Political Smokeout

What happened with Noem’s official Facebook page?

A commenter on “100 Eyes” today asked about Rep. Kristi Noem’s official Facebook page, which no longer exists.

Noem used to have two Facebook pages — one for her campaign, one for her official office. But now the old page — which used to be at http://www.facebook.com/RepKristiNoem, per this old tweet — is no longer up. Was it taken down?

A Noem aide emails that official page was in fact taken down, a few months ago. It “makes sense to only have one,” the aide wrote.

That one is here. Mystery solved.

Daschle on Weiland, Herseth Sandlin, and 2014

With Tom Daschle hitting the news again, I went back to my interview with him last week and dug up some of his more interesting quotes:

On Rick Weiland:

“Rick has become an extraordinarily experienced and very well-rounded candidate. He’s been successful in business, he’s been success in politics and government, he’s been successful as a father. He has enormous credibility, especially among many of us who have known him as long as we have. He’s paid his dues, he’s worked hard, he’s accomplished a lot.”

On how Rick got into the race:

“We talked about different roles in the administration. It was clear that he again wanted to be engaged in public service at some level. But he actually was the one who came to me and said he was thinking about another run for public office, and what did I think. I was very encouraging.”

On how he’ll be able to help Weiland’s campaign:

“I don’t even pretend to have the ability and reach that one would have in the Senate or House at this point. I want to be helpful, and certainly will do whatever I can to be helpful.”

On Rick’s chances in the 2014 Senate race:

“It helps in the Dakotas as a Democrat not to be running in a presidential year. I can attest to that.”

On what Democrats need to do to succeed in South Dakota:

“One, you have to have an important narrative. You have to be able to define your candidacy and what it means for typical South Dakotan.

“(Second,) you have to work enormously hard. Democrats have to work harder in states like South Dakota, just because we are in the minority and we have to persuade Republiccans and Independents.

“Third, you have to have a superior organization. It’s so critical to be well-organized, and that includes well-funded.”

On DSCC skepticism of Weiland:

“I’ve been involved in DSCC deliberations for many, many years. Not recently. I know what pressures they are under to make critical decisions about where they ought to put their resources and priorities. I’ve been involved in conversations with candidates around the country, oftentimes who simply had not yet persuaded us that they were qualified to receive the support. I think a candidate has to prove him or herself worthy of that support. I don’t blame the DSCC for wanting to see more evidence of a strong candidacy, and I have every expectation Rick will be able to do that.”

On Stephanie Herseth Sandlin:

“I have great admiration for Stephanie. I’m fortunate enough to have known her for a long, long time. I went to school with her father and have considered Stephanie a good friend for many years. We’ve had opportunities to work together for many, many years. I hope she will consider a candidacy again.”

On Herseth Sandlin’s vote against the Affordable Care Act:

“I feel very strongly about some of the issues on which (Herseth Sandlin and I) differ, but I also understand that everybody has to make up their own minds with regards to how they’re going to vote… We have to accept the fact that there are going to be differences from time to time.”

Politico: Weiland pick spurs Daschle-Reid ‘feud’

Lone Democratic Senate candidate Rick Weiland is “not my choice,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told Politico, in a surprisingly blunt statement of national Democrats’ preference for Stephanie Herseth Sandlin.

Reid also dismissed Weiland, saying “we’re going to have a candidate there; we don’t have it yet.”

The Politico story adds Reid’s quotes and some anonymous sourcing to my report from Sunday looking into how Weiland got into the race, Tom Daschle’s role in that and the skepticism Weiland is facing as he tries to build up a Senate bid.

It also adds a juicy feud angle, talking to anonymous Democrats who say Reid is furious at Daschle for encouraging Weiland to run:

Daschle’s endorsement of Weiland helped persuade Herseth Sandlin to pass on the Senate race, according to Democratic sources close to the issue. Reid and top Senate Democrats were stunned and outraged by Daschle’s move, a sentiment Reid communicated directly to the former senator, according to several people familiar with the incident.

The first assertion there, that Weiland’s endorsement helped keep Herseth Sandlin out, is something I had heard rumored, too. People in both the Weiland camp and the Herseth Sandlin camp were skeptical when I asked them about it, with one Herseth Sandlin ally saying “If she felt the right thing to do was to run, she would have been 100 percent in there.”

That doesn’t necessarily mean the anonymous information I and Politico both heard is wrong; just take both conflicting reports into consideration.

Other revelations in the Politico report:

• Daschle was defensive of his support for Weiland, noting their decades-long friendship and pointing out that Herseth Sandlin was never committed to the race, merely exploring it.
• A national Democrat suggests the DSCC won’t mobilize resources for Weiland after his role in allegedly pushing Herseth Sandlin out of the race. “This is [Daschle’s] race,” the anonymous Democrat said. “If he wants to encourage someone to get in, if he wants to endorse someone to get in, he should be prepared to raise all the money necessary to support them.”
• Reid is apparently taking Daschle’s endorsement as a personal slight between the two longtime colleagues; Daschle is downplaying it and says he’s still planning to host a DSCC fundraiser.
• As rumored, the story confirms that Reid met with Tim Johnson and his wife Barbara to urge them to keep their son, U.S. Attorney Brendan Johnson, out of the race. (The Politico story also gets Barbara’s name wrong, referring to her as “Martha.”)

Read the full story here.

Vern Larson, making history

Newly appointed public lands commissioner Vern Larson had already made a mark as the longest-serving constitutional officer in state history, with 24 years as auditor and eight as treasurer after getting term limited.

Now he’s poised to enter the South Dakota political history books again this August when he replaces Jarrod Johnson at School and Public Lands.

He’ll be the first person ever to serve as three different South Daktoa constitutional officers in his lifetime.

According to Gov. Dennis Daugaard’s adviser Tony Venhuizen’s historical research, no one before Larson will have served as more than two constitutional officers — which are defined as the statewide elected offices created in the state constitution, or governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general, auditor, treasurer and commissioner of school and public lands.

(It doesn’t include U.S. House, U.S. Senate, state legislators or the public utilities commission; the first two are federal offices, the third is not statewide and the fourth was created by statute.)

Larson won’t be the first person to serve in three different statewide offices. Four different men have done that, though all involved at least one federal office:

• Bill Janklow (attorney general, governor, U.S. House)
• Peter Norbeck (lieutenant governor, governor, U.S. Senate)
• William McMaster (lieutenant governor, governor, U.S. Senate)
• Coe Crawford (attorney general, governor, U.S. Senate)

Jim Abdnor comes close — he served as lieutenant governor, U.S. representative and U.S. senator, but he was a congressman at a time when South Dakota had two congressional districts and so only had two statewide positions.

Larson, who won’t seek a full term as public lands commissioner and says he’s not interested in running for office again, will only end up being appointed to his record-setting third position. But it’s still a fascinating coda to an already fascinating career.

Thanks to Tony for the research.

Daugaard taps Vern Larson for School & Public Lands (UPDATED)

Gov. Dennis Daugaard picked veteran government official Vern Larson to fill the remainder of Jarrod Johnson’s term as commissioner of School and Public Lands when Johnson resigns this August.

Larson, 64, has been elected to statewide office seven eight times, including five six terms as state auditor and two terms as state treasurer.

But Larson says he’ll just be a placeholder commissioner and won’t seek a full term in the 2014 election.

“I am not going to be a candidate,” Larson said. “There are already people that were expressing interest in the job. I don’t think it’s my place to run for the job in (a situation) like that.”

State Rep. Jim Bolin is the only announced candidate for the school and public lands position in 2014, though several other people are rumored to be interested.

Bolin said Daugaard “made an excellent choice” with Larson, whom he called “very competent. He also applauded the choice of someone who wouldn’t seek reelection.

“It’s the right move to pick someone who’s not going to run in the future, who wouldn’t use it as a springboard,” Bolin said.

Johnson previously announced he would resign late this summer to spend more time with his family.

Larson said it was “an easy decision” to accept Daugaard’s offer to be the commissioner of school and public lands, the third constitutional office Larson will have filled.

He said his experience as auditor and treasurer will help him hit the ground running when he takes over from Johnson. Historically there have been several attempts to combine the offices of Treasurer and School and Public Lands.

Quite the exchange on Twitter between Glodt, Nelson

The past two days, state Rep. Stace Nelson (a potential “conservative alternative” U.S. Senate candidate to former Gov. Mike Rounds) has had a fascinating debate on Twitter with Jason Glodt, a senior member of Rounds’ campaign team, about Rounds’ record.

I’ve compiled the exchange, which you can read after the jump:

Read More

Someone mailed tea bags to Johnson, Thune

There was some tumult in Aberdeen today, as the local offices of South Dakota’s congressional delegation all received suspicious packages.

Hazmat teams were called in as the buildings were evacuated.

Late this afternoon, word came that at least two of those suspicious packages contained not ricin or anthrax but tea bags — a harmless, if politically symbolic item.

Read the full story here. It’s unclear who sent the packages, and indeed if we’ll ever know — the investigation could stop here or continue.

Later that day: Noem, less coy on the Senate

This morning, Rep. Kristi Noem told reporters she hasn’t “spent a lot of time thinking about a timetable” for making a decision about running for Senate and would “deal with politics a little bit later.”

Apparently “a little bit later” meant “that afternoon.”

A few hours after her morning interview, Noem told The Hill that she is “watching the (Senate) race,” has “had some conversations with organizations” about a Senate run. She even gave a timetable: 

“We haven’t made up our minds on what we’re going to do at all, and probably won’t for several months yet,” Noem said.

UPDATE: I’m told Noem’s comments to The Hill were actually made Wednesday, though the article was published today.

Read the new, more forthright comments from Noem here.

Rep. Kristi Noem still coy on Senate

Rep. Kristi Noem had some news to share.

“I also wanted to make an announcement about something new today I’m going to be doing,” Noem told reporters dialed in to her weekly conference call with the South Dakota media.

But the announcement was that she would be holding an ag-focused conference call with South Dakota citizens next week (at the ungodly hour of 6 a.m.).

The announcement a lot of people are waiting for Noem to make — whether she will run for U.S. Senate — will have to wait for another day.

“I’m still focused on doing the job I was elected to do,” Noem said when asked about the Senate. “With the farm bill going on right now I’m focused on that. So we’ll have to deal with politics a little bit later.”

That’s basically the same answer Noem has given for months to this question. It hasn’t changed despite some Noem advisers going further and confirming her interest in the race to the media.