By Denise Ross

The nation is so far in the ditch that, as the next president attempts to drive us out, we won’t like the bumpy ride any better than we like being in the ditch. And we’ll probably take it out on our new driver.

So predicts Joe Biden and Tom Daschle, according to this blog post at National Review Online.

Tom Daschle told a Washington power breakfast that he thought the winner of the election would have a 50 per cent chance at best - at best - of winning a second term in 2012.

And Biden is quoted this way:

Because I promise you, you all are gonna be sitting here a year from now going, ‘Oh my God, why are they there in the polls? Why is the polling so down? Why is this thing so tough?’

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By Denise Ross

Sure, the financial bailout, the energy crisis, the wars, climate change - all that stuff is important.

But former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota continues his campaign to promote a framework to remake America’s health care system. It is another must-solve issue that hasn’t made the front page in months.

I wrote about this in last week’s newspaper column. (Read the full column on the jump - Click Here to get there.)

“The next president of the United States will have no choice but to address the growing health care crisis in America,” Daschle said recently in his hometown of Aberdeen. “Americans are driven to bankruptcy more than for any other reason because of health care.” 

It’s not just individuals who are overwhelmed by medical bills. Daschle said the leader of a major American business - a business he declined to name but assured his audience, “You know this company,” - contends that his company will cease to exist if America does not revamp health care in the next decade.

…

“Conditions have gotten so much worse that we can no longer accept the status quo,” Daschle said.

Daschle’s work to promote the need for health care reform is tied to his most recent book, Critical: What We Can Do About the Health Care Crisis.

Talking about health care is but one of Daschle’s pursuits these days. Besides working to get Barack Obama elected president, he also pops up frequently at forums on climate change, according to my Google news alerts.

Daschle continually is mentioned as a likely chief of staff for Obama, or a cabinet member. Given the Dow dropping below 10,000 and near panic settling in and a pending recession / depression - how likely is it that Daschle’s call for health care reform would be heeded?

Could the crisis mindset perhaps help him in that quest? Or would a weakened economy be a tsunami that would wipe out its chances?

Read more about Daschle’s proposal on the jump.

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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

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

Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-SD, backed off his criticism of the FBI after he and others were briefed about the criminal case that the feds were building against the anthrax suspect, Bruce Ivins.

USA Today reports:

Daschle says the evidence against the government scientist accused of carrying out the 2001 anthrax attacks was “complete and persuasive.”

AND …

Daschle, who spoke during a meeting at the USA TODAY bureau in Washington, says he was “very dubious” about the government’s case before the briefing.

Here’s what changed his mind:

• the ability to identify the DNA of the anthrax: “It’s like a fingerprint,” Daschle said.
• the flask used to make the anthrax. “That’s as close to a smoking gun as I think you’re going to get,” Daschle said.
• the limited number of people who were authorized to enter the laboratory.

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By Denise Ross

Former Sen. Tom Daschle, D-SD, has broken a long-running silence on his opinion of the federal investigation into the 2001 anthrax poisonings that struck his Senate office and several other places.

“From the very beginning I’ve had real concerns about the quality of the investigation,” Daschle said in a broadcast interview. “Given the fact that they already paid somebody else $5 million for the mistakes they must have made gives you some indication of the overall caliber and quality of the investigation.”

I recall accompanying Daschle on one of his drive-abouts in 2002 - it was the height of the Thune-Johnson Senate race, and the drums of war sounded on the horizon for Iraq - and somewhere near Kadoka we talked very briefly about the anthrax investigation. It seems it was about the time they had dredged up a pond somewhere near DC.

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By Denise Ross

SD’s former senator Tom Daschle, currently incommunicado somewhere in Africa?, is on the list of potential Obama VPs released late last week by CBS News.

TAD weighs in at No. 7:

Tom Daschle

An early and eager supporter for Obama, who appears to have forged a close relationship with the former Majority Leader. A consummate insider helps soothe concerns of inexperience but also brings a lot of insider baggage. And what happened to Obama in South Dakota?

What happened to Obama in South Dakota? Oh, yeah. That.

Daschle is listed behind, in order of ranking:

• Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius
• Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh (who’s been making the TV rounds this past week)
• Nebraska Sen. and Republican Chuck Hagel (the new John McCain)
• New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson
• New York Sen. Hillary Clinton
• Delaware Sen. Joe Biden.

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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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