Rick and RoundsThe Rapid City Journal is arguably the most conservative newspaper in South Dakota. And they are certainly more conservative than the Beltway operative who seems hellbent on handing control of the Senate over to the Republicans, DSCC executive director Guy Cecil. Cecil, still pouting that he was unable to deliver the South Dakota Democratic nomination to former Blue Dog chairwoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, has blackballed South Dakota Democratic nominee Rick Weiland. Weiland has been endorsed by Tom Daschle and Tim Johnson and by most of the Democrats in the Senate including virtually all the senators who fight for Main Street rather than for Wall Street: Elizabeth Warren, Jeff Merkley, Al Franken, Barbara Boxer, Sherrod Brown, Brian Schatz, Mazie Hirono, Ron Wyden, Sheldon Whitehouse, Jack Reed, Patrick Leahy, Ed Markey, Richard Blumenthal, Tom Harkin and, of course, Bernie Sanders, who recognizes a kindred spirit when he sees one. He's also been endorsed by Blue America and, this week, DFA. Missing from the list is Cecil's pathetic puppet, Michael Bennet, ostensibly the chairman of the DSCC, who Patty Murray forgot to explain the facts of life to when she turned over the committee to him. Smart money in DC now predicts Bennet and Cecil will hand the Senate majority over to Mitch McConnell after the November elections. Their refusal to stop pouting and get behind Weiland is one of the symptoms of a sickness they both suffer from: a kind of bizarre DC defeatism that predicts that only conservatives can win elections.Back to the Rapid City Journal now. Today they predicted something Cecil and Bennet should ponder long and hard-- something Senate Democrats and Daschle have been trying to make them both understand: South Dakota elects authentic populists, not just values-free centrist hacks… like Bennet himself. "George McGovern," wrote their editorial board, "was the original Prairie Populist. In Rick Weiland, we can see a reincarnation of the political philosophies that kept McGovern in Congress for 22 years." They can. Guy Cecil and the clownish Bennet can't. Time for Harry Reid to get more competent leadership for the DSCC and let Cecil go work for Hillary Clinton?
Well on his way to visit all 311 cities and towns in South Dakota in his campaign for U.S. Senate, Rick Weiland stopped by the Journal recently to meet with the editorial board.The Sioux Falls Democrat hopes that by shaking as many hands as possible and greeting as many voters as he can before November, he will keep the Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Tim Johnson in Democratic hands.He notes that at least one member of South Dakota’s congressional delegation has been a Democrat since George McGovern was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1962. “It’s a tradition in South Dakota to elect Democrats to Congress,” Weiland said.Weiland has reason to be optimistic, despite the advantage Republicans have in registered voters, because of the open seat. Without an incumbent to fill up an overwhelming campaign war chest, the race could be considered wide open, even with five Republicans, including former Gov. Mike Rounds, in the race, along with former Republican Sen. Larry Pressler, running as an independent.Despite never having held statewide office, Weiland is no stranger to South Dakota politics. He worked for Tom Daschle when he was a member of the House of Representatives and was his West River director for several years in Rapid City. In 1996, Weiland ran for the open U.S. House seat against John Thune in a battle between political neophytes but lost by 20 points.Since then, he has worked as regional director for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, AARP and the International Code Council. He and his wife currently operate a successful restaurant in Sioux Falls.Traveling across South Dakota and stopping in every town along the way is a campaign strategy Weiland learned from Daschle and McGovern, who preached that every voter counts come election day.Weiland presented a populist message to the Journal editorial board that most of the country’s problems can be laid at the feet of the wealthy and big business that are preventing progress. “Big money has gotten in the way of getting things done,” he said.Other examples of Weiland’s populism:• Health care: The Affordable Care Act was poisoned by big insurance and pharmaceutical companies. Weiland proposes letting people choose to buy into the popular Medicare program. Private insurers would be forced to reduce premiums, mostly by cutting CEOs’ pay.• Farm bill: Too much money goes to big producers.• Energy: Policies are driven by big oil.• Taxes: Businesses are not paying taxes, “meanwhile, we’re kicking kids off Head Start.”• Campaign finance: The U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision is threatening our democracy by allowing large amounts of “dark money” (undisclosed donations) to influence elections.• Free enterprise: Our economic system has been rigged by big money interests that create an “inequality of opportunity.”The theme that a few hundred wealthy individuals and big corporations are the cause of all the country’s ills, and who use money and influence to prevent positive change fills a conversation with Weiland.The back of Weiland’s business card even includes an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that he says he will introduce on his first day in Congress: "So that the votes of all, rather than the wealth of the few, shall direct the course of this Republic, Congress shall have the power to limit the raising and spending of money with respect to federal elections."George McGovern was the original Prairie Populist. In Rick Weiland, we can see a reincarnation of the political philosophies that kept McGovern in Congress for 22 years.
The balance of power in the United Stated Senate is likely to be determined by who wins in South Dakota. Guy Cecil and Michael Bennet are on the wrong side of that battle. Please step up and help Rick Weiland win in South Dakota-- and keep the Senate blue… and America out of the direct control of the Koch brothers' demented fascism. You can contribute directly to Rick's campaign here.Guy Cecil counts the ways he can lose the Senate majority for the Democrats, starting with ignoring South Dakota and Maine
