By Denise Ross

It’s rally week out here in the Black Hills. That means lots of motorcycles and a few meatheads. To wit:

(Photos by David Larson)

This was the scene earlier this week on Interstate 90 between Sturgis and Rapid City. This future Nobel Prize winner maintained this posture on the on-ramp, pictured here, and for a substantial time once he had entered traffic, where he kept pace with those of us traveling 70-75 mph. Mr. Hoghouse and I disagreed about the duration of his performance, with the minimum distance agreed on being 1 mile and the maximum being 3 miles. On a second bike, his traveling companion, of whom we did not get pictures, was able to perform this maneuver only intermittently. 

Here’s another in the series of photos Mr. Hoghouse was able to snap.

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By Denise Ross

(Photo courtesy of Rapid City Weekly News / Andy Jacobs)

Potential VP candidate Sen. John Thune, R-SD, strikes a pensive pose as GOP prez nominee John McCain answers questions from SD reporters aboard the Straight Talk Express bus on Monday.

I wasn’t on the bus, but Tom Lawrence of the RC Weekly News tells me that both Thune and McCain downplayed Thune’s VP prospects. However, they stopped short of outright laying them to rest, and traditionally the thwarted VP contender publicly falls on his/her own sword by saying they really don’t want the job and wouldn’t accept an invitation.

Thune stuck with his line that he’s not expecting an invitation and broadened it out to say he expects probably a governor would get the nod.

Likewise, McCain said he really couldn’t comment in depth. But he then went on to extoll Thune’s resume - solid conservative credentials, young and handsome.

Here’s how Kevin Woster of the RC Journal quoted McCain:

“Sen. Thune won one of the great races in recent history (over former Sen. Tom Daschle), one of the most hotly contested, and probably one of the most watched races in recent political history. … On a broad range of issues, he’s highly respected and highly regarded. And as I mentioned before, he is not ugly.”

We’re mere weeks away from knowing the answer, and Thune’s still in the mix. Whatever happens, that can’t be bad for Thune or for SD.

Bonus photo on the jump.

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By Denise Ross

If you’ve had your television on this week, you’ve seen the second ad from the re-election campaign of Sen. Tim Johnson, D-SD.

As I noted last week and another of my blogosphere colleagues noted this week, these ads seem to be raising questions with voters. Given that Johnson’s speech, as he recovers from a brain injury, remains thick, would it be better to pair these ads with debates or town hall meetings?

Steve Jarding and Co. have access to all the polling and focus group data, and I’ve no doubt they have a well thought-out plan. But you know what they say about the best laid plans.

Absent the continuing recovery, this would be a text-book campaign schedule - roll out the warm, fuzzy ads in August. Given the senator’s continuing recovery, these ads are getting attention from voters, just not the kind of attention they’re designed to - at least in some cases.

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By Denise Ross

My expected dispatch and photo from a friend aboard the Straight Talk Express with McCain and Thune on Monday must have hit a glitch in the matrix, so I started clicking around to see what I could find about John McCain and the vets who love him and those who love to hate him.

It’s one way to kill an entire evening. But I bring a summary of a few things to the Hoghouse after McCain rallied rally-goers at Sturgis Monday evening.

First, Democrats tried to counter McCain’s appeal to veterans by holding a press conference and issuing a press release listing their objections to his record on veterans’ benefits. Full press release on the jump (not for the faint of heart); here’s an excerpt:

Time and again in the U.S. Senate McCain has stood with President Bush, not our nation’s veterans, by under funding VA health care.  And now McCain says he wants to ration treatment for service members and veterans by providing health care only to soldiers injured in combat. 

Elsewhere, there are Vets For McCain, who - if you scroll down - stray into Grover Norquist and James Dobson territory. But they start out their list of why they back McCain with the need for a strong national defense.

And they post this video of McCain explaining a bit his position on the new GI bill.

Then there is/are Vietnam Veterans Against McCain, which Wonkette noted is really just “A Vietnam Veteran Against McCain.”

Then there’s McCain’s official campaign site’s section on veterans’ issues.

John McCain believes that America’s veterans who dedicated themselves to protecting our country deserve the highest quality health care. He is committed to ensuring that veterans’ health care programs receive the funding necessary to provide the quality health care our veterans need and deserve. He has worked to ensure that the Veteran’s Affairs provides care for all eligible veterans, no matter where they live or what they need. In addition, John McCain has fought to ensure that retired servicemen and women have meaningful access to affordable health care.

That does seem to run counter to what McCain said in this video, which was featured in the Dems’ press release Monday:

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By Denise Ross

You already know it was quite the scene at the Buffalo Chip east of Sturgis Monday night. If you haven’t had enough, here’s a roundup of coverage.

My favorite report so far was filed by Charles Michael Ray of South Dakota Public Radio. A biker used a pizza box to encourage women to reveal their, um, bossoms to show support for GOP presidential candidate John McCain and to reveal another anatomical feature to show support for Dem Barack Obama.

Listen here. You can also hear McCain encouraging his wife to enter the Miss Buffalo Chip contest, which begs the question of whether Sen. McCain fully grasped what that contest entails.

… essentially a topless beauty pageant. And occasionally bottomless, too.

My pal Kevin Woster at the RC Journal noted that McCain’s appearance lasted all of 7 minutes.

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By Denise Ross

I’d call it the biggest news to come off of Capitol Hill all year, but it’s not getting a ton of attention in the press. A bipartisan group of senators - 5 Dems and 5 Republicans - have set forth a compromise energy policy. (Details on the jump.)

The New Energy Reform Act literally has something for everybody - something for everybody to love and to hate - from the greenest enviros to the multi-million-dollar-salaried oil exec. Of course, those on either extreme are focusing on what they hate. Sigh.

The oil industry is warning that revoking its tax breaks could slow its production of new energy supplies.

AND FROM THE OTHER CORNER:

“This is Exxon’s drilling agenda wrapped in a veneer of other energy policies,” said Anna Aurilio, federal legislative director of the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.

Meanwhile, there seems to be a lot of reporting on what is essentially a stunt by House Republicans, who seem to be struggling with the notion that they no longer run the place.

Reps. Tom Price (R-Ga.) and Mike Pence (R-Ind.) led a spontaneous revolt to protest the Democrats’ decision to adjourn the House for the five-week August recess without giving the minority party a chance to speak out on rising gas prices. Even after Democrats turned off the lights and microphones, and with TV cameras shut down, Republicans kept talking and chanting, “Drill, drill, drill!” …

Two dozen Republicans kicked off their second day of protests with an array of sometimes inartful, off-topic or histrionic floor speeches ranging in topic from John Quincy Adams’ views on slavery to a shout-out to Moses. …

House Republicans were vowing to continue their talkathon on the floor “as long as it takes,” claiming they would continue their protest indefinitely if Pelosi does not allow a vote soon.

This makes news when we have real leadership and a substantive proposal coming out of the Senate. Double sigh.

Perhaps of most interest here in SD is that our own John Thune and a few other senators from ethanol states have shored up the standing of ethanol and other biofuels in the bill.

And it’s still just a bill, younger than Brad and Angelina’s twins. The Gang of 10 hopes to build support for their proposal during the August recess, then get a vote on Capitol Hill in September.

(Hey, Gang of 10, how about a website? That would make it easier to promote your cause, and it would make life easier on all us bloggers.)

In lieu of an official website, here’s my little summary of what’s been reported and released so far, followed by the full official press release from Sen. Thune:

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By Denise Ross

Former Sen. Tom Daschle, D-SD, has broken a long-running silence on his opinion of the federal investigation into the 2001 anthrax poisonings that struck his Senate office and several other places.

“From the very beginning I’ve had real concerns about the quality of the investigation,” Daschle said in a broadcast interview. “Given the fact that they already paid somebody else $5 million for the mistakes they must have made gives you some indication of the overall caliber and quality of the investigation.”

I recall accompanying Daschle on one of his drive-abouts in 2002 - it was the height of the Thune-Johnson Senate race, and the drums of war sounded on the horizon for Iraq - and somewhere near Kadoka we talked very briefly about the anthrax investigation. It seems it was about the time they had dredged up a pond somewhere near DC.

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By Denise Ross

Sure, Sen. Tim Johnson’s speech is thick and sometimes halting. We’ve gotten used to that, due largely to his campaign’s willingness to take the issue on directly and not try to pretend like everything’s A-OK on that front.

However, simply continuing to repeat the statement, “My speech isn’t 100 percent, but I’m getting better,” in scripted, controlled settings is not enough to deal with questions voters have - and believe me, they do have them - about his recovery from a brain injury.

Johnson needs to prove that his brain did not slow down with his speech - and believe me, his brain did not slow down. While I was reassuring  a concerned voter that his mental acumen remains intact, it dawned on me.

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By Denise Ross

Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, D-S.D., held a House subcommittee field hearing in Rapid City Monday. (I’m bringing up the rear on coverage, but I promise I have stuff you haven’t read elsewhere.)

(Photos by Denise)

Here was the scene. There’s Herseth Sandlin with the microphone. To her left is Rep. John Boozman (pronounced like the Montana city of Bozeman), R-Ark. On either side of the two congressionals are their lawyers. Seriously.

I post this photo simply to show that the Dems’ counsel also doubled as re-inforcement for the Cobbler banner, which kept falling down. This provided some amusement for spectators. I also was amused at the small Congressional seal that hung over the Cobbler banner. The stagecraft wasn’t the strongest. Whaddya gonna do?

So you probably read in Kevin Woster’s story that SHS blasted the DoD for blowing the hearing off. (That does seem pretty cavalier, no? )

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