This interview originally aired on In the Moment on SDPB Radio.
Our Dakota Political Junkies analyze some recent major political announcements. Mike Card, Ph.D., is professor emeritus at the University of South Dakota. Tom Dempster is a former South Dakota state senator.
They offer their insight on this week's political headlines.
Sen. John Thune and Sen. Mike Rounds offered up powerful presidential endorsements. Both senators threw their support behind Sen. Tim Scott for president. What does that mean for other Republicans?
The South Dakota Legislature is conducting two summer studies this year. We analyze how the topics were chosen and what comes next.
Plus, what might Dan Ahlers bring to the local Democratic party in South Dakota?
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Lori Walsh:
Well, the 2023 legislative session may be over, but South Dakota politics march on. From summer studies to changes in party leadership to presidential endorsements, there is a lot going on.
Our Dakota Political Junkies will help us digest the biggest headlines. Tom Dempster is a former South Dakota State Senator and he is with me in the Kirby Family Studio in Sioux Falls. Tom, welcome back.
Tom Dempster:
I'm delighted to be here.
Lori Walsh:
And Mike Card is a political scientist and professor emeritus at the University of South Dakota, and he is joining us from SDPB's studio on USD's campus. Professor Card, welcome.
Mike Card:
Thank you for having me.
Lori Walsh:
Alright, let's get started and we're going to start with you Dr. Card about Senator John Thune endorsing Senator Tim Scott from South Carolina for president. Senator Mike Rounds making the same endorsement, but John Thune shows up for the campaign announcement. A lot happening there. Where do you want to begin with the significance of this announcement and Thune's presence?
Mike Card:
Well, it's a question of whether Donald Trump is able to run, and I think Senator Thune has identified as well as Senator Rounds that they believe that Tim Scott is the real deal. That's the quote that was attributed to Senator Thune. And Senator Rounds noted that Scott is a leader who can unite the country and compared him to Ronald Reagan. Pretty high praise. But I think a lot of it depends upon what Donald Trump does and whatever happens to Governor DeSantis of Florida, who's gained a little bit in Morning Consult polls.
Morning Consult is a marketing firm that occasionally gets asked to evaluate where people stand in the polls and Governor DeSantis was 30 points behind former President Trump, but has moved up six points, but to be down by 38 to former President Trump at this point. But those are polls. It's a long ways away.
We've got news this week that former President Trump is likely to have to sit for trial starting next spring during the heart of the primary season, so it'll just be interesting more than anything else. But I think it also says that our two senators are not endorsing Governor DeSantis. It might be because of DeSantis's, I don't know how to call it, negative overtures to business, fighting with the business community in Florida and not paying much attention as well as some challenging personality issues that Governor DeSantis has.
Lori Walsh:
Right. It feels early to me, Tom Dempster. Is it early or is there no such thing as early anymore?
Tom Dempster:
No, there's nothing early about this at all. This is a huge deal. It sets the stage for other Republicans to follow. It says, "We do." It says, to our two courageous United States senators in South Dakota, that we do not want Donald Trump as our nominee.
It's interesting who they endorsed. Tim Scott.
It's also in interesting who they didn't endorse. This preempts any endorsement of Governor Kristi Noem running for president. It's a huge deal. Hopefully, in my opinion, it opens up the gate for others to follow for sure. Tim Scott is-
Lori Walsh:
To follow with endorsements or to follow with announcements?
Tom Dempster:
To follow with endorsements away from Donald Trump. Donald Trump produces a great deal of angst against normal Republicans who believe that he is not fit for public office and figure that he certainly cannot win the presidential election. Great deal of angst.
This tells me that there's such a thing as hope and dreams in South Dakota politics, and Tim Scott is a guy that can stand at a podium, doesn't need the microphone, fills the entire room. He's a man that is full of hopes and dreams. He says about himself, he says, "I'm a conservative and I'm a Christian, and you may have noticed that I am Black."
He openly talks about the, I think it was last year, the seven times last year that he was stopped by law enforcement for unknown traffic offense. He's one of those politicians. Many many, many politicians, and you see this over and over again, want to be the man or want to be the woman and you can see it in their character for sure. That's not Tim Scott. Tim Scott will take issues square on, face them square on, focus on those priority issues and get everybody in a room working together. No, it's not too early at all for this kind of endorsement. It's very significant. It's huge.
Lori Walsh:
Professor Card, I'm also wondering if Senator Thune and Senator Rounds, but particularly Senator Thune in this case, is also sending a message to the American media after the famously disastrous, I think I can use that adjective, town hall that CNN did with the former President Donald Trump. Is Senator Thune also saying something there that the media should pay attention to?
Mike Card:
I would suspect that it's trying to direct that we need to pay attention to Tom's Senator Scott and that there is hope for our nation and I think just we need to move forward from Donald Trump.
Lori Walsh:
That's what he's saying.
Okay. It also brings up speculation. It closes the door on any endorsement of Governor Kristi Noem, whether she's running for president or vice president, which she has not ever said that she was doing. If you're speculating about Senator Thune running for president, that speculation is over.
Does this open the door, Tom Dempster for speculation about whether Senator Thune could be a vice presidential candidate for Tim Scott?
Tom Dempster:
I hadn't thought about that, Lori. And I think this Senator Thune, as he is shown over and over again, has remarkably talented, has such a high degree of equanimity, shows that you can handle risk, shows that you can handle controversial issues and not let it destroy you. Senator John Thune, I think, can pick and choose and be about whomever he wants to be.
Lori Walsh:
All right. Let's branch out into some other topics and I wanted to ask you, Tom Dempster, about legislative summer studies.
We had Senator Jean Hunhoff on yesterday talking about a long-term care summer committee, and you have been in the State House, State Senate during the years where this has been discussed before. Is it just business as usual to say, "We just talked about this in 2007 or 2008. We're going to talk about it in 2015, 2017 and now here we are in 2023 talking about it again."
But one of the questions I had for her that I'm not sure she could answer because it's speculative is, what's changed? In the past some of these pieces of legislation have been brought forward and lawmakers have voted them down. Is anything different now because we're living with the consequences of some of those bills that didn't pass? Are we just going to be living with them forever? Do you know what I'm asking? Any insight in your personal experience on summer studies and previous long-term care conversations in peer?
Tom Dempster:
Oh, sure. Some problems you never solve. You just manage them.
Lori Walsh:
You just said hope, hope, hope, and now you're just going to say we can't solve it?
Tom Dempster:
I'm saying with a great deal of perseverance and with a great deal of talents that you can manage some problems successfully and the best we're ever going to be able to do with long-term care, because of the way the industry is set up, is try to manage it successfully. The long-term care industry is built very much like our health care industry. It's the insurance companies and those with resources that subsidize those who are not able to pay for their own care. The same thing is true with long-term care. It's a hidden tax on those people who have long-term care insurance and who have the capacity to pay for their own long-term care.
I think the rates that they pay are anywhere—I don't remember what it is, but can be two to three times what the nursing homes pay receive in Medicaid reimbursements. I'm aware of some families, very wealthy, I mean wealthy families with a ton of ranch land and all of that, that have just been stunned at the amount of resources that it took for them to pay for their parents' care because of that subsidy. And the state, of course, is constrained because we, as a state of South Dakota, are unwilling to put more money into Medicaid, more money into long-term care. It's always the push and shove. It's always a balancing act. It will never be solved. Can just hopefully be managed more successful even though what we have.
Lori Walsh:
Yeah. One more topic to quickly address and we'll start with you, Mike Card. Dan Ahlers has been named as the new head of the State Democratic Party. He's a familiar name to a lot of people. He was on the appropriations' committee in the South Dakota State Legislature before, so he has a strong financial background. Any thoughts on the challenges in front of Dan Ahlers that you think we should talk about today?
Mike Card:
Well, the major challenge is the national politics versus local politics that we face in our state and almost every state faces. And even when we're dealing with real individuals, real candidates who we know, we see at the grocery store, we see at church, yet the political parties tend to label each other as the most negative that they can and we don't really find out what they stand for. And so part of Mr. Ahlers' task is going to be get real candidates to run for county commission, for state legislative seats, as well as the more statewide seats to really build the party up as it has been done a number of times in our state previously.
But to recruit candidates, train the candidates, get the candidates to talk about what their personal preferences are, to remind voters of the issues that they share in common, to show appreciation for people who share their stories with the candidates. My own experience has been rather almost humorous to me because I would run ideological questionnaires for students in American government and state and local government, and the students get really frustrated because, "I'm half Democrat. I don't want to be a Democrat." Or, "I'm half Republican. I don't want to be a Republican." And we have big tent parties in South Dakota, but with the infusion of national politics, we tend not to focus on the actual issues. We focus on the party label.
Lori Walsh:
All right. We're going to have to leave it there for now. More on this later. Mike Card and Tom Dempster. Dr. Card, thanks so much for being here with us.
Mike Card:
Thanks for having me.
Lori Walsh:
Senator Dempster. Thank you.
Tom Dempster:
Delighted to be here.
