Free Republic

Dashel is interviewing an author. He is amazinginly DULL. This is the person who perpetrated gridlock the first years of the Bush presidency? The shadow? He is so smaller than life... (and this is Trent Lott's friend.)

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Outgoing Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle said the political role he played during the past quarter century was more defensive than offensive, and that kept him from pursuing the proactive agenda he envisioned when he first entered politics.

Story in Argus Leader now. We can't link, but the address is: http://www.argusleader.com/breaking/Mondayfeature.shtml A hand-picked Daschle judge will hear the case to keep GOP poll watchers from observing tomorrow.

Washington -- Sen. Tom Daschle, the nation's top elected Democrat, is in dire danger of losing his South Dakota seat in one of the tightest of nine Senate races that will determine control of the powerful upper chamber. Former Rep. John Thune is in a dead heat with Daschle in their farming state where the two campaigns and their outside allies have lavished $40 million on fewer than a half a million voters. Thune is a popular candidate who gave up a quest for the governorship at the urging of the Bush White House to run for the Senate in...

WASHINGTON -- The South Dakota race that will determine whether Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle stays on Capitol Hill is the costliest congressional election so far this year. Daschle and Republican John Thune spent a total of $26.3 million through the first half of this month, a Federal Election Commission analysis released Thursday found. Of that, Daschle spent about $16 million and Thune $10 million. In all, Senate and House candidates competing in Tuesday's election have spent at least $711.6 million this election cycle, up about 15 percent from 2002, the FEC said.

With one week before the election, the nation's most high-profile senate race is at a statistical dead heat. South Dakota's Senate contest has grown too close to call according to our latest KELOLAND-TV/Argus Leader Scientific Poll. We asked 800 likely voters within the last week who they want to be their next senator. And for only the second time since we polled this race, the numbers are within the poll's margin of error. 49% of voters in our poll say they'll reelect democratic senator Tom Daschle. 47% say they'll vote for republican challenger John Thune. Only 4% are undecided. And...

Please tell us that you great people of South Dakota will kick Dashole out of office this year. Please comment on how things are going. What do the polls say so far? You can do it South Dakota. The country needs you to come through.

Conservatives and members of the Senate Republican leadership say that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) is committed to using a controversial procedural tactic that would rewrite the chamber’s filibuster rule. While Frist said he was actively considering changing the Senate rules several months ago, it now appears that the majority leader is on board with an effort by leading conservative senators to execute the tactic, which would prohibit lawmakers from filibustering judicial nominees. The most logical time to change the rules would be this fall or at the beginning of the new Congress in January. Senate Democratic leadership aides...

<p>WASHINGTON - If you've always dreamed of having Tom Daschle on your desk, your wishes have been granted.</p> <p>Bobblehead dolls featuring the likeness of the South Dakota Democrat and Senate minority leader now are for sale on the Internet, thanks to a Canton, Ohio, memorabilia company.</p>

May 23, 2003 -- SENATE Minority Leader Tom Daschle blundered yesterday when he accidentally mixed up two black reporters who've been covering him for years. PBS off-camera reporter Linda Scott, who has covered Congress for more than 20 years, raised her hand at a press conference to ask the South Dakota Democrat a question about the Republican economic stimulus package. Daschle apparently got her confused with CBS producer Evelyn Thomas, the only other African-American female television producer who regularly covers Congress. Thomas was not even in the room at the time. "Yes, Evelyn," said the Senator, nodding at Scott....

WASHINGTON (AP) - Democrats allied with Republican moderates tried rounding up enough votes on Wednesday to halve President Bush's plan for $726 billion in new tax cuts as a Senate showdown neared over the pillar of his proposal for reinvigorating the economy. Despite cautious predictions of victory on both sides, it was unclear whether opponents would be able to chop the price tag of Bush's tax cut proposal to $350 billion through 2013. In a chamber Republicans control by 51-48, plus a Democratic-leaning independent, every vote counted. Democrats said moderate GOP Sen. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island would vote with...

RNC Research -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BLAME AMERICA FIRST? ON THE EVE OF WAR, DASCHLE TRIES TO GAIN PARTISAN ADVANTAGE With American Troops Poised To Fight, Daschle Blames Potential War Casualties On President Bush __________________________________________________________________________________________________ SENATOR TOM DASCHLE: “I’m Saddened, Saddened That This President Failed So Miserably At Diplomacy That We’re Now Forced To War. Saddened That We Have To Give Up One Life Because This President Couldn’t Create The Kind Of Diplomatic Effort That Was So Critical For Our Country.” (Senator Tom Daschle, Remarks At International Association Of Firefighters Conference, 3/17/03) __________________________________________________________________________________________________ BEFORE LAST NOVEMBER’S ELECTION, DASCHLE SUPPORTED USE OF FORCE IN...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle demanded "a fuller explanation and apology" from Senate Republican Leader Trent Lott on Wednesday for saying the nation would have been better off if segregationist candidate Strom Thurmond had won the presidency in 1948. Daschle, who had earlier dismissed Lott's comments as misstatements, pushed for the action as a flap over Lott's remark last week escalated with reports the Mississippi Republican made a similar comment two decades ago. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer (news - web sites) reiterated President Bush (news - web sites) maintains confidence in Lott, who planned to...

<p>Tom Daschle, Al Gore and now Bill Clinton have to get over their belief that a media conspiracy was behind the poor showing of Democrats in last month's election.</p> <p>This week the former president told the Democratic Leadership Council that successful Republican candidates were aided by an "increasingly right-wing and bellicose conservative press" which was drowning out "an increasingly docile establishment press." (Full disclosure: According to a Fox News report, "he cited only the Wall Street Journal by name.") Calling conservative criticism of Sen. Daschle "unconscionable," Mr. Clinton railed that Republicans "have a destruction machine. We don't have a destruction machine."</p>

Loving Tom Daschle By Nathan Porter BSNN.net Dear Senator Daschle: As a longtime listener to talk radio—Rush Limbaugh included—I feel compelled to write simply to say I love you. I understand what it’s like to receive harassing and hate-filled letters, although most of mine come from anti-religious, leftwing zealots. But since so many folks from my side of the political spectrum are hell-bent on threatening your physical well being, I simply wanted to let you know that many of us who oppose you politically still find it in our hearts to love you. I love the way you compared Osama...

<p>In the weak light of dawn Wednesday, Rep. John Thune clung to a narrow lead in the U.S. Senate race that the traditional Republican West River stronghold had delivered late the night before.</p> <p>Three hours later, however, Sen. Tim Johnson was re-elected by a 528-vote margin.</p>

<p>In Daschle's home state, fraud wanders off the reservation.</p> <p>Today the Senate will approve and send to President Bush a landmark bill that will upgrade voting machines and begin to curb the voter fraud that is creeping into too many close elections. It can't come soon enough. Last week, a massive vote-fraud scandal broke out in a Senate race in Tom Daschle's home state of South Dakota that could determine control of that body.</p>

Bits from a story back in Dec a little flashback if you may. Who's the Grinch of the Stimulus Package? Fourteen weeks after Sept. 11 and 48 hours before Congress goes home for the holidays, the last man standing between you and an economic stimulus package for Christmas is Tom Daschle. snip: A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released Wednesday found that voters prefer the Republican approach (that would be tax cuts) to the economy over the Democrats' by a decent margin — 44 percent to 35 percent. Which might worry Daschle, except for that those same voters are split right down...