Free Republic

The following twenty-two House members stood firm and opposed the Boehner bill, which is nothing more than a vehicle which will be sent to the Senate, reworked by Harry Reid into something even worse than it already is, and then returned to the House. Boehner will dutifully bring it up and the Tea Partiers who voted for it will then vote against it, but it will not matter. Boehner and Reid will pass the Bill in the House with Democrat votes and Obama will sign it. The votes today cast by conservatives, many of whom are good people, are very...

Despite Johnson’s turning his back on such a fundamental liberty as the right to own property, the Republican establishment apparently sees nothing wrong with putting Johnson in charge of a subcommittee that, as stated in Illinois’ News-Gazette, “deals with issues such as rural development programs…and family farming matters.”

First, the Republicans reward Michigan Rep. Fred Upton for banning the light bulb, by putting him in charge of energy. Now they reward Illinois Rep. Tim Johnson for voting against farmers’ property rights, by putting him in charge of–you guessed it– farming.

In an open letter sent today to ABC President David Westin, Media Research Center President and NewsBusters.org Publisher Brent Bozell questioned the ethics of ABC as a "news" network and wondered "how in the world can anyone take ABC seriously" after it was announced that ABC News has hired Democrat donor Dr. Richard Besser to be their new Senior Medical Editor. The letter appears in its entirety below the fold.

Senators who oversee the $700 billion Wall Street rescue package held stocks in many of the banks bailed out towards the end of last year, according to financial disclosure reports released Friday. According to the reports detailing senators’ finances in 2008, nearly half of the members of the Senate Banking Committee had holdings in financial institutions that have taken funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). The panel has jurisdiction over the bailout fund and other relief efforts directed by federal regulators to save the nation’s financial system. For example, Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.), a Banking panel member, has...

...Thune was not alone in voting "no." A Democrat — *gasp* — and fellow South Dakota Senator Tim Johnson — also voted "no," probably for the same reason Thune voted "no" which was because it was going to kill 3,000-5,000 jobs in their state, which is simple math.

See this link for the article - http://www.todaysthv.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=70790&catid=2

Former Republican Lt. Gov. Steve Kirby says he will decide within the next week whether to challenge South Dakota Sen. Tim Johnson this November. "I'm undecided but I am working feverishly on trying to come up with a decision in the next seven days," Kirby said Thursday. South Dakota Republicans have been searching for GOP candidates to challenge Johnson this year. The Democrat's bid for a third term has attracted little attention as South Dakotans have focused on his recovery from a brain hemorrhage, and the election has been seen as Johnson's to lose. Kirby is more well-known than other...

<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...