Rick Weiland posts "Why I'm Running" on Down with Tyranny. His main raison de se présenter: fighting for fairness against big money:
Republicans think they have a lock on the red states, but we are going to give them a surprise in South Dakota this year. They beat all our Blue Dogs, so we're going to show them a new kind of dog, one that bites instead of whimpers.
Red State voters are mad as hell. But when you ask them whether they're really mad as hell at the democracy Thomas Jefferson gave them-- the one their sons and daughters have given their lives to protect for over 200 years-- or whether what they're really mad at is the rich and powerful people who have stolen that government away from them, and turned it against them, they start signing up in droves for our fight to take it back [Rick Weiland, "Why I'm Running," Down with Tyranny, 2013.06.20].
Turning the Blue Dog GOP apologetic on its head, Weiland contends he can win by reminding liberty lovers left, right, and center that Democrats like him are better equipped to protect their liberties from big corporations:
...We are lighting a "Take it Back" fire out here on the prairie, a colorblind fire that burns equally hot in the minds of red voters and blue voters, because neither likes having their government stolen from them by powerful special interests, and both will vote for someone who stands up and fights to take it back. That's what our Take it Back campaign is all about, and that is why we are going to win [Weiland, 2013.06.20].
Conservatives and libertarians, I welcome your efforts to find someone to challenge ideologically milquetoasty corporate guy M. Michael Rounds in the GOP Senate primary. But if you can't find a viable GOP challenger to Rounds, Rick Weiland will be knocking on your door to make the case that he can defend your liberty against Big Money better than Smiling Mike can. That may be a hard sell... but Rick has 17 months to make his case.
Here's to the "99" campaign!!!! Go Rick Weiland!!
Some populism won't hurt a Democratic campaign or a Republican campaign in South Dakota. Democrats need to provide good reasons for Democratic policies instead of half-wit support for GOP mythology.