Six years ago, John Thune pulled off an enormous upset, knocking off Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle. Today, he’s unbeatable. No, really.

South Dakota Democrats have failed to find a candidate to challenge Republican U.S. Sen. John Thune.
Democratic Party officials had acknowledged earlier they might not find anyone to run against Thune, a popular politician who is seeking a second term in the Senate. The lack of a Democratic candidate became official Thursday when election officials posted the final list of candidates who submitted nominating petitions to run for statewide offices and the Legislature in the June primary.
State Senate Minority Leader Scott Heidepriem of Sioux Falls, the Democratic candidate for governor, said the party decided not to field a candidate in a futile race against Thune.
“We just concluded that John Thune is an extremely popular senator who is going to win another term in the Senate,” Heidepriem said.

Obviously, Thune doesn’t need it, but it’s rather awesome to have the opposing party’s candidate for governor calling you “extremely popular.”

Thune’s story is a nice omen for whichever Republican will take on Harry Reid . . .

UPDATE: So much for the top of the ticket helping out Democrat Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin in the state’s House race.