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

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

GOP prez candidate John McCain enjoyed the loud accolades of Harley riders last week during the Sturgis motorcycle rally. Today, he’s probably not enjoying an ad the Dem candidate Barack Obama’s campaign is running against him in Milwaukee. (Listen here.)

Milwaukee is home to Harley-Davidson HQ, and folks there might be interested in McCain’s opposition to requiring the feds to buy American-made motorcycles, reports the local paper’s political blog.

McCain has been a critic of provisions that require the US government to buy American products, saying they are costly to taxpayers and antithetical to free trade.

AND …

“I firmly object to all ‘Buy America’ restrictions, as they represent gross examples of protectionist trade policy,” McCain said on the Senate floor in 2005. “From a philosophical point of view, I oppose such policies because free trade is an important element in improving relations among all nations, which then improves the security of our nation. Furthermore, as a fiscal conservative, I want to ensure our government gets the best deal for taxpayers and with a ‘Buy American’ restriction, that cannot be guaranteed.”

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By Denise Ross

Congressional Quarterly weighed in this week on its predictions for South Dakota in November.

John McCain can count reliably on South Dakota. The state has gone Republican in the last 10 presidential elections. … few expect the Barack Obama campaign to put up much of a fight. “They’ll run ads, they’ll maintain an office, he may even visit the state briefly. But I would guess it’s not a high priority simply because he’s got other states that he’s probably more concerned about,” said Brent Lerseth, a professor of political science at Augustana College in Sioux Falls. …

South Dakota is far from entirely unfriendly to Democrats. The state’s senior senator, Tim Johnson , who was once viewed as a prime GOP target … is now an overwhelming favorite for a third term this fall. The state’s sole House member, Democrat Stephanie Herseth Sandlin , also has an easy re-election race.

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By Denise Ross

My expected dispatch and photo from a friend aboard the Straight Talk Express with McCain and Thune on Monday must have hit a glitch in the matrix, so I started clicking around to see what I could find about John McCain and the vets who love him and those who love to hate him.

It’s one way to kill an entire evening. But I bring a summary of a few things to the Hoghouse after McCain rallied rally-goers at Sturgis Monday evening.

First, Democrats tried to counter McCain’s appeal to veterans by holding a press conference and issuing a press release listing their objections to his record on veterans’ benefits. Full press release on the jump (not for the faint of heart); here’s an excerpt:

Time and again in the U.S. Senate McCain has stood with President Bush, not our nation’s veterans, by under funding VA health care.  And now McCain says he wants to ration treatment for service members and veterans by providing health care only to soldiers injured in combat. 

Elsewhere, there are Vets For McCain, who - if you scroll down - stray into Grover Norquist and James Dobson territory. But they start out their list of why they back McCain with the need for a strong national defense.

And they post this video of McCain explaining a bit his position on the new GI bill.

Then there is/are Vietnam Veterans Against McCain, which Wonkette noted is really just “A Vietnam Veteran Against McCain.”

Then there’s McCain’s official campaign site’s section on veterans’ issues.

John McCain believes that America’s veterans who dedicated themselves to protecting our country deserve the highest quality health care. He is committed to ensuring that veterans’ health care programs receive the funding necessary to provide the quality health care our veterans need and deserve. He has worked to ensure that the Veteran’s Affairs provides care for all eligible veterans, no matter where they live or what they need. In addition, John McCain has fought to ensure that retired servicemen and women have meaningful access to affordable health care.

That does seem to run counter to what McCain said in this video, which was featured in the Dems’ press release Monday:

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By Denise Ross

You already know it was quite the scene at the Buffalo Chip east of Sturgis Monday night. If you haven’t had enough, here’s a roundup of coverage.

My favorite report so far was filed by Charles Michael Ray of South Dakota Public Radio. A biker used a pizza box to encourage women to reveal their, um, bossoms to show support for GOP presidential candidate John McCain and to reveal another anatomical feature to show support for Dem Barack Obama.

Listen here. You can also hear McCain encouraging his wife to enter the Miss Buffalo Chip contest, which begs the question of whether Sen. McCain fully grasped what that contest entails.

… essentially a topless beauty pageant. And occasionally bottomless, too.

My pal Kevin Woster at the RC Journal noted that McCain’s appearance lasted all of 7 minutes.

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By Denise Ross

A friend kindly let me know that there’s a commenter over at the Argus site who writes under the name “hoghouse”.

Lest there be any confusion, that is not me. I wish I had that kind of time.

As far as I know, the comments aren’t objectionable, scurrilous, libelous or an attempt to pretend to be me (benefit of the doubt given here), but I wanted to clarify for the sake of clarifying.

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By Denise Ross

I got a good on-the-ground report from a Republican friend about the state of politics in Lawrence County, a red county in our (last time I checked, still) red state.

Word is that Dem Nyla Griffith’s Senate campaign is going gang-busters, with the expectation that much or all of the take from the upcoming Williams & Ree event - documented by my pal Ruth at DakotaDiscography - will be funneled to Griffith’s campaign war chest, courtesy of SD Senate Minority Leader Scott Heidepriem, who’s expected to be at the event.

(UPDATE/CORRECTION: Nyla called to clarify that the Williams & Ree proceeds will go to the Lawrence County Dems, who will then decide how to funnel it out to candidates. She has a separate fundraiser set for Sept. 5 with/at the Matthews Opera House in Spearfish. That is the event Sen. Heidepriem will attend. He isn’t expected to attend the Williams & Ree show. My apologies for the confusion. -Denise. Now, back to the original post.)

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By Denise Ross

You’ll no doubt see this most everywhere soon, but it made me laugh heartily at an hour I’m not prone to much emotion at all so it had to be on the Hoghouse.

Here it is:

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