By Denise Ross

Anyone who lives and plays in the Black Hills, or visits occasionally, needs to check out the new entertainment blog, Dakota Discography - or, for short, www.dakotadisco.com

Dakota Disco is written by my friend and fellow RC Journal refugee Ruth Milne, who once did a bang-up job covering arts and entertainment for the RCJ. Her writing is easy and crisp and entertaining.

Ruth knows how to cover the Black Hills’ off-hours, before and aft. And she’s got a calendar of events, a handy reference.

Read Ruth’s blog, send her your event info and send her your photos, publicity or action - to ruth@dakotadisco.com.

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By Denise Ross

South Dakota’s own John Thune has made another list of prospective VP’s in U.S. News & World Report. This under the “Demographic Appeal” category:

John Thune became a conservative hero when he beat incumbent South Dakota Sen. Tom Daschle. Thune, 47, endorsed McCain early on and would help with voters in the Midwest and the West. But he is a senator with little national stature.

Daschle is not on the list as a potential Obama VP, although I would put his odds at slightly better than Thune’s.

There’s also this from a companion USN&WR piece:

With western states expected to be contested, South Dakota Sen. John Thune, 47, a Christian conservative from the Plains, could be an asset with voters on the left side of the Mississippi River. Though not well known outside of GOP circles, the telegenic Thune became a party hero four years ago when he defeated incumbent Sen. Tom Daschle, now an Obama adviser. He endorsed McCain early and is extremely popular among party activists. “A phenomenal guy,” says one McCain adviser.

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By Denise Ross

Todd Epp has clarified the report about the Hillary Clinton campaign’s offer to host a fundraiser for the SD Dem Party in exchange for 2 super-delegate votes. (See post below.) This took place before the June 3 primary.

There seems to be some misunderstanding about my story on the Clinton fundraiser for 2 SD delegates. It was being discussed prior to the June 3 primary.

It also was being discussed Thursday at the SD Dem Party’s executive board meeting, Epp reported at S.D. Watch. Apparently this was a rehashing of an old dispute?

The story still has some legs, however.

Got an email from The Hill. They may follow up on the Clinton fundraiser for 2 superdelegates story I broke.

Perhaps we’ll find out how widespread the Clinton campaign’s money-for-votes effort was. As it’s been observed, 2 puny votes from SD wouldn’t do much for Hillary. This would seem to be part of a broader strategy.

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By Denise Ross

Over at S.D. Watch, Todd Epp has reported a truly breath-taking story that has the potential to derail Barack Obama’s and Hillary Clinton’s big Unity push just as it’s beginning.

… the Clinton campaign offered a major fundraiser to the state (SD Dem) party in exchange for two superdelegate votes …

Todd promises more details, and I, for one, am waiting at the edge of my seat. Given what he’s reported so far, this seems to be an ongoing offer from Clinton rather than something that faded away after the June 3 primary.

An intra-party dispute erupted Thursday during the SD Dem Convention in Oacoma. Clinton delegate and Rapid City alderman Malcom Chapman - who introduced Hillary at many of her SD appearances - became angry with SD Dem party chairman Jack Billion for resisting Clinton’s offer. This says to me that Chapman is still trying to proffer such a deal. Indeed, Epp quotes Chapman as saying he has “almost cut the deal” with the Clinton campaign.

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By Denise Ross

In my most recent newspaper column, I report that GOP US Senate candidate Joel Dykstra will rely heavily on retail politics as he challenges Democratic incumbent Tim Johnson this cycle.

“Our strategy for the next several months is to do everything and be everywhere,” Dykstra said. “We have a list of parades, festivals, fairs, you name it.”

That would be a smart strategy for someone with Dykstra’s resume and name ID, even if he had substantially more than $30,000 in his campaign war chest.

What didn’t make the column was Dykstra’s quote that, handily defeating Sam Kephart and Charles Gonyo in the June 3 primary, his fund-raising hasn’t picked up significatantly.

There hasn’t been an avalanche of checks awaiting me at the PO box every morning, but there has been a change in attitude in people I talk to.

That interview was done before the recent state GOP convention, so maybe that event put a little pink, er green, in Dykstra’s campaign cheeks.

Meanwhile, Dykstra’s got a campaign office in full swing in Sioux Falls, says he’ll open one in Rapid City soon and has some staffers on board.

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By Denise Ross

Ethanol seems poised to become an increasing, perhaps dominant, part of the energy / high gas prices debate as Obama and McCain roll towards November. And South Dakota’s own Tom Daschle and John Thune also would seem stuck in the middle of this one, as are South Dakota’s ethanol companies - now giants in the industry.

In a New York Times story tsk-tsking Obama for special interest pressure despite the Democrat’s insistance that he is immune to this American political staple, Daschle attempts to distance himself as an influence on Obama when it comes to energy policy.

… when Mr. Obama travels in farm country, he is sometimes accompanied by his friend Tom Daschle, the former Senate majority leader from South Dakota. Mr. Daschle now serves on the boards of three ethanol companies and works at a Washington law firm where, according to his online job description, “he spends a substantial amount of time providing strategic and policy advice to clients in renewable energy.”

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By Denise Ross

The SD Legislature’s appropriations committee is meeting today in the Capitol to try to get answers about money the Rounds administration has spent on a 3rd year of the school laptop program - a program lawmakers voted months ago not to fund for a 3rd year.

There’s a bit from the Argus’s Q&A set up for today’s meeting that reminded me of an earlier discussion - or more like mischevious speculation - I’d heard about the possibilities for a special session this year.

Q: What’s the likely outcome?

A: Apa says the interim committee has limited authority to take actions the full Legislature would better handle. Still, he says, putting a spotlight on the money trail sets the stage for close scrutiny of both the laptop program and other Rounds’ budget issues during the 2009 session.

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By Denise Ross

Not having grown up around insider party politics, I’m not well-versed in the traditions of state party conventions. I always find explanations of the mechanics and logistics the most fascinating cultural artifacts.

So perhaps it is tradition, the way the SD GOP has structured its speakers for its convention this weekend.

On Friday, the convention kicks off with breakfast with Joel Dykstra, candidate for U.S. Senate. Chris Lien, candidate for U.S. House, will be the featured speaker at a noon luncheon. U.S. Senator John Thune will be attending a special reception at the South Dakota Hall of Fame and the Governor’s Banquet on Friday evening will feature Gov. Mike Rounds.

Isn’t it odd that the one guy who won’t be running for anything in the future has the prime speaking slot? That might very well be tradition. Probably is. But still …

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By Denise Ross

We need to come up with a term to describe reporters discovering old, on-the-record news and - most likely because they themselves did not notice it the first time around - breathlessly conveying the information as the equivalent of important new news.

I notice this most when it comes to SD’s own Tom Daschle talking to GOP Sen. John McCain about possibly leaving the Republican Party. This happened 6 years ago, and Daschle’s visit to McCain’s Arizona ranch was covered in the mainstream press. There were protesters. Daschle wrote about it in his book, Like No Other Time.

Nonetheless, news of the event keeps popping up as though the whole thing had been kept as secret as the balance of South Dakota’s Citibank fund.

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By Denise Ross

That over-the-top, puffed up, dare-you-to-join-in parody king Stephen Colbert is on to the importance of the native vote — and he’s none to happy about the rise in political power that America’s indigenous population is enjoying of late. South Dakota is on a list of states he lists in citing this phenomenon.

In recognizing the tribal power grab, Colbert called Native Americans “greedy” and invited Winona LaDuke from our neighboring state of Minnesota on to ask her why her people are trying to take over. Winona definitely holds her own.

Here’s the video:

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