Internal Johnson Poll: McCain 45, Obama 40

...and Joel who?

Marc Ambinder at the Atlantic gets hold of an internal poll from Senator Tim Johnson's campaign (papers do just float about in funny ways, don't they?). You can read the full document here (Word format). Highlights from the 613 likely South Dakota voters surveyed Monday and Tuesday of this week:

• McCain leads Obama 45% to 40%. (Bush beat Kerry in SD in 2004 60% to 38%.)
  
• The sample included 41% self-identifying Republicans, 35% Democrats, and 24% Independents. Should boost McCain's numbers.
  
• The sample could be said to skew older (though that depends on your definition of old): 41% over 55, 32% under 40. Should boost McCain's numbers
• The sample skewed educated: 44% college graduates, 27% with only HS diploma or less. Should boost Obama's numbers.

Laugh line of the poll: Joel Dykstra has a lower favorability rating in South Dakota than Barack Obama... and one week before the election, 42% of respondents still say they have never heard of Dykstra. (3% say they've never heard of Senator Tim Johnson... who are you people?)

The GOP presidential nominee winning South Dakota by 5 points, against a black Democrat who came in second in the South Dakota primary. The GOP Senate candidate still unknown to 2 out of 5 likely South Dakota voters. If there's any truth to Johnson's numbers, heads are gonna roll at GOP campaign headquarters....

Dykstra Visits Aberdeen; KELO Coverage Nil

So Joel Dykstra takes the Madville Times' advice and does some serious campaigning in Aberdeen... although you'd never know it from the KELO coverage. "Dykstra Visits Voters in Aberdeen," says KELO's Northern Tier correspondent Erich Schaffhauser in his headline. And that's the only substantive thing he reports about what Dykstra did.

Schaffhauser reports Dykstra held a town hall meeting for voters in Aberdeen Monday. "As Dykstra talked with voters in the Hub City, voters shared concerns about problems they say need some fixing."

What are those problems? The reporter quotes one voter's general assessment that the economy is in the tank (well, just "kind of in the tank," so perhaps we ought not worry so much). Another says vets should "be treated treated as a number one citizen," such as when... oh, wait, the reporter doesn't give any examples (like this?). The only comment from Dykstra in the whole report is something about how he'll catch heck from his wife if he conforms to Washington and forgets about South Dakota.

I assume the town hall ran for at least an hour. Are you telling me, Mr. Schaffhauser, that in that whole time, Dykstra said nothing specific about any policy that you found newsworthy? He didn't lay out a single new idea for his vision for South Dakota and for the federal government?

Uff da. Even I can't believe a Dykstra event would be that devoid of content. Fire up, Erich! Give us more to work with!

John McCain, Meet Joel Dykstra... at the Losers' Party!

("He"? both of 'em!)

"Poll: Dykstra within striking distance of Johnson"

—Pat Powers, 2008.10.09, describing the 54%-36% gap between Senator Tim Johnson and hapless GOP challenger Joel Dykstra.

"well within striking distance"

—Steve Schmidt, McCain's chief strategist, 2008.10.13, describing where McCain's campaign currently stands against Obama's.

"...and the Lions are within striking distance of winning the Super Bowl"

—CA Heidelberger, 2008.10.09, commenting on Dakota War College.

Attorney General Long to Address South Dakota Right to Life

Attorney General Larry Long is speaking this Saturday at the South Dakota Right to Life Convention (PDF alert!) in Aberdeen. He'll be speaking in the afternoon on "Roe v. Wade: 35 Years Later." I'm sure as an objective public servant, he will elaborate for them on why Initiated Measure 11 stands a fair chance of being found unconstitutional (and no, it's not because of secular humanists controlling the courts).

Also on the program: Rep. Joel Dykstra spends part of his morning campaigning in front of a room full of people whose votes he's already secured. 26 days left, Joel—maybe ought to work on the other 60% of the electorate.

Politicians Parade, Pitch Pops, Pencils, Platforms!

Madison's Main Street enjoyed its highest politico-population density rating of the year Saturday morning, as all sorts of candidates found their way to town for Dakota State University's "Trojan Days" homecoming parade (Trojans—you know, those bad dudes in the Iliad!).

Below are some photos of some local and visiting pols who marched Main Street. We had great marching bands, too—for video of the mighty Bulldog band plus musicians from Chester, Howard, and other area schools, see musical coverage at RealMadison.org.

Mom Power! Democratic District 8 Senate candidate Scott Parsley smiles and shows off his secret campaign weapon: his mother Mary! Behind them, Lake County Democratic Party chair Joan Stamm is also smiling, thanks to all the donations pouring into the Dems' cash box. (Look out, GOP—we're catching up!)

Democratic District 8 House veteran and candidate Gerry Lange has the Lake Herman blog vote locked down; can the rest of District 8 be far behind?

Here's Dan Bohl, city commissioner, new blogger, and candidate for Lake County Commissioner, making sure no child is left without high blood sugar. (Note also the cool Lego float by the Madison Community Hospital!)

Hotfoot GOP Senate candidate Joel Dykstra either ran out of candy or doesn't want to get caught in front of the new Lake County Democrat headquarters.

DSU Foundation President and Lake County Commission candidate Chris Giles—maybe at parades, we need to call them candy-dates...

Here's Colman-Egan English teacher Val Parsley, working the crowd for her husband Scott and few of our other favorite Dems. (And yes, kids, your homework is still due Monday morning.)

Matt McLarty, Democratic candidate for the Public Utilities Commission—when even the PUC candidate makes time for the parade, you know he's serious!

Mad about Madison— Democratic District 8 House candidate Mitch Fargen is having a great time at the parade (and he's going knocking on doors afterward!).

My favorite zoning officer, Deb Reinicke, isn't running for anything... She just looks really cool on that bike. You sure you want to make a fuss about that building permit, tough guy?

Republican District 8 House candidate Patricia Stricherz and her husband march the parade route. They're both Army—this Main Street march ain't nothin' for vets like them!

GOP District 8 Senate candidate Russell Olson stops by Dems HQ for some opposition research....

Hey! Jerry Johnson (GOP D-8 House candidate)! Toss some candy this way! (I know, I sound like a typical liberal, expecting treats from government... but those Tootsie Rolls are good!)

I know, it's not much better than that famous Roger Patterson film of Bigfoot, but really, off in the distance, that's the missing half of Chris Lien's face! (Inset: the Lien Machine!)

No politician here... but it's nice to see the automatic pilot from Airplane! has found a new career at East River.

Hey, there's Robb Graham's 160-mpg hybrid. (His mileage is improving!) But if you think that's impressive...

Now that's a hybrid! The engineer who came up with this idea should run for office! ;-)

Dakotafest Debate News Features Interesting Klumb-p of Commenters

I noticed a familiar name popping up in more than one news report on Wednesday's Dakotafest political sideshows:

For some in attendance at the debate...Johnson’s absence became the headline.

Mark Klumb, Voter from Mitchell "Well I think it's disappointing. Like Joel said, you don't get both sides of the issue" [Stacy Steinhagen, "The Debate About the Debate," KDLT.com, 2008.08.20].

(Stacy fails to point out that Mark Klumb has served as treasurer of the Davison County GOP.)
---------

Anessa Klumb of Mitchell said she's supporting Dykstra and believes the candidates should meet.

"I think it's rather sad," she said. "If he can't talk to us, he can't talk for us" [Carson Walker, "Dykstra Uses Dakotafest to Press Johnson to Debate," AP via Rocky Mountain News, 2008.08.20].

Walker must have thought Anessa Klumb was a great source, since he used her in his report on the Herseth-Lien debate as well.
---------

My name is Joshua Klumb. I’m Joel’s driver and assistant when we’re traveling around South Dakota.

---------
O.K., that last quote isn't from Dakotafest coverage; its from Joel Dykstra's campaign blog ["The Long Road Ahead," 2008.07.01].

Klumb, Klumb, Klumb... quite a coinky-dink, don't you think?

Oh, wait:

Mark and his wife Becky have six children: Joshua, Anessa, Mariah, Natasha, Micah, and Jeremiah, all of which were home schooled [bio of Mark Klumb, board member, South Dakota Corn Growers Association].

Well, it's nice to know the Dykstra campaign is a family affair.

Joel (and Larry) Dykstra, Call Jon Hunter...

Just ten weeks from Election Day, the Joel Dykstra campaign is still fighting for name recognition... from the press. Two days in a row, the Madison Daily Leader refers to the GOP U.S. Senate candidate as Larry Dykstra. In Wednesday's print MDL, a line at the end of the Herseth Sandlin–Lien headline article refers readers to "a story on Tim Johnson and Larry Dykstra" on page 3. In Thursday's print edition, "Larry Dykstra" appears in a front-page headline (over an AP story that correcetly identifies the candidate as Joel).

Boy, if Jon Hunter's paper really is a "glory and praise pamphlet for Republican policy,"* you'd think it would also get the Republicans' names right. Or are we just harkening back to the golden days of Larry Pressler's gentle Senatorship?

*David Kranz, "S.D. Voters Lose When Pressler, Muenster Debate Campaign Purity," Argus Leader, 1990.04.18; cited in Jon Lauck, Daschle vs. Thune: Anatomy of a High-Plains Senate Race, University of Oklahoma: Norman, OK, 2007, p. 117.

Tim Johnson Adds Campaign Blog

Last month when I reviewed the campaign blogs of some of our statewide candidates, I noted the absence of a Tim Johnson campaign blog. Well, Senator Johnson has apparently decided that paying someone to blog all of his press releases isn't enough: the Senator has joined the fray with some original blogging of his own. Yes, the Tim Johnson campaign blog is up and running at DemocratSenators.org.

Johnson's blog has just five posts as of this morning, but that's five posts in one week since the first post on August 12. Compare that to the relatively paltry offerings from the other campaign blogs over the past four weeks—1.5/week from his opponent Joel Dykstra, 2.5/week from Herseth Sandlin's three staffers, and 2.3/week from Chris Lien and the trusty "Campaign Mike." Johnson may not be up for a live debate, but given his fast start out of the blog gate, maybe an extended online debate between Johnson and Dykstra would work....

Johnson gets the same stamp of approval for authenticity that I give Dykstra's blog. All of Johnson's posts are first-person accounts of his campaign travels around the state. Johnson soft-pedals the issues and avoids mentioning his opponent, couching any nods to specific policy topics in gentle, folksy language about how nice it is to be in Lincoln County/Brown County/the Black Hills again. Compare that typical front-runner language with the more issue-oriented, confrontational posts of challenger Dykstra. The challenger has to keep throwing punches, while the incumbent just needs to stay out of reach and on his feet until the final bell to win on points.

Like the other big campaign blogs, Johnson's allows comments. You have to sign up for an account, and the comments are moderated, but it's still better than nothing. (Just think: some campaign websites don't incorporate any citizen input. Talk about living in the 1990s!)

Now in my dream world, all the campaign blogs take off. Candidates use blogs and other online tools to maintain regular communication and interaction with voters, and those of us who are interested can aggregate their RSS feeds into fun and informative streaming campaign updates. The more information and direct contact citizens have with their candidates, the better.

But the real boost for democracy will be when the winners of the election continue their blogs after they are sworn in. Blogging from the campaign trail is fine, but I want to read Tim (and John, too—Jon, tell your boss!) blogging live (and taking unmoderated comments) from the Senate floor. Now that would be cool!

Dykstra-Johnson-VideoDebate.com -- A Web 2.0 Debate Proposal

Senator Tim Johnson contends that the public debate yardstick would not "accurately reflect my capabilities." And that may be true. His less-than-100% public speaking ability may fail to demonstrate that his intellect and values still make him a better representative than State Senator Dykstra of South Dakota's interests. But it then behooves the Senator to offer us another yardstick to replace the one we usually rely on to compare and contrast the candidates, side by side.

If not a live public debate, how about an ongoing debate by video blog? Have KELO and the Rapid City Journal post 20 questions on a dedicated blog for Johnson and Dykstra. Johnson gets first response on half, Dysktra gets first response on the other half. They videotape their initial responses—no fancy graphics or editing, no background music, no other speakers, just each candidate in front of a plain background, speaking directly to us. Each candidate posts the response to YouTube and embeds the video in the debate blog. The candidates then proceed to record and post responses and rebuttals. A general schedule:

• September 15: First ten responses.
• October 1: Second batch of responses.
• October 11: First ten rebuttals.
• October 21: Second batch of rebuttals.
• November 1: Closing statements.

That's just a minimal outline; the candidates can add as much else to the video blog debate as they want. They could post their own questions to each other. The debate can include ten questions submitted by e-mail (or YouTube!) by voters. The candidates can carry on their responses for as long as they like. They might give just brief answers and only one rebuttal or follow-up on some questions (they might actually agree on some things, you know). They might go back and forth with five or ten rebuttals on some other particularly provoking question.

KELO could compile and broadcast the clips. The Rapid City Journal could print transcripts. And the video debate blog would give us a valuable archive of the two men hashing out their principles and policy positions in something close to head-to-head interaction.

There: problem solved. Let's have that debate!

Debate Coach Blues: Senator Johnson Dodges Dykstra

Like Mr. Epp, I took a day to think about Senator Tim Johnson's announcement that he's not up to public debates with GOP challenger Joel Dykstra this year. I wondered if maybe I'd come up with a defensible rationale. But PP is right: Dems can try to spin it, but it's not going to work. I haven't come up with a good excuse, and neither has anyone else:

• Other politicians have dodged debates, so so can Johnson? Ask any five-year-old how well "Other kids were doing it!" floats with Mom.
• Dykstra hasn't "earned" the right to debate? Um, he put his hat in the ring. And what about the voters: what do they have to do to "earn" the right to a debate?
• Dykstra can't win anyway? To quote Captain Steven Hiller, "I ain't heard no fat lady!"
  

Instead of spinning, we Dems would do better to acknowledge and accept Senator Johnson's own honest explanation: he's just not recovered enough to make a public debate a fair fight.

And that statement opens the door for the honest question: If Senator Johnson cannot handle a public debate, is he the best candidate for the U.S. Senate?

Now I do have my bias, not political, but epistemological. I'm an old high school debater. I was a Madison Bulldog debater from 1987 to 1989. Since then, I've judged, coached, and taught debate and other speech activities. I've spent my whole adult life promoting the idea that we come to know what we know (that's epistemology) through civil discourse, through putting opposing ideas, theories, or policies side by side and testing them through debate.

It's like that fish example: a fish doesn't know its wet unless it jumps out of the water and experiences dry. You don't know you're a Republican until you meet some Dems and start talking policy. We learn through comparison and contrast.

Even I can acknowledge that public political debates as practiced in our culture are not perfect measures of candidates' intellect or chracter. Under the constraints of the clock and the media, they can devolve into name-calling and focus-grouped sound bites. There's even research that suggests viewers just want to see conflict and have their beliefs reinforced; give them an honest, civil discussion of policy differences, and many will just change the channel.

But debates are still important. Two candidates from opposing parties, occupying the same stage, answering the same questions, interacting with each other, represent the community-wide discussion we all should engage in at every election. Beyond that important symbolism, debates are the traditional practical yardstick we have developed to measure our candidates' abilities. Public debates do measure the ability of candidates to think on their feet, to marshal facts and figures from memory, and to defend their positions under pressure, all important abilities for a public official. To decline to debate is to deny the voters an opportunity to take that measure.

Sorry, Dems, but on this issue, we have to accept an unspinnable fact: Senator Johnson has conceded that Senator Dykstra can outperform him in one important skillset for a United States Senator: public speaking. Senator Johnson now needs to make the case that he can outperform Senator Dykstra in enough other areas to earn our ballot.

(But maybe we shouldn't worry: my anti-Obama commenters have been warning us all year that we shouldn't vote for the silveriest-tongued devil on the ballot. By that thinking, they should all be flocking to the Johnson camp.)

----------------------------------
Update 10:47 CDT: Lest you think I've been swayed by the hypnotic drumbeat of PP's non-stop Johnson announcement coverage, see the clear-eyed, level-headed Kevin Woster at Mount Blogmore, who says Johnson's decision to skip the debates is the smart thing, though not the right thing.

Mad Bombers for Dykstra?

Memo to Dykstra campaign staff: remember to take those campaign buttons and t-shirts off before you go to the airport. Here's a campaign graphic that won't make it past security:

New campaign graphic from the Joel Dykstra for Senate campaign website

Wow—now that's bang for the marketing buck!

If you think that's cool, contribute $100, and you get a genuine Taliban suicide bomber belt to break down the barriers of business as usual at your office. $1000 gets your kids the top bunk at the next big GOP madrassa.

Next up: Jimmie Walker joins the Dykstra campaign staff... and Dykstra announces new litmus test for Supreme Court nominees: must include TNT on list of arms covered by Second Amendment.

I'm joking, really... but again, campaign staffers, don't try that excuse with TSA at Joe Foss Field.

Dykstra, Lien, Herseth Sandlin Go 2.0 with Campaign Blogs

Perusing campaign websites tonight, I find that three of our four big statewide candidates—GOP Senate candidate Joel Dykstra and both contenders for South Dakota's lone House seat, the GOP's Chris Lien and Dem incumbent Stephanie Herseth Sandlin—have campaign blogs. Senator Tim Johnson has presences on MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, and Flickr, but the Dem incumbent still has no blog (or does he?)

So how do the three campaign blogs compare? The good stuff will come in the fall, when we see how (and if) the candidates can put their blogs to good use in the heat of the campaign. For now, let's give a few friendly summer awards:

First-Mover Advantage: Chris Lien by a nose: his first blog post is March 25 (ah, that thrilling petition filing deadline!). Dykstra followed with his first post on March 31. The Herseth Sandlin crew didn't start blogging until June 9, after we got those darn distracting Presidential primary candidates out of the way.

First-Person Advantage: Joel Dykstra gets my stamp of approval for authenticity. It appears (and I hope I'm not wrong about this) that all but one of the Dykstra campaign blog posts are written by Dykstra himself. And he actually says stuff! He lays out energy policy, responds to Senator Johnson... heck, Dykstra sounds downright bloggy in his post on the health care reform proposals of McCain, Obama, and Clinton. I may not agree with Dykstra, but at least I can read what I disagree with straight from him.

Lien started his blog with first-person posts, but he rarely managed more than a sentence or two about the latest campaign stop. Then "Campaign Mike" took over in May, and since then his voice (and image, for Pete's sake) have been crowding out that of the guy we're actually supposed to vote for. Oops.

Herseth Sandlin gets lowest marks here: not one post from the candidate herself. And no issues, either: the three staffers posting so far have just written about themselves and various campaign activities. Perhaps it is meant to be more of an organizational blog, one to help volunteers get information. That's fine—blogs can be used for different purposes. But if you want to hear what the candidates themselves have to say, Dykstra is the only one really filling that need.

Quantity Over Quality: Alas, Dykstra is writing the least of the blogging campaigners. The most prolific campaign blog is Herseth Sandlin's, averaging 2.1 posts per week so far. Lien is close, posting 1.86 times a week. Dykstra is well behind at 0.85 posts per week. We can give Dykstra some credit: he's not getting paid to generate content like the staffers driving the other blogs. But almost everyone (except this guy!) says one key to successful blogging is regular blogging.

Vox Populi: Everybody wins here: all three campaign blogs allow comments. But Chris Lien gets bonus points here: His blog posts comments automatically, without moderation! I admire a candidate who's willing to take the Web 2.0 plunge and trust his commenters.

Tech Choice: Stephanie Herseth Sandlin gets big love from me here. While Dykstra and Lien pay for Typepad services, Herseth Sandlin's people go for the free Google Blogger account, the same software that powers the Madville Times! Chuckle at free software if you want, but it gets the job done. (I haven't tried Typepad, so I welcome the assessment of Douglas and other Typepad users.)

I hope all three blogs will continue to expand their content and give South Dakotans another venue to air their views and discuss issues with the candidates directly. I also hope we'll see the candidates who win lead the way in continuing their blogs in office as key channels for citizen participation in government.

Gonyo Online: Pro-Life, But Anti-Abortion Ban

I learn from an ad in the Montrose Herald that Senate candidate Dr. Charles Gonyo has joined GOP competitors Sam Kephart and Joel Dykstra in getting his views out on the Internet.

Dr. Gonyo's website makes clear his main issue is illegal immigration. He lists some other priorities, but absent from this list is abortion legislation. Gonyo does mention his stance on abortion, but he says legislation on the issue isn't a priority:

I would believe in education and encouragement in lieu of anti-aborition laws at the present time, not because I favor abortion, but because I do not believe anti-abortion laws would improve the child care by American citizens. I will listen to others and keep an open-mind.

Interesting -- at least we have one Republican candidate with a sense of the proper role of government and the constitutinoal rights of women. (Kephart isn't quite there, while Dykstra... well, you know.)

Dr. Gonyo's print ad includes a toll-free number (1-866-339-0390) and an e-mail address (gonyoforsenate [at] yahoo.com), so those of you with questions can finally talk to the candidate directly. You can maybe ask him about his 2007 federal taxes, which he says in his print ad were $82,000 last year.