Thune says he will not run for House seat vacated by Janklow

Herseth should win this seat. We will take back the house one seat at a time.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/12/16/national1313EST0550.DTL

Republican John Thune will not run for the House seat being vacated by Rep. Bill Janklow, a spokesman said Tuesday.

Thune has been mentioned as a possible candidate since Janklow was convicted of manslaughter last week in a deadly traffic accident. Janklow announced his resignation shortly after being convicted.

Thune, a former South Dakota congressman, has not ruled out challenging Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle next year, said Ryan Nelson, his spokesman. He will wait until after the first of the year to decide whether to run for the Senate.

Thune lost a close contest to Sen. Tim Johnson last year after leaving the House.

Stephanie Herseth, a Democrat who lost to Janklow in 2002, intends to run for the House seat again.

Now what about the race for Ernie Fletcher's House seat.

Stephanie Herseth is now the frontrunner in the South Dakota race and hopefully will pick this seat up.

Chandler v. Alice Forgy Kerr will be very, very close. If we can win this, Chandler will be safe in November.

Two victories before the upcoming 2004 elections would be incredibly good. That would mean 207 Democrats in the House, and we'll be that much closer to Speaker Pelosi.

I doubt Thune can beat Daschle if he can't beat Johnson. I think this could be a good opportunity for a dem pick up along--hopefully the open seat in Kentucky too.

Johnson spent lots of time explaining why he wasn't Dashle while Thune tried to tie them together. Dashcle has a much harder time running away from himself (though he appears to be trying lately).

SD voters also wanted to keep the clout the state had with Daschle as majority leader. Many said that if they knew we were going to lose the Senate they would have voted the other way. I doubt there will be many "Democrats can take back the Senate" articles next fall (with FIVE southern seats to defend). And shrub is still going to carry SD by solid double digits.

But Dashcle is STILL the better candidate and the race should "lean" our way. I just don't like seeing our Senate leadership in "leans" kind of races.

...much better suited to the House seat, but Rove and Bush continue the ol' line Republicans are famous for:

"When you find that when you're digging a hole you can't get out of, keep digging!"

Go Herseth!

We have a very good shot at picking up this seat. Thune is by far the strongest possible Repub candidate.

CALL: LEANS DEM/possible TOSS-UP

From http://www.hillnews.com/campaign/121003_janklow.aspx

Attorney Mark Mickelson and state House Majority Leader Bill Peterson, both of whom had been mentioned as possible congressional candidates, have ruled out candidacies. Former Sen. Larry Pressler’s (R-S.D.) name also has been bandied about.

Mickelson would've been a tough competitor, but Herseth likely would've taken him down.