Ironically, Thune is running with a bit of seperation from the President. SD will vote for President Bush in overwhelming numbers, but they don't like to see Thune too chummy with him. It's sort of a mass hysteria thing about needing Thune to be loyal to SD first, and party second. I think Thune figured this out sometime after the loss to Johnson. WE ARE GOING TO BEAT DASCHLE! I feel it.
Ah, beautiful music to my ears! *grin*
Yes, but I think this is different this time, because President Bush can come to SD and campaign for himself this time, rather than being seen as a sitting President trying to "interfere" in a Senate race. Also, Thune was hurt by not successfully getting drought relief for SD from the President, so people wondered then just how much pull Thune would have with Bush as a Senator. Daschle also then had the mantle of Majority Leader, and played it to the hilt, and he can't do that this time. South Dakotans can be reminded that by electing Johnson, instead of having one senator in each camp, they had two in the minority camp...
There are no such hot-button issues right now in SD, and Daschle has made himself a huge national target that they should be able to realize that he will start to draw unfriendly fire onto the state. Seems very similar to the McGovern race of 1980 -- and McGovern was a more formidable national figure than Daschle (he had gotten the presidential nomination for crying out loud), at that time, no-one could imagine either house of Congress being controlled by anyone but Democrats, and although I personally liked Abdnor a lot (good West River guy, and treated me and my family royally when we visited him in Washington when he was a Representative), he wasn't a very polished candidate compared to Thune. All in all, I think things are different than they were 2 years ago.
Anyway, it makes a big difference if a presidential candidate pays the voters of a state the respect of coming and asking them to vote for him. I think it would resonate. Of course, Bush doesn't need the extra votes, but John Thune's name is going to be right below his on the ballot, and I do think it would spill over...
I still think that Bush on the ground in SD would do far more good than harm. But then, I would imagine that the Thune and Bush people know the calculus on this far better than I do -- I'll be interested to see what they do.