June 02, 2004
Squeaker in the Black Hills
Here's the post-mortem on the South Dakota that I promised yesterday.
Larry Sabato thinks that the Herseth victory is actually bad for Daschle, because South Dakotans won't want to be represented by three Democrats. I still say the two races aren't connected much, counterintuitively or otherwise. But John J. Miller is surely right that the White House could have put Diedrich over the top with a Bush visit; you don't suppose Karl Rove agrees with Sabato's analysis, do you?
Politics can often be compared to war, and in war one should not cede territory or men needlessly if one is serious about victory. I believe the same holds true here; the Republicans are foolish indeed if they think surrendering a House seat will aid them in bringing down Daschle. I do not believe that this particular victory will make a GREAT difference to Daschle, however this does put the momentum behind the Democrats. People love to jump on a bandwagon, love to be on the winning side. Granted, Bush should not have pumped enormous resources into this race, however, he should not have simply written off a House seat either. I wonder about the Republicans.
Posted by: Tim Birdnow at June 3, 2004 07:42 PM