Free Republic

On February 18, presidential candidate Pat Buchanan appeared on the ABC program, "This Week With David Brinkley." He was asked by newspaper columnist George Will, "On the subject of culture, do you favor the teaching of creationism in public schools?" Buchanan answered, "I believe that God created heaven and earth. I believe in the Bible, George. I believe that children should not be forced to believe the Bible, but I think that every child should know what's in the Old and New Testaments." This prompted liberal commentator Sam Donaldson to ask, in a tone of unconcealed condescension and ridicule, "Did...

The two Independent candidates on this year's ballot for U.S. House of Representatives each expect to draw more votes than Independents traditionally have gleaned in South Dakota, and that could make a difference in how the Democratic and Republican candidates fare. Independent Stacey Nelson said Friday he expects to draw between 15 and 55 percent of the popular vote. Independent Kurt Evans said that he estimated his support at 5 to 8 percent of the vote as of Oct. 24... Democrat Rick Weiland and Republican John Thune are expecting to share most of the votes. Weiland's campaign press secretary Clay...

The candidates for South Dakota's lone U.S. House seat debated again Sunday night, and, for the most part, refrained from direct attacks and addressed questions from citizen panelists. The forum, at the South Dakota Public Broadcasting studios in Vermillion, was broadcast on radio and television. It featured five panelists and audience members asking questions of Democrat Rick Weiland, Republican John Thune and independents Stacey Nelson and Kurt Evans. Most of the questions dealt with economic matters. One panelist, noting that the net worth of the three richest people in the nation is three times the value of all of South...

(Editor's note: Following are the answers given by Kurt Evans, an independent candidate from Wessington Springs who is seeking a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Evans is one of four candidates, including Stacey Nelson, Milbank, an independent affiliated with the Reform party; John Thune, Pierre, a Republican; and Rick Weiland, Madison, a Democrat.) * What are two pieces of legislation that you want to introduce if elected?One of my priorities would be legislation to end U.S. support for the United Nations. The U.N. is, in my opinion, irredeemably corrupt. It is using its worldwide propaganda machine to promote...

<p>I am writing this column the afternoon before the election, but one thing I feel comfortable predicting: Several famous pollsters will be wrong.</p> <p>For instance, in Minnesota either Zogby (Mondale by six) or Mason-Dixon (Coleman by six) will be left to explain how the dastardly public undercut them at the last moment. Likewise in Colorado, either Zogby (Strickland by five) or Gallup (Allard by two) will grumble about the public not truly understanding the full range of possibilities inherent within the phrase "a 95 percent chance of accuracy within a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percent." Properly understood, of course, that phrase means it could be a landslide either way.</p>

The president's rally has a very real political purpose. But today, some bipartisan supporters held a rally of their own to show they support the Republican president and Democrat Tim Johnson for Senate. John Thune's campaign hopes tomorrow's rally will convince Bush supporters to also be Thune supporters. But, not everyone who likes the President plans to vote for Thune. Some registered Republicans who plan to vote for Tim Johnson held a rally in Aberdeen today. Registered Republican Tom Aman thinks highly of the commander and chief. He voted for him in 2000, and has contributed to every one of...

Narrowly defeated Republican Senate candidate John Thune has postponed a decision about whether to call for a recount after unofficial vote returns showed him losing to incumbent Democrat Tim Johnson by less than two-fifths of a percentage point. Thune, South Dakota's three-term congressman, said he will await the outcome of the official statewide vote canvass on Tuesday, Nov. 12, to see whether Johnson's 528-vote lead erodes. "The numbers are in, and we came up a little bit short. I don't anticipate a change," Thune said when he addressed reporters early Wednesday afternoon. "We'll wait and see." State law allows for...

News Thune Response to Close VoteAfter hours of meeting with his campaign staff, Congressman Thune addressed his supporters about the narrow margin of defeat during his race for the U.S. Senate. Thune: "After a long night and a long morning, the preliminary results of last night's election show Senator Tim Johnson with a 528 vote advantage. The next step in the process is the official canvass of the election results. A canvass is done after each election, and the results will be released as soon as that process is finished. Essentially, the canvass is our election system's process for checking...

<p>SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - Kurt Evans issued a statement Thursday evening saying he was suspending his U.S. Senate campaign and giving his support to Republican John Thune.</p> <p>Evans had qualified for the Nov. 5 ballot as a Libertarian candidate. He could not be reached for comment.</p>

Stephanie Herseth is no longer the underdog. In fact, the newcomer candidate holds a slight edge over political powerhouse, Governor Bill Janklow in the race for South Dakota's seat in the U.S. House. It's the second KELOLAND News Election poll in which Herseth's held a slight lead. When the KELOLAND News Election poll showed registered South Dakota voters favored Herseth in August, the Janklow campaign said the Governor hadn't hit the campaign trail yet. Now with less than four weeks until the election, our exclusive poll shows Janklow still hasn't made up any ground. When Governor Bill Janklow entered the...

There are still nine months to go before the South Dakota Senate election between Minority Leader Tom Daschle and his Republican challenger, former Rep. John Thune. The campaign hasn’t really started yet, but you might as well get ready now for the post-election investigation into voting irregularities. It’s a sure thing. And while you’re at it, you might as well prepare for a murky end to that investigation. There might be clear evidence of wrongdoing, but no one will be found guilty of doing anything wrong. And then it will be on to the next election. Last week, we saw...

http://www.state.sd.us/sos/results/statwide.shtml U S SENATE (L) EVANS KURT 2974 1 816 844 (D) JOHNSON TIM 160809 49 816 844 (R) THUNE JOHN 162492 50 816 844

Just heard on local radio that the libertarian candidate in the SD, senate race, Curt Evans, is dropping out and throwing his support behind John Thune(R). Say's "Thune is the better candidate". Maybe 2-3% bump.(my guess)

Hi, this is Dan Olmsted, Washington Bureau Chief of United Press International. We're still looking at the Thune-Johnson race, and would appreciate any suggestions for how to nail down any possible fraud in the race.

Please post as much election information as you can on this thread, so we won't have a million separate threads running at one time. And, please, NO GRAPHICS -- just links!

SOUTH DAKOTA: NRSC Poll Has Daschle Up One A McLaughlin and Assocs. (R) poll; conducted 7/16-17 for the NRSC; surveyed 200 likely voters; margin of error +/- 4.9% (release, 7/22). Tested: Sen. Min. Leader Tom Daschle (D) and '02 nominee/ex-Rep. John Thune (R). Daschle 47% Thune 46% Daschle Unfavorable 36% Thune Unfavorable 22% Meanwhile, the polling memo notes that SD voters "are turned off by Daschle's premature start to the campaign season," noting that 68% said "it's too early for political ads and Tom Daschle should stop running them" (release, 7/22). A GOP source notes that the poll was taken...

<p>"Work as if everything depends on you; pray as if everything depends on God."</p> <p>The Iraq debate is over. Democrats who are up for reelection in close Senate races voted for the Iraq resolution with the exception of Paul Wellstone (D-WI). Now with over three weeks left, they are going to hit hard on the economy, social security, negative attack ads, etc.</p>

Some statistics from South Dakota Election site and Census site. Exceptional voter registration averages there. South Dakota County by County Results Last Updated Wednesday November 06 2002. 11/06/02-CENTRAL ELECTION REPORTING SYSTEM-12:56:21 ST05BTCH-STATEWIDE RACES 2000 Census http://www.state.sd.us/sos/results/pvreport.shtml http://www.census.gov/main/www/cen2000.html So Dak So Dak Age Age Total % Too Turned 18 County Population < 18 >=18 Registered Registered Many Since 2000 Evans Johnson Thune Total Aurora 3058 844 2214 2052 0.93 0 94 18 875 698 1591 Beadle 17040 4205 12835 11321 0.88 0 467 94 4381 3499 7974 Bennett 3570 1297 2273 2369 1.04 96 144 16 899 694 1609 Bon Homme...

America's Libertarian Party services only one purpose: Distracting and confusing the determined combatants in all our critical national struggles. Consider the preposterous Libertarian role in the just concluded midterm elections. South Dakota represented ground zero in the struggle for control of the Senate, and Republican John Thune and incumbent Democrat Tim Johnson fought to a virtual tie--with only 527 votes (less than 0.2 percent of the vote) dividing them. Meanwhile, 3,071 votes went to Libertarian Kurt Evans, a 32-year-old teacher who listed as one of his prime preparations for the Senate that his father is a known Country & Western...

* means NRA endorsment. Grade is the NRA grade. Alabama: *(D) Siegelman 674,052 A+ (R) Riley 670,913 A (L) Sophocleus 23,242 Oregon: (D) Kulongoski 493,385 C+ (R) Mannix 490,745 A (L) Cox 47,444 Wisconsin: (D) Doyle 800,958 F *(R) McCallum 732,781 A (L) Thompson 185,085 Wyoming: (D) Freudenthal 89,407 A- *(R) Bebout 85,556 A+ (L) Dawson 3,800 Not to mention that Thune will probably lose South Dakota Senate seat by a smaller margin that the Libertarian in that race got... (D) Johnson 167,481 C+ *(R) Thune 166,954 A (L) Evans 3,071 So basically Libertarians brought 2 anti-gun governors, and possibly...