Our statewide recruitment open thread series continues to chug along, and today we’re making a stop in beautiful South Dakota, where Republican Gov. Mike Rounds is term-limited out of office in 2010. Democratic Rep. Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin has been a rumored candidate for some time, but if she decides to stay in the House, who should run for the state’s top job? And who might we see line up on the Republican side of the aisle?
For the GOP, frosh Senator John Thune sounds like he’s staying put in his current job, so it doesn’t seem that we’ll see a job swap between Rounds and Thune. While defeating Thune in 2010 doesn’t seem very likely, perhaps some ambitious young Democrat could make a name for him or herself with a spirited campaign. Who might that be?
he’s a vermillion state sen just elected to a third term over iowa transplant jergard higman. he’s young, a USD alum, and has a statewide future if not now, then very soon. plus his campaign manager is in my spanish class, and is two years younger than me. i feel old all of a sudden.
I originally thought Daschle was going to make a run for Governor and Herseth Sandlin would try to take down Thune. Of course, Daschle is now unavailable, so I’d would rather see Herseth-Sandlin run for Governor. As for Thune, he’s pretty much safe which is a shame, I’d love to see him go down since he beat the Democratic leader at the time, who happened to be Daschle.
As for Mike Rounds, any chance he might take a crack at the SD-At Large House seat?
Scott defeated a incumbent GOP State Senator in 2006 and won a spirited contest against a GOP State Representative in 2008. He is also the current Democratic Senate Minority Leader. Although he is a former elected Republican, he is a moderate and chose to switch to the Democratic column in the 1990s.
From what I have heard, he is most likely going to run if Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin passes on the gov run.
For Republicans, its a much deeper bench, former State Senate Majority Leader Lee Schoenbeck of Watertown or the moderate current GOP Senate Majority Leader Dave Knudson of Sioux Falls. Any list would not be complete without adding Public Utilities Commission Chairman Dusty Johnson. Admittedly, I don’t follow the GOP politics very much so there are most likely other candidates.
Keeping the sure-thing sole seat for the state keeps her on a national stage and sets her up for either senate seat for the next 20 years. Running for Gov when it’s not a sure thing is a detour to nowhere. Governors of 3 electoral vote states are the least valuable poltical prize there is (as Palin will find out if she doesn’t take on Murkowski).