Save Thune!

A S a game of political chicken shapes up between freshman U.S. senator John Thune and the White House, the biggest casualty could be President Bush’s agenda.

With strong backing from the national GOP and the president, Thune defeated Tom Daschle, the Democrats’ number- one man in the Senate, in a race that saw South Dakota become one of the nation’s most contentious political battlegrounds. Thune and his supporters were able to out Daschle as the liberal obstructionist he really was—as opposed to the moderate he played on the county-fair circuit. Daschle’s charade didn’t always work, but he could at least trumpet his seniority and position as minority leader to voters concerned about preserving Ellsworth Air Force Base in Rapid City. Thune coun- tered that a GOP senator with friendly ties to President Bush would be in a better position to keep the base—South Dakota’s second-largest employer—from closing its gates permanently.

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R. Andrew Newman

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A S a game of political chicken shapes up between freshman U.S. senator John Thune and the White House, the biggest casualty could be President Bush’s agenda.

With strong backing from the national GOP and the president, Thune defeated Tom Daschle, the Democrats’ number- one man in the Senate, in a race that saw South Dakota become one of the nation’s most contentious political battlegrounds. Thune and his supporters were able to out Daschle as the liberal obstructionist he really was—as opposed to the moderate he played on the county-fair circuit. Daschle’s charade didn’t always work, but he could at least trumpet his seniority and position as minority leader to voters concerned about preserving Ellsworth Air Force Base in Rapid City. Thune coun- tered that a GOP senator with friendly ties to President Bush would be in a better position to keep the base—South Dakota’s second-largest employer—from closing its gates permanently.