The Volante's Political Blog

Technically, journalists don’t have a “right” to talk to anyone, let alone public officials; however, civic leaders have a responsibility to the people who elected them to speak to the press. The press is how people get the information they need to be informed citizens. Without informed citizens, democracy can’t exist.

When gathering information and setting up interviews for three different stories during the last month, I had attempted to get in touch with a certain state senator from Vermillion. After a number of unanswered phone calls and more than a couple voice-mails, I began to think that the 2010 Democratic Secretary of State candidate was ducking me.

By now if you haven’t figured out whom I am speaking of, it is the honorable Sen. Ben (BJ) Nesselhuf.

I understand the man is busy attempting to further his political career, something he said a year ago he wouldn’t do, but he is still the representative of District 17, Vermillion and the University of South Dakota.

When a story is written about the economic climate in South Dakota and what is going to be done about it in Pierre, our senators are the ones we turn to.

I’m not sure if the senator IS avoiding me intentionally, but I wonder if I was not seeking information as a journalist if he would talk to me. Is he accessible to others?

When I first met Nesselhuf during the 2008 election season, he was very likable and very accessible. I got to know the senator quite well when I went to Pierre the following January to cover the legislative session. We had drinks from time-to-time and discussed contentious issues off-the-record.

A seasoned politician such as Nesselhuf wouldn’t, one would assume, hold any differences in personal opinion against anybody, would he?      

The intention of this post is not to be in any way detrimental to Nesselhuf or his campaign for state secretary. It is merely me contemplating through Microsoft Office Word.

It might take a lot of effort on my part, but I look forward to speaking with the Sen. Nesselhuf soon.

Thursday night Senator Tim Johnson had a Get Out the Vote rally in Vermillion. After the event I sat down with the Senator to discuss his campaign and issues surrounding it. You can view the interview in two parts at The Volante’s webpage, VolanteOnline.com.

All who watched the debate between Ben Nesselhuf and Jerad Higman noticed the candidates agreed with each other on many issues. As I was browsing through some of the District 17 Senate candidate’s brochures and I noticed they not only agree on issues, but the little things about campaigning as well.

On the back of Nesselhuf’s flyer, which emphasizes education, there is a picture of school children raising their hands in eagerness to participate in class. Higman has a flyer also touting education. On the back of his flyer, there are series of photos with school children. What I found to be a bit funny is Higman used the same photo as Nesselhuf, or vice versa, however you want to look at it. Apparently, the photo is so powerful, neither candidate could afford to go without it.  

One could assume the ad agencies used have a pool of photos to pick from and the similarity was peer chance. Also, I’m pretty sure neither candidate is aware of this. None the less, it makes me wonder how often in other political races this type of parody occurs.   

I know this revelation won’t stop the presses, but I thought I’d share it with you.   

Wednesday night, Oct. 29, at 7:00p Central Standard Time, Barack Obama aired a 30-minute television advertisement on CBS, NBC, FOX, BET, MSNBC and TV One and Univision; an attempt to give viewers some insight to who he is, where he comes from and what he is all about . The move is unprecedented in modern elections. Media expert Tracy Evans said the ad cost the Democratic nominee’s campaign at least 3.5 million dollars. She also said the daunting ad is evidence “that the Obama campaign has more money than there is ad time left to buy.”

It’s been no secret the Democrats have more disposable money in this election than the Republicans do. It’s also no secret that it takes money, and lots of it, to win elections. It can easily be argued that John Kerry could have, and would have, beaten President Bush in 2004 if he just had the money to combat 527’s and other negative ad campaigns, such as the swift boat ads. With only six days until Election Day and trailing by a sizable margin in most polls, things all ready weren’t looking good for John McCain, but things got a lot worse as of 7:00p this evening.

John McCain cannot win this election when Barack Obama is spending huge chunks of money at will on advertising. McCain and the Republican Party just don’t have the resources to compete anymore. However, the conservatives have always been better with grassroots efforts. I suppose that could be their one ray of hope.

The US strike on Al Qaeda facilitators in Syria has prompted much discussion among many about whether President Bush is using our military to play politics.

Syrian Ambassador to the United States Imad Moustapha said the strike was unwarranted and was a terrorist attack. He also claimed the strikes were an attempt on President Bush’s part to gain political ground for his party in the upcoming elections.

Others have said the Syrian government hasn’t done enough to control their border to Iraq which is why the strike ultimately happened.

It’s plausible, but not likely, Bush would take advantage of a bad situation for political gain. However, the conversation is all for naught.

Pundits can say what they want about how the circumstance will affect the election, but this journalist says it won’t have an effect. Barack Obama will continue to insist his rival’s philosophies are Bush philosophies. All the while McCain will maintain his attempts to distance himself from the President. Active supporters of both candidates will be further emboldened, but undecided voters won’t be swayed by this sudden splash of foreign policy interest.

Above anything else, Americans are focused on the economy; and with only seven days until the election, and another down day on Wall Street Monday, both candidates will be telling people what they want to hear.

Thursday night I moderated the debate between Jerad Higman and Ben Nesselhuf. I spent a good chunk of time developing the questions for the first half of the 90 minute debate. When contemplating what to ask, I made sure not to pose any questions that could be perceived as bias. All of the questions, which you can view at the The Volante website, were neutral. It was my intention not to give either candidate any unfair advantage.

Overall, I thought the debate was a hit. Good questions and good responses all around, but there was one exception. I understand that being bipartisan is important, and I don’t blame either candidate for agreeing on more than one topic; however, a certain question prompted, in my opinion, a less than impressive answer by Jerad Higman.

The question was about public smoking bans. I expected the incumbent democrat Ben Nesselhuf to tout the anti-smoking propaganda that Americans have heard since what seems forever, which he did. What I didn’t expect was republican Jerad Higman to concede to the liberal ideology, whether it’s correct or not, that business owners shouldn’t be able to decide what they can or cannot do in their own establishments. Correct me if I am wrong, but I thought conservatives protected the interests of business owners and personal freedoms, whether they want to bring their kids to Applebee’s or not.

Ben Nesselhuf and Jared Higman, candidates for District 17 State Senate, debate at the Freedom Forum at the Al Neuharth Media Center. Follow the debate with our live blogger Patrick Morrison.

For live, streaming video of the debate, click here. Mac users will have to download Flip4Mac. Click here for a free download.

For a live blog with Assitant News Editor Patrick Morrison, click here.

The final debate last week between the two most famous people in America was a bit more interesting than the first two. Of course the post-debate buzz has been all about “Joe the plumber.” McCain alone mentioned the wealthy dude from Ohio over 20 times.

I agree with idea of allowing people to keep the money they work hard for; and the wealthy work just as hard as people in lower tax brackets. Despite my somewhat conservative viewpoint, I don’t understand why the majority of the debate was spent referencing a plumber in Ohio who makes $250,000 a year. Maybe I’m way off, but I didn’t know the average plumber made that kind of coin. I think I’m in the wrong business.

But seriously, my parents don’t make and have never made that much money in a fiscal year, but are well off by any reasonable standards. Anyone who makes as much as “Joe” does isn’t struggling. I feel McCain missed the mark by initiating “Joe’s” situation into the discussion to begin with. There is a time and a place for it, but not in October when you’re behind in the polls. McCain’s effort was wasted on the wrong audience.

Obama faltered in not calling his adversary on addressing the wrong constituents, but with a perceived sizable lead he was careful not to make any waves or doing anything to diminish it. Now that the debates are done and behind us, it’s in God’s hands, or the media’s.

Hello all-

This past Tuesday I sat down and had a chat with Joel Dykstra, the republican challenger to Tim Johnson’s senate seat. Mr. Dykstra and I discussed a wide range of issues, from abortion to gun control to education, just to list a few. The senate hopeful was kind enough to let The Volante video tape the interview, and I thank him for that.

Be sure to check out the interview back at the homepage. We have broken it down into three parts. Part one is up already, and the remaining two parts will go up tomorrow and Monday. You can look forward to my interview with Senator Tim Johnson in the next couple of weeks.  

This week in The Volante print edition, in order to give students a better understanding of the 2008 South Dakota ballot, I have laid out what the seven constitutional amendments and initiatives are and what they are about.

This task got me to thinking about what isn’t on the ballot. The two things that come to mind are the video lottery and smoking ban concerns. I feel it is unfortunate that these debated issues didn’t make the ballot. Citizen passed legislation, in my opinion, is preferred to politician passed legislation when it comes to issues concerning personal freedoms; and the mentioned issues being left off the ballot only invites the state legislature to do its own tampering with our freedom.

When it comes to video lottery, I can be somewhat at ease; being that every push for a ban has failed since the conception of video lottery in 1987. Not to mention the state makes bank off of video lottery taxes. You have to believe everyone at the capitol likes playing with that chunk of change.

The smoking ban issue, however, is in jeopardy of being resolved in Pierre and not by South Dakotans. One reason for the notion: Iowa and Minnesota have recently implemented smoking ban in bars and restaurants, which will most definitely put pressure on South Dakota legislators to do the same.

I am not saying whether or not smoking bans should be put in place in South Dakota; I am merely suggesting freedom issues are better off left up to the masses the freedoms pertain to. Let’s hope there are enough folks in Pierre that think like me, right?