South Dakota (5/21/06)

South Dakota, along with fellow state North Dakota, has amazed pundits nationwide for, at one time, having only Democrats in its state congressional delegation. And this is coming from a state that voted 60-39 to reelect President Bush in 2004. That said, popular senator Tom Daschle, the former Senate Minority Leader, lost his reelection bid in 2004 to Tim Johnson's 2002 opponent, John Thune. This time the GOP won't have anybody as good as Thune to oppose Johnson, but this should be close. But Johnson is popular, so the only way that he is going to have another barnburner is if equally popular governor Mike Rounds challenges him. If Rounds bypasses the race, the race will still be close. The most likely candidate would then be Lieutenant Governor Dennis M. Daugaard who would be a much weaker candidate than Rounds.

Possible Dem Candidate: Senator Tim Johnson (http://johnson.senate.gov)

Possible GOP Candidates: Lt. Governor Dennis M. Daugaard (http://www.state.sd.us/LT.Gov/)
Governor Mike Rounds (http://www.roundsforgov.com/)

Current Rating: Leans Dem