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Wismer-Blake Ticket Historic as Trivia, Not Impact

I'm not ready to hit the top stories of the year cycle quite yet (six days left! who knows what could happen?!), but Bob Mercer is. South Dakota's last full-time statehouse reporter picks five top South Dakota political stories of 2014:

  1. Rounds wins Senate seat.
  2. Krebs wins Secretary of State.
  3. Democrats nominate women for governor and lieutenant.
  4. State retirement fund earns 18.9% net return.
  5. Voters increase minimum wage.

Mercer does not lay out criteria for "top political stories." Most of his choices seem to revolve around ongoing impact on South Dakota's politics and economy. Ousting the last Democrat from statewide office certainly has ongoing impact on the political landscape. So will changing our top election official: smarter and tougher Shantel Krebs can promote the Republican agenda of Democratic vote suppression much more aggressively than half-checked-out Jason Gant. Our recovering retirement fund promises future economic security, while our minimum-wage hike provides a little economic boost and economic justice right now. The minimum-wage hike also affirms the power of Democrats to promote their pro-working-class agenda through initiatives.

But Mercer's #3 seems the odd woman out. The Dems' executive office nominees, Susan Wismer and Susy Blake, are nice people. But their all-female candidacy is "historic" only in the driest, textbook sense of the word. Wismer and Blake didn't win. They didn't blaze new trails in campaign organizing, fundraising, or get-out-the-vote activities. They didn't capitalize on their womanliness to raise awareness of or change the conversation about women's issues in South Dakota. The Wismer-Blake ticket seemed to win nothing more than its own Trivia Crack™ South Dakota Edition entry, and even that achievement is twinned with failure: political gurus discussing the first all-gal ticket will inevitably mention that ticket was also the biggest loser, ceding the Governor's office to the incumbent by 45 points.

I welcome your critique of Mercer's list and your own lists below; stay tuned in the coming days for my own blog-based lists of big South Dakota news, based on your comments and my own criteria... once I've recovered from all those Christmas Swedish meatballs and pickles! Mmmm....

12 Comments

  1. John 2014.12.26

    This may set women in SD politics back 50 years.

  2. JeniW 2014.12.26

    What caused you to think that John?

  3. John 2014.12.26

    But their all-female candidacy is "historic" only in the driest, textbook sense of the word. Wismer and Blake didn't win. They didn't blaze new trails in campaign organizing, fundraising, or get-out-the-vote activities. They didn't capitalize on their womanliness to raise awareness of or change the conversation about women's issues in South Dakota. The Wismer-Blake ticket seemed to win nothing more than its own Trivia Crack™ South

  4. mmo159@aol.com 2014.12.26

    Did Wismer ever agree to support labor unions or not.

  5. grudznick 2014.12.26

    As unsophisticated as young Ms. Wismer is, the best move of her campaign was to ignore labor unions who in South Dakota are meaningless.

  6. jerry 2014.12.26

    Speaking of unsophisticated, how are you doing Mr. Grudznick?

  7. Deb Geelsdottir 2014.12.26

    Grudz, Jerry just took an excellent shot at you! Made me laugh. Your response?

  8. Deb Geelsdottir 2014.12.26

    I don't think Wismer/Blake will have much effect on women in SD politics at all. I believed JeniW when she described what an outstanding person Ms. Blake is. I'm sure Ms. Wismer is too. But their campaign was mostly unnoticed. Ms. Wismer has described what they were up against, and the barriers were high. Women candidates with decent support, such as SHS, have already demonstrated they can win.

  9. larry kurtz 2014.12.26

    Blake was a shitty choice of running mate but a Clinton/Warren ticket would win 2016 in a landslide against whichever earth haters emerge from the GOP slime.

  10. leslie 2014.12.27

    as stated before EB5 is a huge story, its cover-up especially notorious, and the inability of anyone in the state to get to the bottom of it is just startling. i assume many repubs "in the know" just exchange knowing smirks.

  11. Kenny Weiland 2014.12.29

    Just one of my many thoughts. Mike Rounds stated in a debate that the XL was a major need for our state so that it would free up an enormous amount of pressure to haul farmers grain. Shortly after the election the President of the SD Corn Growers Association President stated that the XL would only take a BLIP of pressure off of the RR from hauling grain. Where were they with this comment during the election. Rounds either lied or manipulated the uniformed voters that refuse to do their HOMEWORK. Call my statement sour grapes, it's a fact. Minimum Wage:( 55%-45% and then elect a governor that wants to repeal it. Voting against your own interest again: do your HOMEWORK

  12. caheidelberger Post author | 2014.12.29

    Kenny, I agree that voters need to do their homework. Toward that end, we—bloggers, reporters, and candidates—also need to be excellent teachers. What did Wismer and Blake teach us? How well did they teach?

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