By Denise Ross

(Photo courtesy of Rapid City Weekly News / Andy Jacobs UPDATE: Correct photo credit goes to Tom Lawrence)

Potential VP candidate Sen. John Thune, R-SD, strikes a pensive pose as GOP prez nominee John McCain answers questions from SD reporters aboard the Straight Talk Express bus on Monday.

I wasn’t on the bus, but Tom Lawrence of the RC Weekly News tells me that both Thune and McCain downplayed Thune’s VP prospects. However, they stopped short of outright laying them to rest, and traditionally the thwarted VP contender publicly falls on his/her own sword by saying they really don’t want the job and wouldn’t accept an invitation.

Thune stuck with his line that he’s not expecting an invitation and broadened it out to say he expects probably a governor would get the nod.

Likewise, McCain said he really couldn’t comment in depth. But he then went on to extoll Thune’s resume - solid conservative credentials, young and handsome.

Here’s how Kevin Woster of the RC Journal quoted McCain:

“Sen. Thune won one of the great races in recent history (over former Sen. Tom Daschle), one of the most hotly contested, and probably one of the most watched races in recent political history. … On a broad range of issues, he’s highly respected and highly regarded. And as I mentioned before, he is not ugly.”

We’re mere weeks away from knowing the answer, and Thune’s still in the mix. Whatever happens, that can’t be bad for Thune or for SD.

Bonus photo on the jump.

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By Denise Ross

I’d call it the biggest news to come off of Capitol Hill all year, but it’s not getting a ton of attention in the press. A bipartisan group of senators - 5 Dems and 5 Republicans - have set forth a compromise energy policy. (Details on the jump.)

The New Energy Reform Act literally has something for everybody - something for everybody to love and to hate - from the greenest enviros to the multi-million-dollar-salaried oil exec. Of course, those on either extreme are focusing on what they hate. Sigh.

The oil industry is warning that revoking its tax breaks could slow its production of new energy supplies.

AND FROM THE OTHER CORNER:

“This is Exxon’s drilling agenda wrapped in a veneer of other energy policies,” said Anna Aurilio, federal legislative director of the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.

Meanwhile, there seems to be a lot of reporting on what is essentially a stunt by House Republicans, who seem to be struggling with the notion that they no longer run the place.

Reps. Tom Price (R-Ga.) and Mike Pence (R-Ind.) led a spontaneous revolt to protest the Democrats’ decision to adjourn the House for the five-week August recess without giving the minority party a chance to speak out on rising gas prices. Even after Democrats turned off the lights and microphones, and with TV cameras shut down, Republicans kept talking and chanting, “Drill, drill, drill!” …

Two dozen Republicans kicked off their second day of protests with an array of sometimes inartful, off-topic or histrionic floor speeches ranging in topic from John Quincy Adams’ views on slavery to a shout-out to Moses. …

House Republicans were vowing to continue their talkathon on the floor “as long as it takes,” claiming they would continue their protest indefinitely if Pelosi does not allow a vote soon.

This makes news when we have real leadership and a substantive proposal coming out of the Senate. Double sigh.

Perhaps of most interest here in SD is that our own John Thune and a few other senators from ethanol states have shored up the standing of ethanol and other biofuels in the bill.

And it’s still just a bill, younger than Brad and Angelina’s twins. The Gang of 10 hopes to build support for their proposal during the August recess, then get a vote on Capitol Hill in September.

(Hey, Gang of 10, how about a website? That would make it easier to promote your cause, and it would make life easier on all us bloggers.)

In lieu of an official website, here’s my little summary of what’s been reported and released so far, followed by the full official press release from Sen. Thune:

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By Denise Ross

South Dakota’s own John Thune will be on FOX News Sunday (airing 7 am and 4 pm out here in West River), representing John McCain’s presidential campaign.

Our exclusive guests this week:
• Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., McCain supporter
• Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., Obama supporter
• Karl Rove, former senior adviser to President Bush

…

And, the “veepstakes” continue. With the conventions looming, just how close are the candidates to picking their running mates?

Gaaah. Karl Rove. Sen. Thune, don’t look directly into his eyes. (Wait, I thought Rove was officially part of FOX’s team now. Why is he listed as a “guest”?)

In any event, it looks like Thune’s been assigned this portion of Operation Deflate Euro-Obama. Tune in to see if he’s up to the challenge. 

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By Denise Ross

In the latest VP installment, our junior senator is not on a mere list of potential McCain VPs. He’s got an entire Washington Post column to himself this weekend. And the columnist, she made note of some of Sen. John Thune’s finer qualities.

He’s young, easy on the eyes, articulate and personable. At the ripe age of 47, standing tall, trim and fit, Thune’s good looks could counterbalance McCain’s most glaring liability: his old looks.

Imagine if some menfolk had made such observations about our congresswoman. The disapproving tsk, tsks would deafen us - not that that’s stopped folks in the past. I recall making a Blogmore post featuring both Herseth and Thune for winning some literal beauty contests.

But all this going-weak-in-the-knees is only a distraction.

There are more important signals being sent in this column. Our old friend Dick Wadhams makes an appearance, after a run-down of Thune’s recent appearances on behalf of the McCain campaign.

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By Denise Ross

After defeating Tom Daschle in South Dakota’s historic 2004 US Senate race, Sen. John Thune, R-SD — who we all still know as that tall guy from Murdo — remains popular on the GOP fundraising circuit.

As evidenced by this item courtesy of Google news alerts:

Republican meeting: The Hillsborough County Republican Executive Committee hosts its annual Lincoln Day Dinner with Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., as keynote speaker. 7:30 p.m., Friday; Grand Hyatt Hotel, 2900 Bayport Drive, Tampa. For tickets, tables and sponsorships, call (813) 978-8228 or visit www.hcrp.org.

Tampa in July. I’m sweating just thinking about it.

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By Denise Ross

I was interviewing John Thune recently, writing a newspaper column about his efforts to boost the number of law enforcement officers on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. And I broke one of the cardinal rules of interviewing. I had a “Holy cow!” reaction to something he said:

I was talking to Hillary Clinton about this after she visited Pine Ridge, and she wants to help.

“Wait, wait,” I said. “You were talking to Hillary Clinton about crime on South Dakota’s Indian reservations?” (With emphasis on the you and the Hillary.) Thune realized I wanted to pursue this further — which is why interviewers should not react as I did – and he shut it down.

He said something like: Well, it was on the Senate floor, not in South Dakota. And she just said, “Hey, if there’s anything I can do to help, let me know.”

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By Denise Ross

The Washington Post issued another list of VP contenders, and - as per usual - a South Dakota name made the list.

5. John Thune: The South Dakota senator is playing the tortoise in the veepstakes, content to hang in the back of the pack until the final decision days. In an interview with a South Dakota television station, Thune played that part to the hilt “I don’t have, as I said before, any intentions on that job. And I don’t expect to be asked.” We still think Thune will be a veepstakes finalist, however, because of his age (he’s 47), his strong support for McCain during the rollercoaster candidacy of the past year and his ability to appeal to social and fiscal conservatives. The biggest drawback for Thune? With no Senator having been directly elected to the White House in 48 years, does McCain really want to double down on his Washington ties given that Congress is as popular as used car salesman at the moment? (Previous ranking: 3)

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By Denise Ross

The Politico report that SD’s own John Thune has made it to the finals of the GOP veep-stakes - he’s in the top 3 - is getting plenty of play. (And with Obama making a big play for Evangelicals, that would seem to tip the scales away from the Mormon Mitt Romney towards the Baptist Thune as a way to shore that demographic up.)

What hasn’t gotten as much discussion is something Barack Obama said that was highlighted on the Chris Matthews Show .

This from the transcript:

Sen. OBAMA: (Wednesday) I want somebody who can be a good president if
anything happened to me. And I want somebody who can be a good adviser and counsel to me and tell me where he or she thinks I’m wrong, not just on
national security policy, but on domestic policy as well.

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By Denise Ross

South Dakota’s junior US Senator, John Thune, is the Washington Post’s No. 2 pick in the current book-making on who GOP prez candidate John McCain will choose as his side-kick.

(Maybe if Thune steps up his Dwight Schrute game, he’ll move up to No. 1.)

Says The Post’s Chris Cillizza:

The phrase “central casting” can easily be applied to the senator from South Dakota. Thune is handsome, articulate and comes across as a moderate despite his very clear conservative voting record. Thune is also a hero in conservative circles thanks to his defeat of then Sen. Tom Daschle (S.D.) in 2004. The one knock on Thune is that he hails from a state that is already well in hand for Republicans. But, a look at recent veep picks (John Edwards, Dick Cheney, Joe Lieberman) shows that the traditional “geographic” consideration may be fading in importance when it comes to picking a number two.

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By Denise Ross

John McCain hates farm subsidies and doesn’t like ethanol much, either.

I come from that group of independents attracted to McCain, but it’s times like these I wonder why Sen. John Thune, R-SD, endorsed him again?

“I’d like to start out by saying to you that I have to give you a little straight talk about the farm bill that is winding its way through Congress,” McCain told the audience of about 250 people. “I do not support it. I would veto it. I would do that because I believe that these subsidies, the subsidies are unnecessary.”

McCain, who has long opposed agricultural subsidies, said later in an interview that he was willing to risk the political backlash in heavily agricultural states …

This he says to an Iowa crowd. Iowa! He might as well have been at the Corn Palace in Mitchell. Read it all here.

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