Rounds builds strong lead in run for governor [SD]

Argus Leader ^ | 9/27/02 | Terry Woster

[BlackRazor]

PIERRE - Republican Mike Rounds holds a solid lead over Democrat Jim Abbott in the race for South Dakota governor, according to a statewide poll.

More than half the people questioned in the Argus Leader/KSFY-TV poll said they'd vote for the Pierre insurance executive if the election were held now. His 51 percent showing compared with 32 percent for Abbott of Vermillion. Three percent split among a pair of third-party candidates, and 14 percent are undecided.

[BlackRazor]

Poll Ping!

If you want on or off my poll ping list, let me know!

[AntiGuv]

I never thought the South Dakota governor contest would turn into a race, but thanks for the tangible evidence here in these poll numbers. Although the Dakotas are more than willing to send Dems to Congress to bring home to pork, they definitely don't want them in the Governor mansion to tax the hell out of it..

[BlackRazor]

I never thought the South Dakota governor contest would turn into a race, but thanks for the tangible evidence here in these poll numbers.

I didn't expect this race to be competitive, either, but not everyone felt that way. Here's what Larry Sabato had to say on his website on September 4:

One's assumption is always that South Dakota will go Republican for governor, but partly that is because of the long (interrupted) tenure of Governor Bill Janklow . Janklow is running in a tight race for the U.S. House this year, after completing his second stint as governor (16 years in all). The race to succeed Janklow is surprisingly competitive between Republican Mike Rounds, the upset winner of a three-way Republican primary, and Jim Abbott, the former president of the University of South Dakota. A slight edge to Rounds given South Dakota's essential GOP nature, but a victory for Democratic senator Tim Johnson and Democratic House candidate Stephanie Herseth might very well carry over into the gubernatorial contest, too.

This latest poll is encouraging in that it nearly mirrors a June pre-primary poll that gave Rounds a 52-31 lead over Abbott. Polls taken that far in advance typically tighten up once the nominees are actually chosen. The fact that this one hasn't suggests that Rounds ought to have a much easier time than Sabato anticipated.

[fieldmarshaldj]

Abbott is getting zilch traction, and Rounds couldn't have been a better blessing-in-disguise to emerge from the GOP primary (had it been one of the other two that had been expected to prevail, Abbott would've had an easier time), this may end up being at least a 15% win for Rounds. I'm more concerned about the House race (in the case of the Senate, I do believe Thune will win, probably by 2 to 3%, about the same as Johnson's win over Pressler in '96). Janklow has been nothing but a curse with national races, and he is solely responsible for Daschle sitting in the Senate today when he utterly sabotaged the vanquisher of George McGovern, Jim Abdnor in the '86 GOP primary, leaving him too weak to deal with Daschle in the fall. Had he not challenged Abdnor, ole Tommy would've been harvesting wheat today. He also did little to help Larry Pressler, with whom he's been feuding for many years (probably since the '70s when Janklow was serving his terms as Attorney-General and first time as Governor), and that contributed to his defeat. Though I don't want to see some liberal Dem like Herseth take that important seat, part of me would love to see Janklow finally get his for sabotaging our Republican officeholders (for Jim Abdnor, for Larry Pressler, for Walter Dale Miller, and for the memory of George Mickelson).

[KQQL]

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