The Other Guy Ruining the GOP's Chances in South Dakota
Gordon Howie, R-Rapid City speaks against a measure in the House that would create more competition between cable companies Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2005 at the State Capitol in Pierre, S.D.
Photographer: Doug Dreyer/AP PhotosSIOUX FALLS, S.D. — One week ago, D.C. Republicans were in a state of perfect tranquility about South Dakota's U.S. Senate race. They scoffed at Mayday PAC's entry into the field, on behalf of written-off Democrat Rick Weiland. After the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee jumped in with its own $1 million buy, my old colleague John Dickerson got a boldly anonymous GOP strategist to pronounce it a "head fake." Simultaneously, the National Republican Senatorial Committee was... reserving $1 million in TV time. It was the rare head-fake response to a head-fake, rarely seen in nature.
The resulting ad just went up across this red state: