God, I am so sick of Daschle. I am from SD originally and one of the benefits of coming from a state with only 700,000 people is you get to know anyone personally if you want to.
Daschle has gone down hill dramatically since his elevation to Minority leader. He started as a populist and reasonably conservative Demo, but man I cant even see any of the old Daschle any more. When his lips move now,if you look closely, you can see BC's (or Carville's) arm shoved up his butt.
As far as representing the whole state, I dont think so. If it wasnt for Sioux Falls and the Indian Reservations (How is Daschle doing for you anyway, seeing as how the 5 poorest counties in the US are in SD, and oops, they are the reservation counties. Mississippi had one but we got them outta there.)(see also ballot stuffing, Chicago elections)
A current Thune ad links Tommy with the likes of Hillary and Ted Kennedy, basically saying he votes with them for the things liberal democrats care about, while thumbing his nose at the types of things real people in flyover country care about. He's right, and I'll bet it gets a few people out there thinking.