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.

Given Thune’s reticence to openly contradict the Bush administration, even when they’ve had their boot held firmly down on his neck, it’s difficult to imagine a VP Thune running the kind of operation Cheney has.

Meanwhile, here’s some of what SD Dem Party Chairman Jack Billion told reporters in a conference call Tuesday:

After working with John Thune, we know first-hand he’s the wrong choice for America’s future.

We would see more of the same illogical economic and budgetary decisions which have drained our country’s economic strength. We would see tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans while our nation is at war.

Billion criticized Thune for not taking McCain to task over his opposition to federal ethanol policy and his opposition to the version of the GI Bill that passed.

Our state’s economy would go back on the slow track if McCain is president and John Thune is there to let him off the hook.

Besides the website, the DNC has issued a longer, more detailed “fact sheet” on its list of Thune’s political misdeeds. Oddly, defending the Lewis & Clark water project earmark is among them.

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