Joel Ebert's analysis of the two-year filings from South Dakota's U.S. Senate candidates provides a nice little test of your personal political bias. Consider the following data on the sources of the campaign cash of Mike Rounds, Rick Weiland, Larry Rhoden, Annette Bosworth, and Stace Nelson:
| SD | out | total | %SD | %out | |
| Rounds | $465,000 | $851,000 | $1,316,000 | 35% | 65% |
| Weiland | $67,000 | $165,000 | $232,000 | 29% | 71% |
| Rhoden | $53,200 | $2,550 | $55,750 | 95% | 5% |
| Bosworth | $27,100 | $7,500 | $34,600 | 78% | 22% |
| Nelson | $24,000 | $750 | $24,750 | 97% | 3% |
| total | $636,300 | $1,026,800 | $1,663,100 | 38% | 62% |
The first column shows the amount of itemized campaign contributions from South Dakotans. The second shows the amount from out-of-state donors. The third column shows each candidates total from identifiable sources (remember, the Federal Election Commission doesn't require candidates to say where they get individual donations that don't exceed $200). The fourth and fifth columns break down the sources by percentage of each candidate's total.
Here's your quiz: given just the above information, what headline do you write?
- Rounds Gets 82% of Out-State Money in Senate Race
- Weiland Has Highest Percentage of Out-State Cash in Senate Race
- Mike Rounds Gets More Support from South Dakota Donors Than Anyone Else Because Buying an Ad on My Blog Proves that the GOED/EB-5 Scandal Has No Political Implications
- Nelson, Rhoden Real South Dakotans; Bosworth, Weiland, Rounds Depend on Outside Funding
- Rounds Earns $851K in Out-State Donations; Weiland $165K
- Top Candidates Receive More than $1 Million from Outside South Dakota in Senate Race
If you're editing Mike Rounds's local paper, you pick... F!
The blending of Rounds's and Weiland's out-state takes into one headline allows us to lead with a rounder number—land's sakes, Mildred: one million dollars! What's this country coming to...?—but it seems to misleadingly place Rounds and Weiland on the same level (and if I'm Rounds, I'm torqued any time some journalist puts Weiland and me on my level).
I'd really like to know what you take from the above numbers. Is it a bigger deal that Weiland beats Rounds on percentage of out-state cash, 71% to 65%? Or is it a bigger deal that Rounds has raised five times more out-state cash than Weiland has?
I'm more impressed by the in-state differentials. I think SD Dems have written this one off. An EB-5 eruption that spills over to Rounds is about the only thing that will derail the GOP juggernaut. I know most here are in the throes of despair (:-)), but as a Pub I'm feeling pretty good about the fact that Rounds won't succumb to ultra-right wing madness in the Senate, the type of legislator that Pubs need more of.
Headline: Rounds receives 75% of funds from South Dakotans. Four others divide remaining 25%.
Sub headline: Rounds receives 85% of funds from non-South Dakotans. Four others divide 15%.
Story: Four Rounds opponents decide to rent van and campaign together. Wetland will cook meals, Nelson will hunt for the meat, Bosworth sets up the tents and organize sleeping quarters while Rhoden washes clothes and shines footwear. Plan to buy joint ads and billboards. Nelson agrees to sell space on his signs in exchange for right to ride shotgun.
That's funny Troy!
Wetland: autocorrect or Troycorrect?
I think Bosworth can lower costs by getting an RV donated.
Headline--Dollarocracy: Rounds winning.
Since I'm fairly new to looking at SD politics,where is the un-loyal opposition? Can't Dems or Libs throw hissy fits and parlay the "audacity of nope" into a government shutdown in your state? Or do Dems veer to the right to win elections? Inquiring minds want to know.
None of the out-of-state money can vote.
When people donate any amount to a campaign, they're invested in that campaign, and they vote for that candidate.
If you were a candidate, would you rather have one donor give $465K or 1,200 people give $20?
Donald Pay's headline nails it.
As to headlines: Weiland Fails To Excite South Dakota Democrats
Benda-gate barring Rounds from state donors
Nelson Fundraising Falls Flat
Man, even Bosworth is creaming Stace Nelson, and even with in-state contributions. State legislative candidates raise more money than he has so far. At what point does this campaign become untenable for him?
Ror, Nelson is committed to the idea "tried and failed" strategies can work, including having no money. Part of the plan. Can't criticize a guy for being on plan.
Cory, aotocorrect. Which didn't work when I typed autocorrect.
A better gauge on how the candidates are doing would be the amount of effort that Rounds' shills like Powers & Jones put into petty attacks on the candidates they see as a threat to their political machine candidates.
Quick Pat & Troy, find another decoy candidate for Rounds and gin up another attack on Nelson!
I'm excited for Weiland and of course, Joe Lowe and Corrina Robinson too, great to be a democrat this year, and I'd vote for a Subaru for these three to share, Rick knows how to get anywhere in this state by now.
Now is a good time for Stace Nelson to bow out gracefully. He can say he has chosen to run again for the state legislature, which leaves him more time to help his brother's family put their life back together after the fire that destroyed their home. Family comes first.
Buy American, Chris Francis. It's the key to putting Americans to work.
Stace Nelson is the only candidate in the GOP primary with any integrity whatsoever: join me in sending him some money.
Mike from Iowa and John Tsitrian, this is South Dakota, What Democrats?
Cory, You talk about a million dollars like it was a lot of money. I never did find out how much Mark Johnston raised for his State Senate seat last round, but it had to be in that neighborhood with all the billboards and TV ads that he ran, unless of course Republicans get a discount in South Dakota. Then before this session he resigns. Go figure. The Supreme Court ruled that money is voice and therefore cannot be stifled. So, who ever has the most money has the loudest voice, which is why our elected government has gone to the dogs. Both parties are owned and operated by those with the bucks, the Soros's on the (supposed) left and the Koch's on the right.
Focus on the heath and viability of the world economy more than shouting 'Made in America'. I know, it sounds patriotic, even I fall to that line, but the US economy is much closer tied to the success of our neighbors, and we can't remain economically isolated and retain a reasonable amount of security if neighboring nations struggle economically. Instead, focus on fair working wages and social support programs everywhere, and the US isn't exactly leading the developed world with our efforts for the working class. When you say Made in America, also consider that Denny Sanford was made in America, on the interest and predatory lending practices brought down upon on the poorest of the poor, the most desperate among us, guess we as Americans don't always make the best product or decisions for the health of our own.
By the way Cory and other South Dakotans, Has it or did it ever bother you that the Thune Daschle race in 2004 spent nearly 100 dollars per vote in a state with less than a million people? If you don't find that outrageous, I guess I must be in a different United States, than the one in which I was born.
You know, we independents and democrats are not as cashy as our republican friends. We think that Weiland will be the guy that runs against the Egg Roll or perhaps some other republican, but until that time, we tend to hold our dollars to make sure we are spending them correctly. We indies and dems are not in the club car of excess that rules the republican roost, we are actually more fiscally responsible and work for our money and it is not without thought that we give it up.
You mean like a Chevrolet, Rorschach? You know the company that we the American taxpayers bailed out along with the banks?
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=Lvl5Gan69Wo
Didn't we only give up Billions on the US sale of our government motors assets? What to worry when we have the wonderful Fed chipping in 75Bil of your dollars and mine, monthly?
Whether I end up supporting Nelson or not, the polite pandering will go on without his assault, because in SD, we value a go along to get along, be nice to everyone over cleaning out the crapper. It is such a dirty job and so hard to watch. There is not one who will stir up the road kill from the bottom of this stew besides Nelson. We'd rather put in a nobody than watch a good fight.
Les, But that is the point that makes no sense. It is not our tax dollars. They are putting it on our VISA. In the 70s and 80s when the working people were getting their raises because of the unions, the FED said that because they were having to print money to keep up with the inflation that those raises were causing, the interest rates went through the roof. Now however the money that the FED is printing first during the Bush Presidency for overnight lending, and now under the Obama Presidency for Quantitative Easing, there is no corresponding interest rate hike. Could it be, because the money that is being printed is ending up in the pockets of the top 1% with no corresponding increase to the rest of us, so we will put it on the card with the interest to be paid later or we as a nation throw our hands in the air and say that's all folks, we can't pay our bill and the Nation collapses under the weight of its former largesse?
Lanny, if you check the SOS campaign finance website, you'll see that Johnston spent under $100K for his 2012 District 12 campaign. He spent a lot, but nowhere near the amounts Ebert reports for Rounds and Weiland.
That said, all of the big money dictating who runs and who wins bugs me deeply.
A million dollars isn't a lot of money in a campaign and probably an insignificant amount.
What is significant is where that money comes from, particularly when it is from out of state.
From the beginning of the GOED/EB-5 scandal the question I have had is how Mike Rounds benefited from those millions of dollars in VISA investments.
That 60 million or whatever went somewhere, where did it go, someone got it.
Is that money being laundered and then donated to the Rounds campaign?
We need to be aware of any surges in donations to the Rounds campaign, somehow I think Rounds will meet that 9 million dollar mark
I think several blog posts on this site have suggested that a significant number of people who once considered themselves "South Dakota Democrats"--and in fact may still consider themselves as such--no longer live in the state. I would find it interesting to know how many Weiland donors ever had a South Dakota address. Maybe it's not many, but it would be interesting to know.
On a national level, I'd be curious to know, of all the people giving to campaigns in states other than their own, which state has the most "giving elsewhere" donors? Which state has the most donors who have reached the individual maximum donation? Would it reflect the most political interest, or just the most extra money?
Roger, You are absolutely right. If you go back through his regnum, from the beginning, he has the appearance of being for sale to the highest bidder. Whether you are talking about the DM&E expansion of coal hauling, the expansion of Big Stone II, and then the Basin Electric plant at Selby and then the Refinery and coal burner at Elk Point, all deep pockets industries tied to the fossil fuel industry and yet at the same time doing nothing to encourage the then burgeoning wind industry which all of our neighboring states were investing in heavily, because the money from that industry would be somewhere in the future and probably a lot less sure.
The former Governor, like Sioux Falls current mayor almost remind me of cheap carnival barkers in the way they sell economic development, no matter the consequences to other folks, be it the environment or taking care of those with the money, with no mind to what it does to those who don't have money.
One other thought. I take issue with the statement by John Tsitrian, "but as a Pub I'm feeling pretty good about the fact that Rounds won't succumb to ultra-right wing madness in the Senate, the type of legislator that Pubs need more of."
In 2005 and 2006 legislative sessions, Viet Nam Veteran Clarence Kooistra and Maggie Gillespie, whose father was also a war veteran, presented a bill in the legislature that would have mandated the returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans be tested for possible infection by the depleted uranium weaponry to which they had been exposed. The bill had widespread veteran support, because the folks who suffered from Agent Orange exposure in Viet Nam and faced denials of a problem by the military and even the VA for almost 25 years, knew what our current veterans may face at some point down the road. One of those who worked hard on passing the bill was former Daschle staffer Roger Andal, whose death later that year was attributed partially to his exposure to Agent Orange.
The DOD and the far right members of the Bush administration did not want to take a chance of losing the use of DU weaponry because of laws passed by State legislatures and so put pressure on the States that they held some sway over, and South Dakota happened to be one of them. Governor Rounds had some of his staff go the legislature and put a stop to this bill that would have assisted our returning troops. Coincidentally, then House Majority Leader, Representative Rhoden was one of the legislators who put a stop to the bill.
Tsitrian's statement seems to cannibalize itself to me.
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The Fed is on our credit card Lanny and yes it is not our tax dollars. It is the diluting of the value of our real dollars. They've been subsidizing government for years with those non tax dollars. It bites today taking our purchasing power and bites our children tomorrow because we won't be over the brokenness from today lasting well beyond their generation.
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Thanks Lanny for your dissertation on the 05-06 legis for returning Vets. South Dakotans seem to enjoy beating our Vets down. Even the Dems, Daschle(a Nam Vet) included allowed the minimizing of his veteran support stance during his final defeat by a non Vet.
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The SD Dems need to start reading Will Rogers. There's no hope for my party until there is balance.
Weiland and the ex-pat vote -- good point, Heidi!
South Dakota Republicans need to listen more to Bill Maher, Les.
I'm confident Rounds will be more the pragmatist, less the ideologue when it comes to legislating, unlike his looney counterpart in the House, Kristi Noem. This is why I say he's the kind of Pub I want in Congress.
Are you saying he will be a Steph Herseth lite? That's my thoughts.
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I will not say I won't vote for Rounds if he makes fall.
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I will say the political machinery that drives the current affairs in SD are not casual pleasantries for me and I question any Pub who hands them off as such until they are publicly transparent.
By all means, Les, keep questioning and keep your options open. All I'm saying is what I said, which is that I'm confident Rounds will be more the pragmatist than the ideologue. I'm not comparing him to Steph, but I am contrasting him with Kristi.
4 AM? JT, you watch the sunrise in the summer.?
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I am comparing Mike to both. I'd take one pragmatic Herseth over two Barbies. That said, as reckless as some might think Nelson is, I would like to see his questions answered and don't feel that would hurt a thing.
Like him or not, Nelson, in spite of his robocalls, is the most honest of the four main contenders for the Republican nominees. That dishonesty, (meaning the robocalls,) did nothing to hurt South Dakotans, other than possible politicians. The dishonesty that I have pointed out on the part of Rounds and Rhoden, did hurt fellow South Dakotans and so I could never vote for either of them in the primary or the general. I don't think I need to speak to the honesty of Bosworth.
@Lanny the only thing Nelson did, by Gary Dykstra's statements, is tell people about 2011's SB-188 that Daugaard brought to gut a National Guard education program for guardsmen and answer Dykstra's questions about robocalls. Dykstra indicated that Nelson did not draft the scripts, record the scripts, make the recordings, make the calls, nor pay for the robocalls.
Daugaard & Jackley went after Dykstra & Willard on a political witch hunt hoping to get Nelson. They used an obscure never before enforced misdemeanor statute, that Daugaard & his staff repeatedly violated when they made anonymous telephone calls during the primaries without giving any of the required trailers, not just the missing website address they went after Willard & Dykstra for.
Compare how Jackley went after a $250 fine on a repealed statute with how he has obstructed for Rounds at every turn with the felony statutes violated in the Benda travel fraud & $1 Million dollar check from Rounds.