Replies

Three hundred thirty eight thousand cast their ballot in the 2002 Senate election. A three point lead equates to a ten thousand point lead. I think the polling is spot on, for two reasons. The libertarian candidate is no longer on the ballot, and he garnered 3000+ votes in the last election. The exit polling showed that out of the 13000 R's that voted for Johnson, 45% of them did so in the hopes of returning Daschle to the majority leader, thus keeping the pork coming to SD. This will not be a factor in this election. There is another reason bubbling beneath the surface, and that is both a sympathy and pride vote for Thune, who suffered a heartbreaking loss in 2002, but took it like a true South Dakotan.