races toward a climactic showdown, and Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin isn't getting off the hook.' [...]
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  Posted: November 12, 2009, 2:47pm EST
  

• Liberal group targets Herseth Sandlin for health care vote

  Pressure is building on moderates from both sides as the health care debate races toward a climactic showdown, and Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin isn't getting off the hook.' [...]
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  Posted: November 12, 2009, 11:09am EST
  

• View from the left: "I'm (now) a Nelson guy"

  My newsroom debating partner on political issues is Capital Journal sports editor Josh Linehan, a liberal Democrat who volunteered for Barack Obama and who supports robust health care reform. After Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin announced she would vote against the health care reform bill being considered in the House, Josh [...]
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  Posted: November 06, 2009, 4:16pm EST
  

• Herseth Sandlin on the politics of health care reform

  Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin said her decision to oppose the current version of health care reform was influenced by discussions with constituents — but not by organized protests or concerns about her reelection. [...]
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  Posted: November 06, 2009, 1:34pm EST
  

• Herseth Sandlin to vote against House health care reform bill

  Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin announced Friday she will oppose the health care reform legislation being voted on by the House of Representatives Saturday — but said she hopes to be able to vote yes on future versions of the bill if changes she wants are made. [...]
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  Posted: November 06, 2009, 12:27pm EST
  

• The soul of the Republican party

  Three big elections are going on today that will inevitably be interpreted as a referendum on President Barack Obama: gubernatorial contests in Virginia (almost certainly a Republican win) and New Jersey (something of a tossup), and a congressional race in northern New York. [...]
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  Posted: November 03, 2009, 12:34pm EST
  

• Anatomy of a talking point

  My article in today's paper checked in with South Dakota's Congressional delegation on health care reform negotiations — and, thanks to an NPR interview, got Gov. Mike Rounds in, too. [...]
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  Posted: October 29, 2009, 3:58pm EDT
  

• Gov. Rounds to appear on NPR this afternoon

  Gov. Mike Rounds will be discussing health care reform on NPR's All Things Considered this afternoon. The exact time his segment will appear is unknown, but his spokesman says it should be sometime between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. [...]
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  Posted: October 28, 2009, 4:37pm EDT
  

• Thune slams stimulus bill as ineffective

  Sen. John Thune acknowledged that the $800 billion federal stimulus package has done some good but said Wednesday that he believes the bill has by and large been wasteful and ineffective. [...]
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  Posted: October 28, 2009, 12:40pm EDT
  

• Hunting season in South Dakota

  While hopping from site to site online yesterday, I stumbled across a scanned comic strip from the 1980s comic strip Bloom County that's quite apt to both our current frenzied political environment and hunting season: [...]
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  Posted: October 28, 2009, 11:34am EDT
  

• "So some cow passes air and I can't eat a cheeseburger?"

  Over the past week, I've been getting back in touch with one of my favorite childhood TV shows — the science-fiction adventure drama SeaQuest DSV. Essentially Star Trek in a submarine, the 1993-1996 series takes place in the year 2018, in a world where humanity has colonized the sea and' [...]
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  Posted: October 28, 2009, 12:19am EDT
  

• Obama highlights South Dakota in wind energy speech

  South Dakota in the news — In a speech today at a solar energy plant in Florida, President Barack Obama highlighted South Dakota's potential for wind energy: [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2009, 2:05pm EDT
  

• One day, two candidates

  As a political junkie, Monday was the kind of day I love — both my stories were about political events. And despite that fact that one of them got much more prominent play in the print edition due to having good photos, both are interesting stories. [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2009, 12:42am EDT
  

• Herseth Sandlin: position on public option "complex"

  Republicans jumped on Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin today after former Democratic National Committee Chair Howard Dean's Web site reported Herseth Sandlin as a "yes" vote in favor of a public option in health care. [...]
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  Posted: October 22, 2009, 1:08pm EDT
  

• New bill reforms veterans' funding

  Each year, Congress takes longer and longer to pass its annual budget. As deadlines approach, Congress has taken to passing "continuing resolutions" which extend the previous year's funding until they can pass a new budget. It's not a pleasant process for government agencies trying to make their budgets — and it's' [...]
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  Posted: October 22, 2009, 12:49pm EDT
  

• Health care and Medicare reimbursement

  My article today in the print edition of the Capital Journal looks at a really interesting — and really complex — debate in Congress about fixing a set of automatic pay cuts to Medicare physician payments. In the confines of that article, I didn't get to get into one of' [...]
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  Posted: October 22, 2009, 12:55am EDT
  

• Thune and Rounds on interstate insurance competition

  The tough part about doing this blog is getting behind. I pile up lots of great material, but because I have to do my writing for the print edition first, sometimes stuff gets left behind — stuff that'd make good posts. But I never throw any of my notes away,' [...]
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  Posted: October 22, 2009, 12:53am EDT
  

• Roberto Lange confirmed 100-0 as U.S. District Judge

  A press release from Sen. Tim Johnson's office announces that Sioux Falls attorney Roberto Lange has been confirmed as U.S. District Judge for South Dakota by a 100-0 vote in the Senate. [...]
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  Posted: October 21, 2009, 2:13pm EDT
  

• Climate change heterodoxy

  One of the most interesting things about Freakonomics authors Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner is their willingness to buck orthodoxy and come to counterintuitive conclusions by careful analysis of data. In their original bestseller, for example, Levitt and Dubner famously argued that a big reason why crime rates dropped in [...]
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  Posted: October 21, 2009, 1:10am EDT
  

• Climate change heterodoxy

  One of the most interesting things about Freakonomics authors Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner is their willingness to buck orthodoxy and come to counterintuitive conclusions by careful analysis of data. In their original bestseller, for example, Levitt and Dubner famously argued that a big reason why crime rates dropped in [...]
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  Posted: October 21, 2009, 12:14am EDT
  

• Climate change heterodoxy

  One of the most interesting things about Freakonomics authors Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner is their willingness to buck orthodoxy and come to counterintuitive conclusions by careful analysis of data. In their original bestseller, for example, Levitt and Dubner famously argued that a big reason why crime rates dropped in [...]
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  Posted: October 20, 2009, 12:41pm EDT
  

• Thune 2010 war chest grows

  Federal Election Commission filings from the third quarter are out, and Sen. John Thune -- still without a Democratic opponent -- is in a strong financial position. [...]
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  Posted: October 17, 2009, 5:56pm EDT
  

• Senators call for full funding for Indian Country

  Twenty-two senators, including Sen. John Thune and Sen. Tim Johnson, have signed a letter to President Obama calling for full funding for public safety and public health products in Indian Country. [...]
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  Posted: October 15, 2009, 11:20am EDT
  

• Thune and Kerry-Graham

  Badlands Blue highlights a new bipartisan effort by Sen. John Kerry, R-Mass., and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., to reach a consensus on climate change legislation in the Senate. The Kerry-Graham proposal — at this point little more than an op-ed — marries a committment to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases [...]
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  Posted: October 15, 2009, 11:05pm EDT
  

• More thoughts on the Nobel

  As I said before, I'm skeptical of it. But a few points of fact:' [...]
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  Posted: October 09, 2009, 12:30pm EDT
  

• Obama wins the peace prize?

  Wow. I leave my email for 24 hours and Barack Obama wins the Nobel Peace Prize? Even my friends who are Democrats are flabbergasted and don't believe he deserves it yet. And frankly, it's political bad news. Obama should reject the prize — if the Nobel committee is willing to' [...]
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  Posted: October 09, 2009, 11:16am EDT
  

• Obama wins the peace prize?

  Wow. I leave my email for 24 hours and Barack Obama wins the Nobel Peace Prize? Even my friends who are Democrats are flabbergasted and don't believe he deserves it yet. And frankly, it's political bad news. Obama should reject the prize — if the Nobel committee is willing to' [...]
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  Posted: October 09, 2009, 11:00am EDT
  

• The multiple meanings of "large"

  William at the newly revived Badlands Blue takes a potshot at ex-New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani for calling California America's "largest state." [...]
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  Posted: October 07, 2009, 6:03pm EDT
  

• A big health care bill -- that cuts the deficit?

  On his conference call with reporters this morning, Sen. John Thune railed against Democrats who are proposing new spending programs at a time of skyrocketing deficits. Without getting into Keynsian and monetary theory about the best way to stimulate an economy during a recession, it's an argument that a lot [...]
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  Posted: October 07, 2009, 5:39pm EDT
  

• Daugaard, his opponents and his message

  Lt. Gov. Dennis Daugaard announced his candidacy for governor today, framing himself as having both the experience and the character needed to do the job. [...]
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  Posted: October 05, 2009, 6:02pm EDT
  

• Curd announces Congressional candidacy

  Fresh in my inbox: Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin has a challenger in state Rep. Blake Curd, R-Sioux Falls. Curd has been very outspoken lately as an opponent of Democratic health care reform proposals. Here's the presser: [...]
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  Posted: October 01, 2009, 1:57pm EDT
  

• Changing of the seasons

  In South Dakota, as in many places across the country, autumn has arrived in an hurry the last few weeks. The weather outside seems freezing as everyone scrambles to put on jackets and sweaters to be more comfortable in low-60s temperatures. [...]
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  Posted: October 01, 2009, 10:27am EDT
  

• McRemote, South Dakota

  Many people view McDonalds as a malign influence, encouraging unhealthy eating, competing with local restaurants and discouraging slow-paced family meals.* [...]
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  Posted: September 30, 2009, 3:39pm EDT
  

• The perils (and humor) of live TV (Updated)

  Whether you like or hate Glen Beck, I think this video from his show today is something everyone can get a good laugh at: [...]
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  Posted: September 25, 2009, 9:45am EDT
  

• The perils (and humor) of live TV

  Whether you like or hate Glen Beck, I think this video from his show today is something everyone can get a good laugh at: [...]
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  Posted: September 24, 2009, 2:42pm EDT
  

• *Updated* Herseth Sandlin offers a new approach on TARP exit plan

  Sen. John Thune has been promoting a bill for some time setting a hard deadline for the federal government selling the ownership stakes it took in companies such as AIG and General Motors during the financial crisis last year. One day after Sen. Tim Johnson said he thought Thune's plan [...]
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  Posted: September 24, 2009, 12:50pm EDT
  

• Herseth Sandlin offers a new approach on TARP exit plan

  Sen. John Thune has been promoting a bill for some time setting a hard deadline for the federal government selling the ownership stakes it took in companies such as AIG and General Motors during the financial crisis last year. One day after Sen. Tim Johnson said he thought Thune's plan [...]
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  Posted: September 24, 2009, 11:32am EDT
  

• Things get ugly: Census worker found hanged

  The gruesome news today about the murder by hanging of a U.S. Census worker in Kentucky is likely to only accelerate the public debate about the appropriate level of anti-government rhetoric. [...]
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  Posted: September 23, 2009, 5:13pm EDT