Jiminy Crickets! Marion Michael Rounds knows how to do a petition drive. Yesterday he submitted over 7,000 signatures to the Secretary of State's office to place his name on the GOP primary ballot for U.S. Senate. That's more signatures than his Republican challengers Stace Nelson (2,650+) and Larry Rhoden (2,144) submitted combined. It swamps the 4,136 that un-Hustlable Independent Larry Pressler submitted a week and a half ago, and unlike Pressler's paid Reistroffer petitioneers, Rounds says he got his signatures from over 250 volunteers around the state.
Troy Jones tells us that "disproportionate emphasis" on signature counts is "silly." A 258% cushion over the required 1,955 signatures may be overkill, but let me proportionately emphasize the merits of mobilizing an army of volunteers to eyeball, handshake, and jawbone over 7,000 voters. Such an extensive petitioning campaign is a meaningful training exercise for existing volunteers and a great opportunity to recruit new volunteers and donors. Petitioneers can capture lots of valuable campaign data (deceased or moved voters; best place to eat in Chester...) that Rounds can use all year and in future campaigns. They knocked another 7,000 voters off the potential signers list for foot-draggers Jason Ravnsborg and Annette Bosworth, who have just one week left to find folks who haven't already signed for other candidates.
And remember: in the 2010 GOP House primary, Kristi Noem beat Chris Nelson by 6,147 votes. The Rounds–everybody else primary may be more like the 2008 GOP Senate race in which Joel Dykstra beat Sam Kephart by 21,551 votes, but getting 7,000 signatures on a South Dakota nominating petition is far from silly. It's impressive organizing and politicking.
Update 11:51 CDT: And in a postscript, Governor Dennis Daugaard announces that his volunteers have successfully submitted over 4,000 signatures to place him on the ballot for re-election as South Dakota's chief executive. (How did I get on that e-mail list?) Daugaard is the first candidate to make the 2014 gubernatorial ballot.
South Dakota Democrats are wising up and registering as independents because voting in GOP primaries makes sense. Rounds' window at becoming the earth hater nominee is shrinking daily.
Larry, Independents can ONLY vote in Democratic primaries. The SD Republican Party has a closed primary where only registered Republicans can vote.
Thank you, sir: i did not know that.
Stace if you voted for mandatory health care for all veterans I d vote for you.
Mike Rounds was the first politician to come visit me at my newspaper in 2002. We spent about an half hour or so talking about various issues. I will always think highly of him just for this. But another thing he did when he ran in the primaries in 2002 is that he used the states newspapers to reach voters. About two weeks before the primary election, I predicted he would win over Barnett or Kirby. At different times, I suggested to both Stephanie Herseth and Matt Varilek to use the newspapers. Neither did, and we saw those results. If I remember the figures right, Noem spent over $36,000 in newspaper advertising; Stephanie spent $900. As there was only a 2.2-percent difference in the results, I think it is safe to say newspaper advertising made the difference. God love the blogs, but there are three things to take away from this: 1. newspaper readers vote, 2. politician should use the newspapers, 3. Mike Rounds knows how to campaign. Rep. Nelson, as you are no doubt reading this, I hope there is useful information for you. Cory likes you, so I like you, too.
Cory,
I never thought about the signature gathering as more than a necessary part of the process. First, last in, who cares was my view. Get enough and no more so resources are available in the future.
But, you are right. It can be a test of organization and weak spots that fail under pressure. And, volunteer hours are a lot like hotel rooms, if not used they are gone.
Now, I back off. Rounds has shown he has an organization that can perform and upon which he can build. In the end, the Rounds camp probably don't appreciate it but the primary will make them even stronger in the fall.
This is an impressive performance for all of the reasons Cory mentioned. And Dave Baumeister is right that newspaper readers vote. I believe that newspaper advertising is effective for political candidates, particularly the inexpensive advertising offered by the small town weekly papers.
what about everybody else Moses?
Rep. Nelson: do you expect SDGOP to risk a debate among the Senate primary candidates?
Dave Baumeister is right. I think Democratic candidates with any money hire consultants who see only TV as campaign magic. Weekly newspapers stick around homes for a week or more. Also, paying for weekly paper ads wakes up owners, publishers, and editors of those papers. Even if they don't come out with an endorsement, they may refrain from endorsing an opponent. Ads in the weekly papers might also help keep Democratic ads out of the page gutters and bottom of the pages.
I think I have sent e-mail or called and talked to nearly every Democratic candidate I gave a damn about and suggested to them that the use weekly papers. Mostly that bit of advice seemed to fall on very deaf ears.
Rounds and Daugaard. together again on the ballot. Congrats for getting to Square 1, hand-in-hand. Dick Benda was your guy along with Joop Bollen and the GOED Scam, and we will have plenty of opportunities between now and November to discuss your reckless choices.
Is it true that signatories to Rounds's petitions were promised a green card?…..jk…...
Here's the really sad thing. A candidate can make ONE call to the SD Newspaper Association and do all 119 weeklies and 11 dailies in the State at one time. PLUS, SDNA has a BOGO program for political advertising, making the advertising REALLY inexpensive for the number of voters reached. And Doug, you called it about endorsements. We like to be fair, but we know who is buttering our bread. Several publishers I talked with would have endorsed Herseth-Sandlin, but they didn't feel good about it, so they didn't endorse anyone in that race. The 11 dailies are all run by big conglomerates, so it doesn't matter so much, but, without exception, not advertising with the weeklies, is taking bread from the children of a South Dakota business owner.
The signature number is not impressive to me. I would expect Rounds, as a former Governor, has a lot of contacts and a significant number of folks who will circulate a petition. No doubt he didn't have to encourage circulators to stand out in the elements in front of courthouses and explain his issues. These were likely collected at various safe places---businesses, chamber meetings or Republican events where a circulator is not going to have trouble getting signatures. You get the most information about how your campaign is going from folks who don't sign, not from signers.
Signers do provide a list of dedicated supporters who can be hit up for volunteering and donations, though.
Troy, I appreciate the revision in your thinking. I could be swayed by the "waste of resources" argument: a candidate could certainly waste the opportunities offered by the petition process, just collecting signatures but not capturing other data, making the sale, seeking more volunteers, practicing for GOTV. And maybe it's less important for candidates like Weiland and Robinson and quite likely Daugaard who don't face primaries and thus don't need volunteers out working up a sweat just yet. But any chance to get voters to do something is a chance on which to capitalize.
I'm wonder if we could muster 7,000 petitioners to demand a real and public investigation of GOED/EB-5?
Donald legitimately tempers my enthusiasm for the Rounds count. He doesn't have to work hard to get people to circulate. In some circles, signing or collecting for Rounds is probably a status symbol; some of his glamor and power rubs off and makes one look good. Circulating for Stace or Larry would have been more challenging, simply from the extra work of having to answer "Who's that?" a lot of the time. Circulating for Bosworth makes you look like a dupe, and paid circulators know she skips out on paychecks, so her getting the bare minimum might be more impressive than Rounds's triple-plus.
Winston, well said! I'm sure the signers are all citizens... I wonder how many come from Jeff Sveen's Hutterite business partners?
Roger, I'll bet we could easily beat 7,000 signature on that issue. But we'd have to have a concrete ballot measure to wrap that campaign around. That's not going to happen... so we need a candidate around whom we can wrap that message and go gather votes instead of signatures. Lora Hubbel would raise that issue in the primary (I'm laying long odds on her making the ballot). I'm pretty sure Joe Lowe will hammer on the issue if given the chance. Sue Wismer could speak with authority on it, since Veblen Dairies are in her district, and Northern Beef Packers is close. How hard will those candidates and others swing that bat?
Cory,
I can wish and hope can't I?
It is an absolute necessity that the candidate that choose to make GOED a scandal do it factually and professionally. I hope none fear the SDGOP enough to remain silent.
Wishing and hoping is what we're all about here, Roger... plus the occasional formulation of viable policy alternatives. :-)
Mr. Nelson got his in first, so he is in first. Mr. Rhoden is in a close second. This makes Mr. Rounds in third. Nothing else than that. Let us see who the best cowboy is heading down the final 8 second ride.
grudz,
What happened to your love affair with the attractive Dr. Boz?