South Dakota
By Eric Ostermeier on November 3, 2008
Through the morning of November 4th, Smart Politics is running a series of electoral projections for Upper Midwestern federal and state governmental contests. The ninth projections in the series are State House races in the State of South Dakota. South Dakota: State House. Balance of power: Republicans (50 to 20)...
By Eric Ostermeier on November 3, 2008
Through November 3rd, Smart Politics will be running a series of electoral projections for Upper Midwestern federal and state governmental contests. The eighth projections in the series are State Senate races in the State of South Dakota. South Dakota: State Senate. Balance of power: Republicans (20 to 15) 2006 Results:...
By Eric Ostermeier on November 2, 2008
Through November 3rd, Smart Politics will be running a series of electoral projections for Upper Midwestern federal and state governmental contests. The second projections in the series are federal races in the State of South Dakota. South Dakota: President. Democrats have carried South Dakota just three times (in 1932, 1936,...
By Eric Ostermeier on October 1, 2008
Smart Politics is running a series of election profiles of all the Upper Midwestern U.S. Senate and U.S. House races leading up to the November 4th elections. The series will culminate with Smart Politics' official projections. The second profile in the series is South Dakota's U.S. Senate race. Candidates: Democrat:...
By Eric Ostermeier on September 30, 2008
Smart Politics is running a series of election profiles of all the Upper Midwestern U.S. Senate and U.S. House races leading up to the November 4th elections. The series will culminate with Smart Politics' official projections. The first in the series is South Dakota's at-large U.S. House race. Candidates: Democrat:...
By Eric Ostermeier on September 13, 2008
Continuing the bounce polls indicate he is experiencing in most states West of the Mississippi, John McCain now holds a 17-point advantage in South Dakota, 54 to 37 percent, according to a September 9th Rasmussen poll of 500 likely voters. Back in July, a Rasmussen survey had McCain up by...
By Eric Ostermeier on August 1, 2008
The 2006 election saw Democratic takeovers of 3 of the 6 Upper Midwestern legislative chambers previously controlled by the Republicans. Democrats now control 5 chambers (the Iowa House and Senate, the Minnesota House and Senate, and the Wisconsin Senate) with the Republicans controlling 3 (the South Dakota House and Senate...
By Eric Ostermeier on July 22, 2008
South Dakota Democratic U.S. Senator Tim Johnson was once thought to be one of the few potential targets for a GOP pick-up in the 2008 election. Johnson had won his first two elections to the Senate by a total of 9,111 votes, including a 532-vote squeaker in 2002 against current...
By Eric Ostermeier on July 14, 2008
Barack Obama is looking to become the first Democratic candidate to sweep the Upper Midwest since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964. New polling by Rasmussen indicates Obama is currently competitive enough in the Dakotas to have a chance at doing just that. In South Dakota, a survey of 500 likely...
By Eric Ostermeier on July 3, 2008
While Democrats have been able to win statewide elections in South Dakota in recent years (Tim Johnson, Tom Daschle, Stephanie Herseth), Republicans have thoroughly dominated district races for the state legislature. Since 1960, Democrats have only eked out a tie in the House (1972) and have controlled the Senate after...
By Eric Ostermeier on June 3, 2008
8:00 p.m. CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News have all called Barack Obama the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party, having culled together enough superdelegates today and enough votes (> 30 percent) in South Dakota. 8:06 p.m. (9% reporting) Clinton = 56% Obama = 44% 8:12 p.m. Fox News has called...
By Eric Ostermeier on June 3, 2008
Even as Hillary Clinton racked up victories in Pennsylvania, Indiana, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Puerto Rico, political analysts (echoed by cable news anchors) forecasted the final presidential primary contests on June 3rd (South Dakota and Montana) as "Obama states." This hasty analysis by political commentators and anchors was driven by...
By Eric Ostermeier on March 8, 2008
In recent years, when Republicans have looked for a competitive race in which to pick up a U.S. Senate seat, their eyes frequently turned to South Dakota. South Dakota is a reliable state for the GOP in its state legislature as well as vote for president: in the 29 presidential...
By Eric Ostermeier on November 27, 2007
Iowa's influence on presidential politics is in the spotlight right now, with its caucuses now just 37 days away, on January 3, 2008. The winner of each party's caucus is by no means guaranteed to go on and win the nomination, but a surprise showing can go a long way...
By Eric Ostermeier on November 26, 2007
Now that Mississippi Republican Trent Lott has announced his retirement, 35 U.S. Senate seats will be on the ballot next November—23 held by the GOP and just 12 by Democrats. One of the few seats targeted by the Republicans is that held by Democrat Tim Johnson of South Dakota. Johnson...
By Eric Ostermeier on October 24, 2007
7:00 p.m. Sarah Stoesz, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota is the featured speaker at tonight's event. The launching pad for tonight's discussion of abortion policy is South Dakota's 2006 restrictions on abortion, passed by the GOP-dominated state legislature and supported by Republican Governor Mike...
By Eric Ostermeier on October 24, 2007
Smart Politics will be blogging live tonight at a program on abortion policy held from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. in Cowles Auditorium at the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. From the Humphrey press release: "The South Dakota legislature and governor enacted in 2006 the nation's strictest restrictions on the right...
By Eric Ostermeier on October 21, 2007
On Friday South Dakota senior Senator Tim Johnson confirmed what had been suspected for months: the 2-term Democratic incumbent will run for a 3rd term in 2008. Senator Johnson is extremely popular in his home state, and perhaps has gained greater favor among the electorate after his near fatal brain...
By Eric Ostermeier on August 29, 2007
On Tuesday evening Sioux Falls hosted a "Welcome Back" celebration marking Democratic Senator Tim Johnson's birthday and return to South Dakota for the first time since nearly losing his life last December. The Senator spoke for a little more than 10 minutes and declared, "I am back," to a...
By Eric Ostermeier on August 17, 2007
South Dakota, one of the most reliably Republican states in the Midwest, will be an interesting state to watch in 2008. First, the state will have a high-profile Senate race, whether or not the state's senior Senator, Democrat Tim Johnson, decides to run for a third term. Johnson is...
