Jimmy Russel

Teachers on spring break. Just wait until summer. :rolleyes:

Absence of proof is not proof of absence. Science 101.

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Tens of thousands can range from .0002 to roughly .002. If .0002 you are talking about a half of a half percent. In raw numbers, 200 votes cast in each state to 2000 votes cast in each state on average.

Illegal aliens voting in large numbers though has never been proven.

There are very few on the rolls as percentage. Less than a half of a half percent under the most liberal interpretation of the numbers given.....only # given by Gateway via Dillon was 300K of the residents of cemeteries and 50 to 60 million cast and a vague "tens of thousands"

"If my grandfather were alive, he'd vote for ..........."

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The bottom line is that the system is engineered to look as if there's no fraud. It is generally impossible to prove a negative, and - just like progressives always do - they litigate against the investigation of fraud because "muh civil rights".

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When will he pull the "abandon the team mid dinner" in politics?

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Kind of wish he'd do that pine box thing.

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This mentally ill child is cutting her own hair in the dark again isn’t she?

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I wonder if her barber does beheadings?

You guys don't remember who Thune deposed when he was elected as senator do you? And you probably don't remember why....

I'll share the Gemini summary, but I remember this really well:

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**TL;DR:** John Thune defeated Tom Daschle in 2004 by successfully framing the powerful Senate Minority Leader as a "chief obstructionist" to President George W. Bush’s agenda and a Washington insider who had lost touch with South Dakota’s conservative values. Thune won by a narrow margin of about 4,500 votes in an exceptionally expensive race that broke long-standing Senate traditions.

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## The Historical Context

The 2004 South Dakota Senate race was a "perfect storm" of high-stakes national politics and local sentiment. Tom Daschle was seeking a fourth term while serving as the Democratic leader in the Senate. No South Dakota senator at the time had ever been elected to a fourth term (a trend that also saw the defeats of George McGovern and Larry Pressler).

John Thune, a former Congressman who had lost a Senate bid by only 524 votes in 2002, was personally recruited by the White House to challenge Daschle.

### The "How": Campaign Mechanics and Strategy

* **Nationalized Resources:** Because unseating the opposition leader was a top GOP priority, the race saw unprecedented spending. Both campaigns combined spent nearly **$30 million**—an astronomical sum for a state with only about 750,000 residents.
* **Breaking "Senate Etiquette":** In a rare move, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist traveled to South Dakota to campaign against his counterpart. This broke a long-standing "gentleman’s agreement" where party leaders refrained from campaigning for the defeat of the opposing leader in their home state.
* **Intense Ground Game:** Republicans focused on high turnout in rural, conservative strongholds to offset Daschle's traditional support in Native American communities and urban centers like Sioux Falls.
* **Telegenic Contrast:** Thune was framed as a younger, energetic, and "clean-living" alternative who shared the lifestyle and temperament of South Dakotans, contrasting with Daschle’s long tenure in D.C.

### The "Why": The Narratives That Stuck

Thune’s victory was built on three primary arguments that eroded Daschle’s popularity:

#### 1. The "Chief Obstructionist" Label

The most effective line of attack was that Daschle used his power in Washington to block popular initiatives. Thune, backed by the Bush administration, accused Daschle of being the primary reason for gridlock on:

* **Judicial Nominees:** Republicans hammered Daschle for using the filibuster to block conservative judges.
* **Tax Cuts:** He was portrayed as a "tax-and-spend" liberal opposing President Bush’s economic plans.
* **The Iraq War:** While Daschle had initially supported the war, his subsequent criticisms were used by Thune to claim he was "emboldening the enemy."

#### 2. The "Two Tom Daschles" (Out of Touch)

Thune’s campaign successfully argued that Daschle lived a "double life." They highlighted his **$2 million home in Virginia** and his luxury Jaguar to suggest he had become a Washington elite.

* **The Hug Ad:** Daschle ran ads showing him hugging President Bush after 9/11 to appeal to South Dakota’s pro-Bush sentiment. Thune countered by pointing to Daschle’s actual voting record, calling the ads a "split personality" attempt to hide his liberal D.C. identity.

#### 3. Social and Moral Values

In a year when "moral values" were a central theme of the national election, Thune leveraged Daschle’s record on:

* **Abortion and Gay Marriage:** Thune campaigned heavily on his "pro-life" and "pro-family" credentials, arguing that Daschle’s more liberal D.C. stances were out of sync with South Dakota's religious and conservative base.

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## The Outcome

Thune won with **50.6%** to Daschle's **49.4%**. It was the first time a Senate party leader had been ousted since 1952. The loss effectively ended Daschle’s political career and cemented Thune’s status as a rising star in the Republican Party.

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Massie has never been the deciding vote for a piece of legislation that advances an America first agenda.

He's a plant.

So Microsoft Teams is that bad, huh?

Absolutely none of this has to do with regime change for the sake of “democracy”.

This is all aimed toward containing China and Russia. Anything else is gravy.