[Dems_R_Losers]

I just talked to someone who was very involved in the Kentucky race (it's my home district) and he said what the Dems did was identify 35,000 Democrats who hate President Bush and they got every single one of them to the polls. Turnout was HUGE. They also spent a lot of money on direct mail to Democrats and on large ads in small town papers, while of course the Republicans spent everything on TV. The NRCC totally blew that election and now they are making excuses that Chandler had better name ID and Kerr couldn't catch up. That's a load of BS. So I expect a similar result in South Dakota.

[ColoradoDakota]

Kerr was not the greatest candidate. Let's face it. Chandler had overwhelming name recognition (and the Chandler name going back to his gf Happy Chandler is storied) AND Kerr had a VERY short time line to overcome that.

Herseth also has strong name recognition and a famous South Dakota name (her gf was Governor, her gm held a constitutional office, her father - Lars - was a high-ranking state Senator) BUT Larry Diedrich has over 3 months to overcome this. Remember, that although South Dakota is a geographically large state, the vast majority of people tune into the TV stations from just two markets - Sioux Falls and Rapid City. The name Larry Diedrich will be known - trust me on that.

[buckalfa]

The South Dakota race could validate fears I have that the
GOP could lose one or both houses of Congress this November.
Despite the facts behind the issues, I feel there is a
very real hatred for Bush among the hard core Democrats,
and that hatred just may be channeled into donations and
voter turnout drives that will catch the GOP napping in
state elections while Rove and company devote their
resources to saving the Bush presidency. The golden
opportunity derived from the 2002 elections may be lost
by the GOP due to sheer arrogance.