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

This is a move I haven’t seen before. SD Dem Party Chairman Jack Billion is going to tell reporters why John Thune as McCain’s VP pick would be like having Dick Cheney all over again.

This from my e-mail box this morning:

Wednesday, August 13, at 12:30 p.m. CDT (1:30 p.m. EDT), South Dakota
Democratic Party Chair Jack Billion will hold a conference call with members
of the media to highlight various aspects of Senator John Thune’s record
that would mean more of the same Bush-Cheney policies if he is chosen as the
vice-presidential nominee.

The call comes in conjunction with the rollout of a new website,
www.thenextcheney.com, which features Thune and other potential candidates for vice president. 

The site features “other potential candidates for vice president”? Hmmm. So anybody would be the next Cheney? I guess we’ll have to hear what gets said. Stay tuned.
 

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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

Before the US Senate’s Gang of 10, there was another bipartisan energy compromise in the US House - not that you’d know it by the GOP-led histrionics going on there now - but there was.

It is H.R. 6709, also known as the National Conservation, Environment and Energy Independence Act. And it would lift the ban on offshore drilling in the US, which is what the current fuss on the Hill is all about. H. R. 6709 also would do a whole lot of other things.

H.R. 6709 is similar in spirit to a proposal released late Friday by the Senate’s Gang of 10, which includes SD’s own John Thune. The group behind the House measure is 119 strong - more than the whole Senate (just sayin’) - and SD’s own Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin is one of the original cosponsors of the bill. (Read her full press release on the jump.)

“When it comes to bringing down prices at the pump and enhancing our energy security, Americans deserve more from their leaders than partisan fighting and political stunts,” Rep. Herseth Sandlin said. “I’m optimistic that when my colleagues return after spending time talking to constituents in their district about the need for less talk and more action from Washington, they will be eager to move this package forward.”

Here’s a brief list of some of what’s in the House bill, which appears to allow more off-shore drilling than the Senate’s bill would but does not offer a plan to transition the nation’s auto fleet away from gasoline.

• Would count woody biomass derived from federal lands towards the Renewable Fuels Standard. (SHS has been steamed about this exclusion ever since Congress passed an energy bill.)
• Would mandate the release of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
• Would dedicate funding to the development of alternative fuels, renewable energy and environmental restoration by allocating the estimated $2.6 trillion in oil royalties from oil and gas production derived from offshore drilling. (See the jump for a breakdown of who would get the money.)
• Would repeal prohibitions preventing federal agencies from entering into contracts for procurement of an alternative or synthetic fuel. (If you’re like me, you ask, There’s a prohibition on the feds contracting for alternative fuel? Who says the oil companies have too much influence? Read the official memo on H.R. 6709 from the bill’s chief Republican sponsor, John Peterson of Pennsylvania.)

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By Denise Ross

It’s rally week out here in the Black Hills. That means lots of motorcycles and a few meatheads. To wit:

(Photos by David Larson)

This was the scene earlier this week on Interstate 90 between Sturgis and Rapid City. This future Nobel Prize winner maintained this posture on the on-ramp, pictured here, and for a substantial time once he had entered traffic, where he kept pace with those of us traveling 70-75 mph. Mr. Hoghouse and I disagreed about the duration of his performance, with the minimum distance agreed on being 1 mile and the maximum being 3 miles. On a second bike, his traveling companion, of whom we did not get pictures, was able to perform this maneuver only intermittently. 

Here’s another in the series of photos Mr. Hoghouse was able to snap.

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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

If you’ve had your television on this week, you’ve seen the second ad from the re-election campaign of Sen. Tim Johnson, D-SD.

As I noted last week and another of my blogosphere colleagues noted this week, these ads seem to be raising questions with voters. Given that Johnson’s speech, as he recovers from a brain injury, remains thick, would it be better to pair these ads with debates or town hall meetings?

Steve Jarding and Co. have access to all the polling and focus group data, and I’ve no doubt they have a well thought-out plan. But you know what they say about the best laid plans.

Absent the continuing recovery, this would be a text-book campaign schedule - roll out the warm, fuzzy ads in August. Given the senator’s continuing recovery, these ads are getting attention from voters, just not the kind of attention they’re designed to - at least in some cases.

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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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