Posted on 04/17/2014 8:41:47 AM PDT by cotton1706
South Dakota has always been a red state. And with the republican primary coming up in June, voters are starting to take a closer look at the candidates for the senate seat being vacated by retiring U.S. Senator Tim Johnson.
If fundraising is any indication, former governor Mike Rounds is the clear front runner. But his fellow primary candidates are questioning his conservative values.
That's why Gordon Howie said he jumped into the race as an independent.
"I entered the race because I was approached by a group of people who said, look, if you're not in this thing, conservatives don't have a place to go," Howie said. "People who are disgusted with the establishment in the Republican Party and the Democratic Party have no place to go. And so I decided it would be the logical thing to do."
Howie isn't the only candidate targeting Rounds. Democrat Rick Weiland and republican Stace Nelson teamed up last week to demand that Rounds release the names of his big out-of- state donors.
They say Rounds is projected to raise $9 million and 85% of that amount will come from outside of South Dakota.
"We had a discussion over the weekend about coming together to put a spotlight on how much big money is getting in the way of these elections," Weiland said.
Nelson said it's an issue that needs to be looked into.
"It is huge problem when we've got that amount of money pouring into South Dakota. He can effectively buy this election," Nelson said.
Rounds dismisses the allegation.
He says his record, and his successes as governor for two terms, speaks louder than the accusations his opponents are making.
(Excerpt) Read more at kotatv.com ...
B.S. If Gordie is so good, run in the GOP primary, not as an independent. If you run as an independent, all you do is give the democRAT a chance to win in a conservative state that even Romney won.
If I was Rounds, I would turn the tables on Gordie and ask for an investigation on who is funding HIS run. Soros?
I get so sick of this “red state” stuff. More deliberate commie speak.
“South Dakota has always been a red state.”, BULL BLANKIN SH!T! Anyone Remember George McGovern or Tiny Tommy Dashele?!
“South Dakota has always been a red state.”, BULL BLANKIN SH!T! Anyone Remember George McGovern or Tiny Tommy Dashele?!”
Yeah I know. They consider it “red” because is consistently votes for republicans for president...but also as consistently (like it’s neighbor ND), for democrats for senator. Same exact constituency with consistent ballot-splitting.
A little money goes a long way in these small media markets, so the GOPe contributes a lot of out of state money to GOP candidates who they think will best serve their interests.
I've been away from the Dakotas too long to have much of an opinion of Mike Rounds, but follow the money and you'll get the idea that he is most likely the GOPe pick.
You can't run a Sharon Angle or comparable TEA Party moonbat type to win an election, but a solid conservative would have a shot.
This is the new Dem tactic. Run a third party “conservative” to take votes from the Rep candidate. It worked in the VA governor race.
It was a “Red state” when it had 2 leftist rodent Senators.
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