By Denise Ross

I know that, technically, Dick Cheney hails from Wyoming - a hop and half-a-skip from the Hoghouse - but in my mind he lives in a parallel universe where it’s OK to ask, “So?” when confronted with some horrible outcome of your actions, a place where rationalizing and the torture of logic never goes out of style.

So when I saw this …  

… I had a bit of a start. There’s Cheney swearing in one of my senators. I guess that’s how it’s supposed to work; I just never thought about it before.

By the way, did they import some Deadwood madame from the late 19th century to select the draperies? Just sayin’.

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By Denise Ross

Woo-hoo! Something has been written on Daschle’s future as Health & Human Services Secretary that doesn’t dwell solely on his proposed Federal Health Board, frosted with a chortle about how the Federal Reserve hasn’t worked out so well for the economy as of late, dontchyakno.

ZDnet raises an interesting question over the computerization of health care records.

The real issue is the abuse of health information to deny coverage, jobs or advancement. The real issue is the value your health information has to people with an incentive to use it against you.

This creates a false choice between automation and liberty. If Daschle stands with automation, he stands against human rights. If he stands with PPR (advocacy group Patient Privacy Rights), he stands for Ludd.

(Ludd in this case a reference to Luddites.) 

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By Denise Ross

Looks like South Dakota’s own Tom Daschle will lead off the Obama cabinet confirmation parade with a hearing before the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Thursday morning.

The hearing is set to start at 8 a.m. Mountain/Hoghouse time, 9 a.m. Central time. I’ll be tuning into C-SPAN with high hopes they’ll carry the hearing live.

Here’s the rest of the Reuters rundown of confirmation hearings.

Being first should be viewed as a good sign, right? I see it as a signal that Team Obama wants to get off at least a few painless hearings before some of the more strained confirmations hit the stage. Does anyone know of any opposition awaiting Daschle on Capitol Hill?

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By Denise Ross

Here are the first photos of South Dakota’s most famous baby:

Zachary Lars Sandlin sporting a full head of hair - impressive

Congresswoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin and Zachary Lars

So I must now officially report that I won’t be far behind SHS in adding a South Dakota son to the population. (I think my mom might faint if I don’t make it official on the blog!) Little David (named after Mr. Hoghouse) is officially due Feb. 1, but my dad, Jerry “Poppa” Ross, has put money down on Jan. 27.

Here’s the photographic evidence.

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By Denise Ross

The South Dakota Supreme Court ended 2008 with a bang when they ordered a trial to determine whether the mystery donor of $750,000 to the 2006 Vote Yes For Life campaign would have to be named.

It’s important to note that the Court did not order the donor to be named but ruled, unanimously, that a trial is needed to decide whether that person/organization will be named or not. Speculation over the donor’s identity has run rampant in the years since the donation was made - including the Catholic Church, Sioux Falls venture capitalist and sometimes politician Steve Kirby and a handful of out-of-state anti-abortion activists whom I know almost nothing about. I haven’t heard a convincing case yet for any of the theories, and one is probably as likely as the next.

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By Denise Ross

Dick Cheney has called his vice presidency “consequential.” True dat, especially if one considers collective national heartburn a consequence.

In throwing the Hoghouse contribution on the pile of year-end news lists, I offer my take on the political stories from 2008 that I predict will be equally or more consequential in 2009.

Here goes.  (I’d do this like a countdown, but the WordPress numbering system won’t cooperate.)

1. The school funding lawsuit. All the testimony and arguments were given in 2008, with Gov. Rounds notoriously declining to take the stand but not showing the same aversion to the microphone. The ruling will come in 2009, probably after the Legislature has adjourned. Should the court rule that SoDak schools are under-funded, saddle up for a special session and gird yourself for a whole lotta grand-standing from both sides.

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By Denise Ross

Most - perhaps none - of the nation’s governors have served under any president other than George W. Bush. When Nathan Daschle told me that, my brow furrowed. To quote my pal Terry Woster, Could that be true?

Upon further reflection I realized that of course it must be true, given the nation’s penchant for 8-year term limits for elected executives.

Daschle’s larger point was that his pool of Democratic govs is very much looking forward to working under a Democratic president. Not only do they hope the arrangement will make life easier in Democrat-controlled statehouses, they hope to influence national policy.

And the influencer-in-chief very likely will be South Dakota’s neighbor to the northwest, Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer who is the new chairman of the Dem Gov’s Association.

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By Denise Ross

While it appears Brendan Johnson (son of Sen. Tim) is gearing up for a career in elected politics, another political son has looked that life in the face and says he’ll turn it down.

In my most recent newspaper column, Nathan Daschle (son of Sen./Secretary Tom) says the price of climbing the political mountain is too high.

It’s too much of a sacrifice. I’m not willing to make it. The price of success is immense sacrifice.

Nathan was matter-of-fact in his assessment, and I’ve no doubt that at least some of his observations have come in his past years helming the Democratic Governors’ Association. (You’ll note that the Dems have taken the majority on that front, and Daschle has big plans for 2010, when more than a third of gubernatorial seats are up for grabs.)

I don’t know Nathan nearly as well as I know his dad, but after one conversation it was clear that he has inherited the senator’s ability to play politics much more like chess than checkers.

Republicans needn’t gear up an encore anti-Daschle machine, however. Daschle the younger plans a limited political career. He might be more interested in business.

To read the full column, click “CLICK HERE” below.

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By Denise Ross

Welcome back from Christmas festivities - those of you who are, in fact, back and not riding the happy train all the way to New Year’s. (Clearly I took a break. Wish the spammers had, too.)

Alas, there are a few columns to catch up on. First, we have a heart-warming tale about how two humble public servants moved from as bitter a public battle as might be imagined to friendship.

I write of South Dakota’s two U.S. senators, of course. And if you find yourself snarling instead of smiling at this prospect, then you are almost certainly a partisan first and a South Dakotan second. I’d like to say - not that there’s anything wrong with that - but, well, um, I wouldn’t mean it.  

In any case, we all remember 2002. (Think back. You do. It was the one before the Thune-Daschle race of 2004.) It seemed the gregarious John Thune would best the low-key Tim Johnson, but, gosh, most of us hated to have to choose.

And then things got meaner and meaner, and GWB came to Mount Rushmore in mid-August right after a bunch of ranchers had to sell off their cattle herds because of the big drought. Bush said, “Yes!” to a lovely photo op with the four granite faces. But to drought aid he said, “No, no, no.”

And then GWB came to Aberdeen, and the Thune team had to hand out the free tickets. By now it was watch-your-breath-freeze cold out and the Secret Service locked a bunch of ticket-holders out, literally in the cold. If you thought the shafted ranchers were unhappy back in August, well, at least they got to see the president. What the mercury lacked in achievement that day, the jilted ticket-holders made up for in rhetoric.

And everyone was accusing everyone else of voter / voter registration fraud while the Kabuki band played on and on and on.

When the dust finally settled, the low-key guy was ahead by a sliver, and it seemed the once limitless career of the gregarious guy had washed up on the rocky banks of the Muddy Missouri.

And then they lived happily ever after.

If you’re a grinch, you probably stopped reading long ago. For the rest, click “CLICK HERE” below to read a bit of how they got from a sliver and the rocky banks to happily ever after.

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