Obama polling well in South Dakota, for a Democrat
Click here for CQPolitics' state-by-state take on the presidential race. It looks like Obama is set to make an unusually strong showing in South Dakota for a Democrat. No member of that party has won the presidential vote here since 1964.
An excerpt from the explanation of the South Dakota polling data:
McCain and Obama are in a statistical tie in a Rasmussen Reports poll conducted July 9. McCain leads 44 percent to 40 percent with 7 percent choosing other and 9 percent undecided, but the margin of error is 4.5 percent. McCain is viewed favorably by 62 percent of voters compared to 54 percent for Obama. Twenty-six percent say McCain is too old to be President and 45 percent say Obama is too inexperienced. South Dakotans want the next President to make his first-term goal bring the troops home from Iraq over trying to win the war by a 51 percent to 41 percent margin.
Posted by: sethtupper on 7/25/2008 at 8:37 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink
State official tries to save face after vehicle registration fiasco
State Secretary of Revenue and Regulation Paul Kinsman is trying to save some face in the wake of the vehicle registration fiasco. He was interviewed Wednesday by The Daily Republic's Pierre reporter, Bob Mercer. Here are the first two paragraphs of the story:
Despite widespread problems initially, vehicle registration transactions occurred at nearly the same pace during the first three weeks of operation under South Dakota's new system as they did a year ago, state Revenue and Regulation Secretary Paul Kinsman said Wednesday in an interview.I think most county treasurers would argue that registrations proceeded at the same pace only because treasurers and their staffs worked overtime to make it happen (indeed, they worked more hours to do slightly less registrations). They're already mad about having to do that, and these new statements by Kinsman could add fuel to the fire.
County treasurer offices throughout the state processed 68,500 registrations during the first 21 days of July, according to Division of Motor Vehicles data. That was slightly behind the 71,000 handled during the similar period last July.
Posted by: sethtupper on 7/24/2008 at 7:08 AM | Comments (2) | Permalink
More liquor for restaurants? Not so fast ...
I have a story in today's Daily Republic about the surprising hesitancy of many local governments to adopt a new law allowing more liquor licenses for qualifying restaurants, and about a state hearing that's been called to clarify the new law's allegedly "ambiguous" provisions.
If you don't have the time or the inclination to read the full story, which is lengthy, here's the gist: This past winter, the Legislature and governor passed a law allowing cities and counties to issue unlimited numbers of liquor licenses for qualifying restaurants. The legislation overturned the previous population-based quota on the licenses and was heralded as a landmark achievement by many legislators and lobbyists. There were even "tears of joy" shed after the bill gained final legislative approval, according to the observation of reporter Bob Mercer, who reports from the Capitol for The Daily Republic.
After all that, you'd think the cities and counties would have been ready and waiting to adopt the new law into their local codes when it became effective July 1, right?
Wrong. Rapid City is apparently the only major municipality that is on the verge of adopting the new law. The other cities are either taking their time or have bogged down in questions about the complexity of the issue. Additionally, a Watertown man and member of the Licensed Beverage Dealers has petitioned the state Department of Revenue and Regulation for a hearing to answer 10 questions about the new law. The state says the hearing will happen, but it has not yet been scheduled.
So it seems that the battle over restaurant liquor licenses, long assumed by many to be over, is only beginning.
Posted by: sethtupper on 7/23/2008 at 7:07 AM | Comments (3) | Permalink
A heads-up about the new liquor law
Watch tomorrow's Daily Republic for a story I've written about some problems with the new state law that allows unlimited on-sale liquor licenses for qualifying restaurants.
The law was lauded as a great legislative achievement by some when it was adopted in Pierre, but it has not fared so well out in the real world. Those of you who were expecting an influx of nationally franchised restaurants may have to wait a while.
Posted by: sethtupper on 7/22/2008 at 6:03 PM | Comments (1) | Permalink
Thune VP talk reaches new levels
I've been trying to monitor the talk swirling around John Thune about his potentially being picked as John McCain's running mate. There seems to be more serious talk about Thune now than at any other time in the race so far.
Washington Post blogger Chris Cillizza upgraded Thune from No. 5 to No. 4 on Friday in his weekly "veepstakes" entry.
Washington Post blogger Mary Ann Akers wrote recently about all the appearances Thune has made lately on behalf of McCain. Akers said Thune "has begun to look like he's at Major League tryout camp."
Saturday's Tampa Tribune included coverage of a speech Thune gave at a Republican fundraiser. "His presence at the annual Lincoln Day fundraising dinner of the county
Republican Party is an indication of the importance of Florida and the Tampa Bay
area to the McCain campaign," the story said.
Thune, for his part, continues to trot out the same old line about not anticipating a call from McCain.
Posted by: sethtupper on 7/22/2008 at 10:30 AM | Comments (15) | Permalink
