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November 07, 2002

Irony of Night: SD's Johnson

The sad irony for South Dakota is that it was probably the only state where the meta-issue of which party would control the Senate was the decisive issue. Even in liberal states like Minnesota, issues and personalities tended to trump that kind of strategic issue.

But in a state where Bush has one of his highest approval ratings, South Dakota voted for Tim Johnson in hopes of keeping their other Senator, Tom Daschle, as majority leader.

Yet that swing vote of pro-Bush but also pro-Daschle as Majority Leader voters ended up with neither. But how could they have expected that while their rural conservatives were supporting a Democratic majority, states like Minnesota and Missouri would go the other way?

It's all probably one reason strategic voting is so hard to sell to voters. Consequences are sometimes just so unpredictable that it's safer for them to go with their gut.

Finding that gut is the key for Democrats for the next two years.

Posted by Nathan at November 7, 2002 07:49 AM

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