Madison Tax Increment District Price Tag Jumps 63%

The Madison City Commission will discuss changes to the Tax Increment District plan it approved last November. The original price tag was $203,485. MDL reports that the commission will discuss a supplemental resolution to cover the new cost of the project: $330,000.

O.K., prices have gone up since November, but a 63% increase in the debt taxpayers will assume on this private development? Uff da! Maybe the city commission needs to take time at its Monday meeting to ask whether this is really the bill of goods they were sold back in November.

I'll have more on this later, after I've done some reading. The May 19 city commission agenda has some details you can read for yourself. (Maybe I'll even be able to bum a look at someone's copy of the LAIC's housing study, which is still available only to folks willing to fork over $250.)

California Supreme Court OKs Gay Marriage, No Signs of Apocalypse

So the California Supreme Court rules that the state cannot discriminate among folks seeking marriage licenses, and the Earth doesn't go crashing into the sun.

You may ask, What's this have to do with South Dakota? That's just those wacky Californians, right?

Well, according to Equality South Dakota (not to mention what you know about your own small towns and those folks you try not to talk about), there are same-sex couples all around this state. Some of them have children. They've made commitments to each other as lasting as the guy-girl relationships we prefer to display on our state promotional materials. Those couples are contributing as much to our state in terms of paying taxes, participating in the labor force, raising kids, and being good neighbors as anyone else. Of course, basic human rights don't depend on work; they're just something we have from the start and can't take away from others just because they're different.

Equality before the law shouldn't depend on whom you sleep with. Love is love, and commitment is commitment. Let's take the California Supreme Court's ruling -- not to mention common courtesy and respect for our neighbors -- as our cue to repeal our 2006 Amendment C and get the homophobia out of our state Constitution.

Obama SF Rally, Part II: Americans Are "Our Brother's Keeper"

Obama continues his address to a Sioux Falls Arena audience KELO estimates at 5,100:

Health care: Obama repeats his vow to pass some form of universal health care by the end of his first term. Save each family $2500, make the Congressional plan available to everyone, get rid of exclusions for pre-existing conditions, and focus on prevention -- "we don't need disease care; we need health care."

Energy: Obama says wind, solar, and biofuels aren't just about clean energy; they're about more jobs -- five million new jobs, he says, just waiting for us to change our energy focus.

Education: I'm still not hearing the call that Clinton made to repeal No Child Left Behind, but I am at least hearing Obama say he wants teachers teaching art and music and civics and not just teaching to a single standardized high-stakes test. Obama also promises to make college affordable, but this is no handout: he says young people can expect to work for that assistance, to do some form of community service.

Foreign policy: Obama notes Bush's suggestion at Israel's Knesset that some in America want to appease the enemy. Appeasement? Bush, says Obama, is the one who hasn't caught bin Laden. Bush is the one who got distracted with the war in Iraq.

Obama says we can lead the world in tracking down terrorists, but he asks us to imagine the positive effect on America's image by trying to lead in locking down loose nuclear weapons, lead in fighting poverty, and bring an end to the genocide in Darfur. Obama also vows to close Guantanamo and restore habeas corpus because we believe in civil liberties in America. There's a message for the rest of the world about what America is about.

Indian country: Obama says even a people with the richest culture may be stuck in despair and poverty when they have spent so many years seeing betrayal and broken promises.

Obama notes the election is not about making government bigger or waiting for the government to solve everything. Putting more money in education is great, but parents need to "put away the video game and the television set" and make sure kids are learning. We can create public service programs, but young people have step up. "We have to get back to the notion that I am my brother's keeper and my sister's keeper."

Obama says if the other side wants to make this election about him personally, he'll take them on. Obama's grandfather served under Patton in Word War II, marched across Europe; his grandmother worked on the homefront on a bomber assembly line. Grandfather got GI Bill education; they got government loans to help build their first house. Mom had to go on food stamps to get by. Wife Michelle's dad had multiple sclerosis but was still able to work for the city, provide for a family of four kids on that single income and send the kids to college. Obama says his biography is about the patriotism we all know and live, about the hope and opportunity America is about.

Obama Speaks in Sioux Ci-- oops! Sioux Falls!

Senator Barack Obama takes the stage at 7:30 p.m. and exclaims, "Thank you, Sioux City!" Oops... thankfully, the good Senator catches himself, notes he spent eight months campaigning in Iowa.

Senator Obama notes that Tom Daschle has been with him from the beginning, when there weren't a lot of "poobahs" backing him.

Obama says when he announced, people asked him why he was running now, so early. You're young, people told him, you can afford to wait. "I'm not running because it's my turn... I'm running because of something Dr. King called the fierce urgency of now." He says wages are lower now than seven years ago, groceries and gas and everything else cost more, 47 million people don't have health insurance, those who are ensured have seen premiums go up as much as 78%. "We can't afford to wait to solve those problems."

Obama talks about his community organizing in Chicago's South Side, working to bring the white, black, and Latino communities together to bring jobs to the communities the steel mills abandoned.

--nuts! And then just as some interesting disruption in the crowd catches everyone's attention, including Obama's, the video feed goes down. Grr!

Audio comes back: we hear Obama say we don't need warrantless wiretaps or tax cuts for the rich. And he says John McCain will continue those policies and the other failures of the Bush Administration.

"Not every problem is the fault of just one party or just one person. We've been talking about the health care system for decades now." Obama says the drug and insurance companies have spent one billion dollars in the last decade to prevent health care reform. Ditto on oil and energy: Obama says the only thing that has changed since the 1970s oil crises has been that we import more oil. Why doesn't energy policy doesn't work? Well, Bush put Cheney in charge of energy policy, Cheney met with the oil and gas companies 40 times, the renewable outfits and environmental groups once. It's not enough to just change the political parties in charge; we've got to reduce the influence of special interests, which is what Obama's support of lobbying reforms last year was about. That's why Obama says his campaign is not taking money from PACs and registered lobbyists.

Step two: truth-telling! Obama notes McCain's support for the gas tax holiday (he doesn't mention Clinton here!). Obama says the Illinois experiment with cutting the gas tax showed the oil companies don't lower the prices. The real way to reduce oil prices is invest in alternative energy, raise auto fuel efficiency standards ("and save the planet in the bargain").

Ah, someone puts up a Hillary sign (Anna, did you fly in?), and Obama says, let that person do it. It's a free country, we're a unified party. "There'll be a lot of Hillary signs at the convention; there'll be a lot of Obama signs too." He does suggest the Hillary supporter think about the people behind her who can't see -- "that's just being neighborly."

Obama SF Rally: Daschle Primes the Crowd

McGovern delivered the benediction; now Daschle takes the stage to pump up the crowd. Podium gone, he's working the stage (and making the KELO cameraperson earn her/his pay). Policywise, Daschle notes his current policy focus, health care, and says Obama is the one to bring everyone quality, affordable coverage. He also says Obama will make it possible to pay teachers what they deserve (no mention of Obama's plan to take over the South Dakota Legislature to make that happen -- that part is up to us, I think!), tackle environmental issues, even reform government-to-government relations with the tribes.

Sioux Falls Obama Rally: McGovern Opens

George McGovern opens for Senator Obama at the Sioux Falls rally tonight (see the live feed at KELO), in front of an audience KELO's Lou Raguse estimates at 5,000 (o.k., it's Lou Raguse counting -- your grains of salt are acceptable). McGovern notes that after he endorsed Senator Clinton last October in Iowa, his four kids and ten grandkids all enlisted in the Obama campaign. "Shows how much influence I have at home," joked McGovern. He compliments the Clintons, acknowledges how they "worked their hearts out" on his 1972 campaign, and says they will always remain close friends. But now, says McGovern is time to unite behind Obama and make the charge for change in November.

McGovern repeats his suggestion that in Obama, Illinois may be producing its "second Lincoln." He points to his impression that Obama may help bring back the ability of the two parties to cooperate, as McGovern recalls they could during his own tenure in the Senate, when he could work easily with Kansas Senator Bob Dole on veterans issues and reach across the aisle to start WIC. Obama also "consistently appeals to the better angels of our nature. he is our best hope, in Lincoln's words, for a just and lasting peace among ourselves and for with all nations."

Sad Electoral Note: Florence Steen Loses Vote

Kevin Woster reports that the ballot of Florence Steen, the 88-year-old woman who cast a deathbed vote for Hillary Clinton, is being thrown out. Mrs. Steen got to fulfill a dream and mark her absentee ballot for a female presidential candidate on April 29. She succumbed to congestive heart failure on Mother's Day, and was laid to rest yesterday. Given this due proof of the absentee voter's death prior to the opening of the polls on June 3, Pennington County Auditor Julie Pearson is required by South Dakota law (SDCL 12-19-9.2, 12-19-49) to pull the ballot and return it to sender unopened.

One of my readers had asked if that ballot would count. As we thought about it, we figured similar absentee ballots that outlived those who cast them must have slipped through the system before. And there's no fraud here, just an honest woman who cast an honest vote. I agree with Senator Clinton on this one: such a vote ought to count.

I wonder: would counting such absentee ballots create any problems? Unless someone can show some potential for chicanery, it seems changing the law to honor "dying wish" votes would be a perfectly decent thing to do. We can't change the law for this year's primary or the general election, but maybe our legislators can put a sticky note in their planners for the 2009 session: change the death rules on absentee ballots.

Long Primary Campaigns: Good for South Dakota!

Hillary Clinton speaks from the front porch of a Bath, SD, farmhouse and draws 600 people (Bath population: 574), then stops in Rapid City to boost the donut business. Bill Clinton speaks at the Pine Ridge High School gym and draws 800 listeners. Barack Obama comes to Watertown, SD, draws 1400 (Sioux Falls paper) to 2100 (AP-KSFY) listeners, and gets Watertown a byline that makes the international press. Obama comes tonight to the Sioux Falls Arena and takes a swing at drawing a bigger crowd than the Canaries, who play the Birdcage tonight and whose fans will be competing with politicos for parking spots around the Arena.

Clinton quit now? No way! Let's ride this primary season right through to June 3. When's the last time South Dakotans have gotten this many opportunities to meet the presidential candidates and host campaign stops that make the news? Heck, if nothing else, all these visits from big-spending campaigns and reporters will do wonders for our sales tax revenues.

For local political excitement, the KJAM presidential poll rolls along. Current figures:

Obama and McCain have switched places since Saturday, and Clinton has picked up support. If you haven't voted -- heck, even if you already have! -- head over to KJAM and click on your fave!

But before you go, don't forget to pcik your favorite Republicans in the Madville Times polls in the right sidebar here. U.S. Senate candidate Sam Kephart jumped out to an early lead, but Joel Dykstra is catching up (come on, Gonyo supporters, let's see that surge!). Rod Goeman enjoyed a similar early jump in the county poll, but his challengers are starting to catch up.

Local Economy: Gardening, Sure, But Washing Machines?

A reader e-mails me a very good question related to Wednesday's potpourri that mentioned the connection between fuel prices and the rising feasibility of local agriculture:

The quote "But their economies of scale come from mass distribution, and with diesel fuel costing more than $4 per gallon in many locations, it's no longer efficient to transport food 1,500 miles from where it's grown [Dan Barber, "Change We Can Stomach," New York Times, 2008.05.11].

Beside food, what other consumable or hard goods would be affected?  At what price of fuel would a washing machine made in Amana, IA be cost competitive with one made in Hermosilla? [reader e-mail, 2008.05.15]

I offer the following reply:

------------------
Indeed: growing food for one's community is a different economic endeavor from building all the washing machines, Toyotas, and 747s one's community might need. I look around at my small prairie town (population 6,500) and wonder where I'd get my lumber, bicycles, and computers if we had to produce everything ourselves.

Have you ever heard of Kirkpatrick Sale? He wrote a book in 1980 called Human Scale. I don't hear much reference to it, which makes me think either he's really full of bull or his ideas were good but too revolutionary to get traction (kind of like my presidential pick Dennis Kucinich). Anyway, he proposed that small communities could sustain themselves with local industrial production much more than we think. He proposed "microplants" that could manufacture all sorts of durable goods from local resources, both natural and recycled. (And believe me: when I see some farmers' junk piles around here, I realize there's a lot of material we could recycle.)

Madison, my hometown, does have factories that produce forklifts and skidsteers, plastic fencing and snowmobile parts, and even custom homes. I'd like to think with a little ingenuity, our hardhats and eggheads could retool that machinery to make other useful products for the local market. Unfortunately, I'm neither an engineer nor an economist, so that's more hope than concrete plan.

Do you have any experience with these manufacturing questions? To what extent do you think we are dependent on the global trade/resource network? Do you think there's any hope for smaller-scale economy and self-sufficiency, if not on the local scale, then at least on a regional scale?
------------------------

It occurs to me that even our Hutterite colonies, perhaps the most diligent pursuers of self-sufficiency on the prairie, still aren't building their own Chevy vans for bringing the ladies to town to shop. I don't know how far we could or should push self-sufficiency. But as energy prices increase (at least until someone invents Fusion-in-a-Can!), more elements of the economy that rely on cheap long-distance transportation will become unsustainable. We may get to the point where "growing our own" is cheaper not just for corn and tomatoes but for shoes and bicycles. And you know, restoring some of those skilled manufacturing jobs to our turf, jobs where people actually make something other than phone calls, might be just what our culture needs.

Wind Power Better Deal Than Pipelines for Landowners... Barely

A reader sends me a Bloomberg News article via the Houston Chronicle about billionaire T. Boone Pickens's effort to expand wind power in Texas. $10 billion, 667 wind turbines, 4,000 megawatts -- enough juice for 1.2 million homes. Uff da -- and I thought 34 wind turbines out by Wessington Springs was a big deal.

The article concludes with a note on how Pickens's company, Mesa Power, is going about acquiring the land for the transmission lines this project requires:

Mesa has yet to obtain rights-of-way for a $2 billion power line that will deliver the wind-farm's output to the Texas power grid, Pickens said an interview on CNBC. The farm will be constructed on leased property in Carson, Gray, Hemphill, Roberts and Wheeler counties, where landowners will receive annual royalties, Mesa said.

"We've had a great response to this project," Pickens said in the statement. "Landowners and local officials understand the economic benefits" ["Pickens' Panhandle Wind Project Orders 667 Turbines," Bloomberg News via Houston Chronicle, 2008.05.15].

What's that? Leasing the land rather than seeking a permanent easement? Paying landowners annual royalties for the privilege of crossing their land rather than just a couple paltry up-front payments for crop losses? Why couldn't TransCanada have offerd annual payments and lease agreements to South Dakota's landowners along the Keystone pipeline route?

I am dismayed to read that Pickens can be as much of a corporate socialist as TransCanada: evidently Pickens is willing to rely on eminent domain to promote a sneaky-sounding water project that's connected with this wind project.

But at least on wind power, he's willing to offer the landowners who will make his profits possible an annual piece of the action. Whether it's power lines or pipelines, the landowners along the route are giving up for good their rights to use that land as they see fit; they deserve ongoing payments for as long as that infrastructure intrudes on their land and livelihood. It's too bad our new corporate neighbors at TransCanada don't think so.

Farm Bill -- Still Plenty of Corporate Welfare

It's always nice to see some South Dakota conservatives and liberals finding common ground. Lake County organic farmer and ag activist Charlie Johnson submitted the following comment to Rick Knobe's Viewpoint University the other day:

I wonder if you share my opinion that the 2007 (or better put) 2008 Farm Bill is a legislative vehicle for personal greed not good policy.

Also I'm sure that you agree, we don't need to be developing a "means test" for receiving farm payments. Just implement a hard cap that no individual will receive assistance beyond the cap regardless of how large they want to get. Or if you can't swallow that, just eliminate the subsidies. When farmers and farm groups lobby from a position of greed rather than focus on issues like beginning farmer, nutrition, conservation, credit policy, the only people they continue to convince (or fool) is themselves.

Charlie tells me that Rick Knobe, a good conservative, agreed. Charlie also notes that the Center for Rural Affairs would like to see this farm bill vetoed. (See CFA's Dan Owens on what happened when President Eisenhower vetoed the 1956 farm bill.)

Both Obama and Clinton support the pending farm bill: Obama says "The bill is far from perfect, but with so much at stake, we cannot make the perfect the enemy of the good." Clinton takes the same line and chides McCain and Bush for wanting the bill vetoed.

Is a rotten farm bill better than no farm bill? Obama supporter Dennis Wiese spouts the corporate line that subsidies to rich farmers are good for small-town economies and suggests that Obama "would not believe that the funds that have been spent have been wasted." The compromise necessary to crank out a politically viable farm bill producing more handouts for the rich ag-industrial interests, which Professor Schaff helpfully enumerates. Ugh. It reminds me how much I miss Dennis Kucinich, who, by the way, showed his unflagging support of the little guy by voting against the farm bill.

School Enrollment Declining? Recruit Foreign Exchange Students!

Need students for your school? Import students from overseas!

Why didn't we think of this sooner? Mayor Munsterman of Brookings directs our attention to the Wausa, Nebraska, school district, where Superintendent Bob Marks decided to tackle declining enrollment by recruiting foreign exchange students. The plan brought eight students to Wausa this school year -- a pretty big deal in a high school whose total enrollment is 88.

The idea of recruiting foreign exchange students to raise enrollment follows the logic of a program I learned about last summer at the Meadowlark Project conversation here in Madison. Evidently Manitoba -- one of Canada's rural prairie provinces, with demographics much like South Dakota's -- has engaged in an aggressive campaign to recruit immigrants to replace its out-migrating rural populations and keep small towns alive.

Immigration built South Dakota -- immigration could be what keeps our schools and towns alive.

Judge OKs Eminent Domain for TransCanada Profits

My heart sinks to hear on SDPB (and read on KELO) that Judge Jack Von Wald has approved TransCanada's use of eminent domain to claim South Dakota land for the Keystone pipeline:

Judge Jack Von Wald says the Canadian firm has proved that the pipeline is a public use, citing increased demand for oil in the U.S.

He further ruled that TransCanada did not engage in fraud or bad faith in dealings with landowners ["Judge Favors Eminent Domain for Pipeline," AP via KELO, 2008.05.15].

Evidently "public use" now means "making money off something people want to buy a lot of." Expect Apple to show up soon to eminent domain land for an iPod factory.

Scott Waltman gives more details of the ruling in the Aberdeen American News. Judge Von Wald finds that TransCanada is a "common carrier," and the Supreme Court gives "great latitude" to businesses (apparently even foreign businesses) to condemn land.

We see here a continuation of the dangerous precedent set in Kelo v. New London (2005) , in which the U.S. Supreme Court held that local governments can use eminent domain for economic development purposes. Judge Von Wald's decision appears to uphold the idea that if someone can make money off your land, you're S.O.L. if you want to keep your land to yourself. Your property rights end where Big Oil's -- Big Foreign Oil's -- desire for profit begins.

Trials to determine the value of the easements begin June 9. My condolences to Marshall County and other landowners along the coming petrochemical superhighway through our farms and wetlands.

Obama's Christian Pitch: Yes, Jon, I Get It...

Dr. Schaff at South Dakota Politics offers a clever post on Obama's blatant marketing to Christian voters in his Kentucky literature. Given my own complaints about the conflation of piety and patriotism, I can only say, Touché.

Well, actually, I can say a little more. If I were running for office and I could Google "Heidelberger is a Muslim" and get 130,000 links, and if that misperception (fueled in part by my main opponent) were dragging down my poll numbers, I might feel the need to set the record straight as well and do so in a way that says what my actual worldview motivates me to do

And were I running for office and 85% of my voters claimed Christianity as their motivating worldview, I'd probably say something just like what Obama said, something in their language that reminds them that their faith is as much about work as Word.

Of course, were I running for office, as a good secular humanist, I'd have to cite my old friends Jim Casy and Tom Joad:

"Ever' place we stopped I seen it. Folks hungry for side-meat, an' when they get it, they ain't fed. An' when they'd get so hungry they couldn' stan' it no more, why, they'd ast me to pray for 'em, an' sometimes I done it." He clasped his hands around drawn-up knees and pulled his legs in. "I use ta think that'd cut 'er," he said. "Use ta rip off a prayer an' all the troubles'd stick to that prayer like flies on wallpaper, an' the prayer'd go a-sailin' off, a-takin' them troubles along. But it don' work no more."

Tom said, "Prayer never brought in no side-meat. Takes a shoat to bring in pork."

"Yeah," Casy said. "An' Almighty God never raised no wages."

[John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath, 1939, Chapter 20]

I do indeed wish that a fair portion of the electorate did not expect presidential candidates to pass some sort of religious muster. But if we must have that conversation, I can only hope Obama's contribution to that conversation will expand the discussion beyond the Focus on the Family distractions of gays and abortion and turn the discussion to a Christianity of community, not exclusion.

The Feminist Choice II: NARAL Endorses Obama

Ladies backing Obama: NARAL Pro-Choice America endorses Obama. Says NARAL Pres. Nancy Keenan:

Sen. Obama has been a strong advocate for a woman's right to choose throughout his career in public service. Since joining the Senate in 2005, he has worked to unite Americans on both sides of this debate behind commonsense, common-ground ways to prevent unintended pregnancy. He supports legislation to provide our teens with comprehensive sex education, prevent pharmacies from denying women access to their legal birth-control prescriptions, and increase access for family-planning services.

Sen. Obama has said, "A woman's ability to decide how many children to have and when, without interference from the government, is one of the most fundamental rights we possess. It is not just an issue of choice, but equality and opportunity for all women" [Nancy Keenan, "Why NARAL Pro-Choice America Endorsed Barack Obama," Huffington Post, 2008.05.14].

Back at the Clinton ranch, NARAL New York has declined to sign on to the national office's endorsement of Obama, declaring it "premature." Thank you, NARAL-NY, for standing up South Dakota's voting rights. ;-)

Lawsuit Against Hyperion CEO Huddleston Makes Sioux City Paper

Dave Dreeszen of the Sioux City Journal gives the lawsuit against Hyperion CEO Albert Huddleston and his wife Mary some welcome mainstream media attention:

Trustees for the Hunt family trust denied a request from Albert Huddleston and his wife, Mary, to spend trust funds on a proposed oil refinery in Union County, S.D., a lawyer for one of the trustees said Tuesday.

The trustee, Miro Vranac Jr., thought it was a "dumb idea,'' to use the funds for such a speculative project, said Vranac's attorney, Bill Brewer of Dallas.

"Mr. Vranac's take on it was it was not the type of operation the trust should be investing in,'' Brewer said [Dave Dreeszen, "Lawsuit: Hyperion CEO, Wife Misused Trust Funds," Sioux City Journal, 2008.05.14].

I'd be curious to hear Vranac's opinion of using federal funds to guarantee loans for such a speculative project.

Unless I've missed something, still not a whisper of the story from the big South Dakota media, just the blogs.

Update 13:49 CDT: Gripe and ye shall receive: that Sioux Falls paper posts Dreeszen's report on the Huddleston lawsuit, as of 45 minutes ago.

Potpourri: Food Prices, Family Farms, Norwegian Wind Power

--I hear on the Marketplace Morning Report on SDPB today that the Labor Department has released Consumer Price Index figures for April: just a 0.2% increase. Food is more expensive (0.9% April increase), but cars are cheaper. Too bad I'm not hungry for a Chevy sandwich for lunch. The CPI also says energy prices actually stayed flat in April... but real weekly earnings, adjusted for inflation, dropped 0.5%.

--CPI be darned, you know your grocery and gas bills are going up. New York chef Dan Barber writes in the New York Times that those rising prices may bring the next great agricultural revolution away from the petro-industrial ag complex back to real family farms and small-scale agriculture:

In fact, small farms are the most productive on earth. A four-acre farm in the United States nets, on average, $1,400 per acre; a 1,364-acre farm nets $39 an acre. Big farms have long compensated for the disequilibrium with sheer quantity. But their economies of scale come from mass distribution, and with diesel fuel costing more than $4 per gallon in many locations, it’s no longer efficient to transport food 1,500 miles from where it’s grown [Dan Barber, "Change We Can Stomach," New York Times, 2008.05.11].

And food from small farms and gardens tastes better, too!

--Maybe small-scale production is the way to go for energy as well as food. Those crafty Norwegians have figured out a way to use wind power when the wind isn't blowing. It sounds like an Ole and Lena joke, but the Norwegians are doing it on the island of Utsira in the North Sea. The trick: use surplus wind power to make hydrogen from water, compress the hydrogen, then use it for backup power when the wind dies down. A pilot project right now produces enough hydrogen to power 10 homes for two windless days. Sounds like a heck of a system! You tell me: when's the last time South Dakota had more than two days in a row without wind?

Rounds Responds on Unwanted Pregnancies

SDPB reports this morning that Governor Rounds has indeed responded to a coalition of nine organizations on the issue of unintended pregnancies. Last month, Democracy in Action, Planned Parenthood, the South Dakota Advocacy Network for Women, and others sent the governor a letter asking him to take steps to reduce abortion by reducing unintended pregancies.

SDPB describes a typical Roundsian response about all the good things already happening in that direction in South Dakota. Kevin Woster at the Rapid City Journal puts the numbers in print: The governor says the rate of unplanned pregnancies in South Dakota has already dropped from 52.9% in 1997 to 37.2% in 2006. The number of abortions per year dropped during the ame period from 919 to 748. Abortion and teen pregnancy rates are well below national norms. The number of abortions The governor does note that the overall birth rate in South Dakota is increasing and that the South Dakota State Medical Association is considering studying unintended pregnancy.

The Rapid City Journal notes that Governor's letter was dated April 30. In his letter, he suggested that criticism of the state's efforts on women's health are really an attempt to generate opposition to the abortion ban on the November ballot (gee, ya think?). Said the governor in a phone interview Monday, "If they want to step in and help on the pregnancy issue, great.... But if this is simply a spin on the campaign to eliminate abortion in the state, I don't think their spin is going to work" [Kevin Woster, "Gov. Rounds Disappoints Women's Groups on Unintended Pregnancy Issues," Rapid City Journal, 2008.05.13]

The women's groups say the governor isn't doing enough. The governor says the status quo is working. And on we go....

p.s.: Reason ponders South Dakota's retread abortion initiative as an example in the context of a broader discussion of the Constitution and individual rights. Closing quote:

So before we get too misty over the will of the people of South Dakota, let's remember that James Madison warned us about the tyranny of the majority, not the tyranny of unfettered individual liberty [Damon W. Root, "Liberty for All," Reason Magazine, 2008.05.05].

KJAM: Obama Supports Rural America

Rapid City Journal: and so does Clinton....

I saw the KJAM headline -- "Obama Supports Rural America" -- and thought I was reading my own blog. But nope, this was our paid local media, KJAM, posting what looked like a pro-Obama editorial. Actually, there's not a lot of boosterism, just a note on ag booster (and former Madisonian) Dallas Tonsager's support for Senator Obama. Tonsager and Dennis Wiese spoke at a forum Monday night in Rapid City to discuss Obama's ag policies. Both Tonsager and Wiese are former presidents of the South Dakota Farmer's Union; Tonsager also served as the USDA's South Dakota Director of Rural Development in the Clinton Administration. Both men are now ag policy advisors to the Obama campaign.

Of course, as Kevin Woster notes, there's not much difference between Obama and Clinton on ag policy:

Like Clinton, Obama supports the development of a permanent disaster-assistance program rather than the ad-hoc programs that critiques say can come too little too late, if at all. Both candidates also support the implementation of mandatory country-of-origin labeling on meat products, more aggressive development of alternative energy supplies, including corn-based ethanol as well as ethanol developed from other natural materials.

Clinton and Obama agree that farm payments should be targeted at family farms rather than large farm corporations, although Wiese said even payments to large farms have benefited rural economies.

“He (Obama) would not believe that the funds that have been spent have been wasted,” Wiese said [Kevin Woster, "Obama Campaign Reaches out to Rural South Dakota: Clinton Offers Similar Agriculture Agenda," Rapid City Journal, 2008.05.12].

So again, not much difference on substantive policy between Obama and Clinton... but, Dennis, Dennis, Dennis: maybe you had some big ranch operators in the audience, but did you really have to defend welfare for rich farmers? You don't help Obama by sounding like a Republican....

Update: But again, don't take my word for it. Read Obama's rural issues brief, then Clinton's rural agenda.

Local Poll: Obama Up; Now for GOP

I've just wrapped up the first of my Madville Times Presidential polls. With 37 readers weighing in (meaning a margin of error of a good 120 points!), Senator Obama outpaces Senator Clinton in the South Dakota primary 59% to 38%. But Dems of most stripes can take heart: both Obama and Clinton beat McCain. Out of 48 voters (again, love the margin of error), Clinton beats McCain 44% to 33%, while out of 46 voters, Obama beats McCain 59% to 28%. There were only a couple undecideds.

Perhaps interestingly, the Clinton-McCain matchup must draw the Naderites and Barr-Paul voters out of their chairs: 17% said they'd pick someone else, while only 2% would stay home and not vote. The Obama-McCain matchup drew just 2% in the "someone else" column; 7% said they'd stay home.

Naturally, I expect Senator Obama will want to swing through Lake County on his trip from Watertown to Sioux Falls to thank the Madville Times for such good press... ;-)

I'll refresh the Dem poll next week -- but now it's time for some specifically Republican fun. In the right sidebar, you'll see two new polls: one for Lake County GOP voters to pick their faves for the County Commission race, one for all of my SD GOP readers to pick their man for the US Senate race against Tim Johnson. Remember: County Commission voters get to pick up to three out of the five. I'll leave those polls up through Sunday, then report Monday on the results.

So hey, GOP readers! Vote now, and tell your friends! Show those darn Dems that you can generate some electoral excitement too!

McGovern Urges Obama-Clinton Unity Tour

George McGovern is in the New York Times today urging Senators Clinton and Obama to go on the road together for the rest of the primary season:

After today’s vote in West Virginia, the two candidates should agree to make joint visits to the sites of the five remaining primaries (in Kentucky, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Montana and South Dakota).

During these visits, Senators Clinton and Obama should agree not to criticize each other. They would simply state what each would do if elected president. They would also point out why President Bush’s policies have failed and why they would continue to fail under John McCain [George McGovern, "A Two-for-One Campaign," New York Times, 2008.05.13].

McGovern is trying to turn his fellow Dems' attention away from closing the deal and Hail Mary passes. Perhaps sensing that they've got McCain licked, he suggests Clinton and Obama turn their energies attention toward another big prize, victories at the state and local level:

After each candidate speaks for 15 minutes or so, they would then be taken to a reception where citizens paying $50 a ticket would mingle with the two candidates. The money raised would go to the state Democratic Party to assist local and state candidates in the fall elections [McGovern, 2008.05.13].

McGovern reminds us that he has endorsed Obama and is now working for the Obama campaign, but he doesn't use his op-ed platform to lob slushballs at his erstwhile pick. His focus is conciliation and turning all this primary energy into a Dem landslide straight down the ticket in November.

At this point, getting Clinton and Obama supporters together at the same events might be a darn good idea. It would remind us that we may differ on the person we want to lead the fight, but that we share the goals of that fight. And building the base is one of the most important political goals we can work toward.

Hyperion CEO Huddleston: "Always Unsuccessful"

Union County voters considering the approval of rezoning for the oil refinery Hyperion has proposed to build north of Elk Point might want to pay attention to Todd Epp's reports at SD Watch on the lawsuit against Hyperion CEO Albert Huddleston by Hunt family trustee Miro Vranac, Jr. Vranac was chief financial officer of Legacy Investments, the firm in charge of the Bunker-Hunt family trust, until he was fired April 17 by Mary Huddleston, Albert's wife and a granddaughter of oil baron H.L. Hunt. Vranac, still a trustee of the fund, says he was fired as part of the Huddlestons' effort to get him to step aside as a trustee.

Epp brought the story to us Saturday and noted the local corporate media haven't seen fit to discuss legal action against the CEO of perhaps the biggest