By Denise Ross

Even as the likes of Mark Sanford and John Ensign crash and burn well in advance of the checkered flag of the 2012 GOP presidential primary, South Dakota’s own John Thune gets nary a mention by national pundits as a worthy party leader waiting in the wings. I can’t understand it, so I wrote about it in my weekly newspaper column.

Thune, it seems, has managed to stay just below the radar and above the fray as a voice audible inside the Beltway and back here in South Dakota but absent from the confused melee that’s consumed his party since the Democrats’ sweeping victory in 2008. 

Writing the column didn’t help me understand the thinking of the national punditry any better - they now seem to be looking to Haley Barbour, another blast from the past - but I feel a little better. 

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

S.D. senator could lead GOP.

By Denise Ross

The consensus is in amongst the national punditry: the nation’s GOP is leaderless. How many times have we heard our TVs pose the question, “Who speaks for the Republican Party?” And how many times have we asked why Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., never comes up in the conversation?

As vice chairman of the Republican conference in the Senate, it is his job to speak for the GOP. And if you look to the news sources consumed by those on Capitol Hill - publications like Roll Call and Congressional Quarterly – you’ll find him there. Yet he is absent from the ranks of Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney and any other soul being bandied about in the popular press as possible contenders in 2012. And he’s certainly not inciting the conservative base like so many radio and TV talk show hosts.

Thune, it seems, has managed to stay just below the radar and above the fray as a voice audible inside the Beltway and back here in South Dakota but absent from the confused melee that’s consumed his party since the Democrats’ sweeping victory in 2008.

At home, he’s recently continued his run as champion of ethanol by reminding farmers that they’ll soon be able to get paid for corn cobs and switch grass, thanks to a provision he put into the farm bill. Nationally, he’s explaining the GOP’s strategy to try and stall President Obama’s plans for health care reform.

In both places, he’s the face of the message that seems to be getting Republicans the most traction these days. He’s sponsored a bill saying the federal government should divest itself of ownership in private banks by a date certain, an idea that’s proven quite popular with the electorate.

If Thune has designs on rising further in his party, let’s say to the presidency, he certainly could take an opportunity amongst the current chaos to step up and swing at a few pitches. His name would be on the lips of the pundits in lightning speed.

But waiting is much smarter.

His status as the giant killer who felled Tom Daschle hasn’t faded and won’t for years. That gives him a cat-nip-like mystique in the halls of power. Combine that with an affable personal style and a competent without being overbearing command of the issues and you just might have a party leader.

Thune, 48, will almost certainly breeze to re-election to the Senate in 2010. By then he’ll have shored up a strong foundation of credibility in Washington by having handled more and more policy work. That will strip away the criticism that has stuck – and stung – the most, that he’s a show horse, not a work horse.

By then, we all will have tired of Sarah, Newt, Mitt and the gang, and a certain percentage of them will have self-destructed.

And by then, serious minds will begin scanning the landscape for a giant killer to take on President Obama. And who knows what shape his administration will be in by then. If things fall apart, Thune could be ready for the main stage.

Should the president be able to maintain his immense popularity and keep the confidence of most Americans well into his first term, then Thune would again be wise to wait a little longer.

After all, there’s always 2016.

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