By Denise Ross

Things to do in Denver when you’re a Democrat? Or to do in South Dakota when you’re a political junkie?

Try to catch Tom Daschle’s speech, sometime today (Wednesday).

The official schedule gives us only a clue as to when that might take place. VP pick Sen. Joe Biden is, of course, the “headline prime-time speaker.” Former President Bill Clinton is first on the list of featured speakers.

And Daschle is listed third behind Biden and Clinton, which leads the Hoghouse to believe Daschle is likely to speak shortly before Clinton.

The theme of the day is “Securing America’s Future,” and I’ll predict that Daschle will focus on his ideas on how to fix the health care system. Any other guesses?

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By Denise Ross

South Dakota’s junior senator has held his own on the various media lists speculating about McCain’s pending VP pick.

But apparently he hasn’t fared as well within the McCain campaign, as he’s told the AP that he was not vetted.

Thune, an early McCain supporter who has been a mouthpiece for the campaign, said he has not given the campaign any personal documents used to vet prospective running mates.

AND …

“I would say I’m out of the running,” Thune said.

While Tom Daschle was on hardly anybody’s list but mine, it was reported last week in the frenzy around Obama’s VP pick (Joe Biden, as we all know now) that Daschle was one of a handful of potential VPs vetted by the Obama campaign.

Close but no cigar for both of South Dakota’s contenders.

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By Denise Ross

Not now, of course, but someday - maybe. So says Time in its current Hotshots: Democrats to Watch piece which names South Dakota’s lone congresswoman as one of five rising star Dems.

Though moderate in her politics and reserved in person, she can roar on the stump. Her fiery speeches have made her popular at party events across the West and led to speculation that she might one day run for President.

Time credits Stephanie Herseth Sandlin’s political heritage - a gov grandpa, secretary of state grandma and longtime state lawmaker dad - along with a bit of mentoring from Tom Daschle for her success so far.

SHS is joined on the list by Patrick Murphy of Pennsylvania, Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida and Artur Davis of Alabama - all fellow House members - plus San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.

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By Denise Ross

At 80, T. Boone Pickens is pushing the US to develop its domestic energy in various forms for one reason - the bottom line. The USA is now sending $700 billion out of our country every year, and if we don’t change our energy habits that number will only grow, he told a Rapid City crowd Wednesday.

                                  (Photos by David Larson)

Judging from his aptitude at the dry erase board, Pickens might have missed a calling as a classroom teacher.

Because of the end of cheap oil and, as he says in his TV commercials, “the largest transfer of wealth in the history of mankind,” the US cannot continue importing 70% or more of its oil and expect to remain a wealthy nation.

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By Denise Ross

It wasn’t just John Thune on hand at the T. Boone Pickens presentation in Rapid City Wednesday afternoon. I recognized a few local leaders and politicians, too.

But first, there were these two guys in their matching T-shirts.

The front of the shirts said, “The one thing Obama and McCain have in common.” The part of the back that you can’t see in this photo gives the web address for Black Hills Energy Solutions. (While there’s lots of information about energy conservation and alternative energy, their site doesn’t make it entirely clear what they do.)

Meanwhile, there’s Dem about town Bill Walsh, right, in his signature cowboy hat talking to state Sen. Tom Katus, D-Rapid City, and my old colleague Kevin Woster.

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By Denise Ross

It was part school lesson, part persuasion speech at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center Wednesday afternoon when Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens promoted his plan to save America from itself.

(Photos by David Larson)

T. Boone spent a good portion of his half-hour presentation at the dry-erase board writing down numbers to explain where our energy comes from and where our money goes. He even made a pie chart. More on that later.

If you haven’t heard or seen the commercials, this energy guru and billionaire is promoting a plan to convert America to a lot more of its domestic energy. (Click on link above.) He’s pressuring politicians, John McCain and Barack Obama chief among them, to sign on to his plan or come up with one of their own.

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By Denise Ross

Before I get to some of the details from Monday’s field hearing in Rapid City, let’s ponder something that none of use could have imagined back in 2002 — that a Sen. John Thune and a Sen. Tim Johnson would sit side-by-side working on an issue together. That’s what happened at South Dakota School of Mines & Technology in Rapid City.

(Photos by Denise)

Forgive my poor photo editing, but I did not get a photo in which they both looked good, so I cropped 2 shots. Mr. Hoghouse, my staff photographer, had to report to his paying job on Monday so I was on my own.

As you can read from the background panel, the field hearing was about “transforming forest waste to biofuels,” which does seem like a common sense thing to do. I did not attend the entire hearing, but while I was there I heard no objections to the idea.

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By Denise Ross

We all will know within a few days who Barack Obama will choose as his running mate. It could be South Dakota’s own Tom Daschle, even though he gets little mention in the constant speculation about who’s in the running. No matter. This from Politico:

Obama and his inner circle have held his intentions tightly, while a wider circle of aides in Chicago has been kept far enough out of the loop.

George McGovern called Obama’s pending VP pick ”the most closely held secret I’ve encountered in all my years in politics” Monday on SD Public Radio, adding that he has no idea who will emerge the much-anticipated choice.  

And one pundit I heard over the weekend put it this way: The people who know aren’t talking; and the people who are talking don’t know.

Here are a few clues about Daschle’s status on this front.

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By Denise Ross

Check your local listings for the Sunday talk shows. South Dakota’s own Tom Daschle will be a guest on ABC’s This Week with George Snuffalupagus.

Daschle will appear with GOP VP hopeful Mitt Romney and Defense Secretary Robert Gates. That’s a powerhouse line-up, but it looks like they’ve all got powerhouse line-ups this weekend. This Week might be the only show that Conde Rice is skipping.

While we’re waiting for the news to happen, see if you can spot the typo from the ABC News website as it appeared mid-day Saturday.

The headliners talk to George about the Russia-George conflict and election ‘08.

I really do wish that George could stay out of trouble.

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By Denise Ross

South Dakota’s Sen. John Thune would seem to bear little resemblance to Wyoming’s former Congressman Dick Cheney, but the Democratic National Committee now lists Thune at the top of its The Next Cheney website - where it draws direct comparisons between Thune and W but not Cheney.

A fundraising letter paid for by the Thune campaign repeatedly connected George W. Bush to Thune, and emphasized the similarities between the two.

AND …

According to a vote analysis conducted by Congressional Quarterly in 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006 and 2007 John Thune supported President Bush’s position on legislation 84 percent of the time.

Anyway, this splash of Fellini in the ongoing drama that is the 2008 presidential campaign lines up 8 potential McCain VP picks, casting each one as “the next Cheney” one assumes in that one of the eight is likely to fill the same slot on the ticket as Cheney has. It’s part of the push of the message that a McCain presidency would be 4 more years of Bush.

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