Obama First in South Dakota Again

Senator Obama makes one more move that suggests he is the South Dakota candidate: as Obama-devoté SD Watch notes, Obama beats Senator Clinton to the punch on opening a campaign office in South Dakota. The Obama for America Sioux Falls office holds its grand opening tomorrow afternoon, 1 p.m., 3314 S. Valley View Road, in the old Appletree Daycare building just off 41st.

No word yet on when Clinton will decide South Dakota is worth her time. Her web jockeys haven't even decided a virtual presence is worth the effort. While the Obama campaign is taking advantage of local organizers to post local events to the Barack-SD page, the Clinton website offers this single page of bland, non-specific text (click image to enlarge):


...which is the exact template used for her Montana page (click image to enlarge):


Clinton has been to Montana, and she hasn't even updated the page. Obama's Montana page at least has the press from the big Mansfield-Metcalf dinner in Butte last week, plus a link to photos of the event from a local campaign blogger.

There may not be much difference between Obama and Clinton on policy (which for my friends from the radical right means Obama and Clinton are both heck-bent on destroying Christianity, America, and the free market), but in terms of management style, Obama is again demonstrating a broader, longer perspective than Clinton's less organized campaign operation, which seems at every turn to be saying, "Big states only; small states at the last minute, and only if we have to."

So now the only question is: when's the man himself coming to South Dakota? How about May 16-18, South Dakota's Free Fishing and State Parks Weekend? The campaign could save money by getting into the parks for free and catching walleye for supper. Obama in waders holding up a stringer of walleye -- boom! That's an automatic ten-point boost for Obama in the South Dakota vote!