Behind Govt Lines

• Declining schools

  At last Friday's gubernatorial forum on education, candidates Scott Munsterman, Ken Knuppe and Scott Heidepriem all declared their opposition to the 100-student minimum size for school districts to avoid consoldiation. (Dave Knudson is a supporter of the provision.) In today's New York Times, there's a story of a state with [...]
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  Posted: November 25, 2009, 7:15pm EST
  

• 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