I think you need to change your idea bulb, Blake

If this is the kind of campaign Dr. Curd is gonna run, he might as well throw in the towel today;

PIERRE – Republican congressional candidate Blake Curd criticized U.S. Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin on Wednesday for a direct-mail piece that Curd said is a blatant campaign flier mailed at taxpayer expense.

“We shouldn’t have taxpayer money going to somebody’s re-election campaign,” he said.

Huh? A sitting US congressperson asking and telling veterans about government services is a campaign flier?

The piece in question, mailed to veterans, touts Herseth Sandlin’s support of higher wages for military personnel, enhanced G.I. Bill benefits and a 10 percent increase in veterans’ health.

While I can see Curd’s point, it is a stretch at best. There is plenty other things to attack Herseth on besides postage fees. Trust me. Do a little more digging Curd, I’m sure you will find a couple of things.

I don’t know a lot about B. Thomas Making, but I’m glad to see an Indy in the race.

A Custer man said he’s circulating a nominating petition to run as an independent candidate for South Dakota’s U.S. House seat in November.

B. Thomas Marking needs 3,356 valid petition signatures by June 8 to qualify for the ballot.

The 61-year-old Marking said he’s a North Dakota native who spent 28 years working in the federal government before retiring in South Dakota in 1999.

Democratic Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin is running for re-election to the House. Secretary of State Chris Nelson and state Rep. Blake Curd of Sioux Falls seek the Republican nomination.

I found this page to be quite humorous;

The below Democrats voted to kill health care reform in Congress. We can no longer elect people just because they have a ‘D’ next to their name. The PCCC is dedicated to electing bold progressives to Congress in 2010. Sign up to join our cause.

Well, I have known for a long time there is no difference between Demorats and Republicant’s except that Republicans take more lobbying money from the health industry then the Dems do.

No surprise, and to tell you the truth, I would probably vote against it to. If you are gonna have a public option it should be available TO EVERYONE in EVERY STATE.

U.S. Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin said she will oppose a historic health care bill now before the House, she said moments ago.

“It is not the right answer for South Dakota,” she said.

On a side note, yah gotta love the Health Insurance ad on the page of the story.

Why don’t you just switch your party affiliation already and get it over with;

Via Ezra Klein, this heartening news. As Howard Dean said, there’s simply no point without a good public option:

According to Congress Daily, the CBO says attaching the public plan to Medicare rates will save even more money than originally thought:

In a bid to wrangle concessions from the Blue Dog Coalition on healthcare reform, House leaders Thursday released CBO estimates for liberals’ preferred version of the public option that show $85 billion more in savings than for the version the Blue Dogs prefer.

Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, D-S.D., a Blue Dog co-chair, said any possible new momentum toward a public option tethered to Medicare rates is, in part, “because of the cost issue” and the updated CBO score.

The original House bill required the public plan to pay providers 5 percent more than Medicare reimbursement rates. But as part of a package of concessions to Blue Dogs, the House Energy and Commerce Committee accepted an amendment that requires the HHS Secretary to negotiate rates with providers. That version of the plan will save only $25 billion.

In total, a public plan based on Medicare rates would save $110 billion over 10 years. That is $20 billion more than earlier estimates, a spokesman for House Speaker Pelosi said.

In other words, the conservatives want to spend $85 billion more than the liberals do. Moreover, the CBO is estimating savings to the government. That is to say, the $85 billion reflects reduced federal spending on subsidies because premiums in the public plan will be lower. Savings to individuals and businesses paying lower premiums will be much larger than $85 billion, and politically, much more important.

It is about time the AL weighed in on death panels and how freaking ridiculous they are, just wondering what took them so long? The National MSM has been explaining this for weeks;

Fiction

 The bill does not mandate that such discussions occur. It merely requires Medicare to pay for them. 

 

 

 Nor does the bill set the decision about what kind of care is necessary before a government panel or to a government standard.

She said she would be more likely to accept some form of cooperative health care coverage, like that being proposed by Sen. Kent Conrad, a North Dakota Democrat. Conrad has said that health care cooperatives, similar to electric, telephone and farm cooperatives, would be consumer-owned nonprofits. 

While I can understand her argument for the CO-OPs, I don’t agree with them. All we are doing is creating another healthcare beaureracy, something we already have with private health insurance. If we are going to create something like this, we might as well let the government do it. We already have Medicare, Medicade and the VA in place, we can build from those. Healthcare reform isn’t like a bunch of farmers selling grain.

I encourage everyone to watch the whole video. Steffy sounds more and more like a Republican everyday. Of course she has had a lot of practice, she is a Democrat after all.

Though I think most of the people whining and bitching at the healthcare townhalls across the country are misinformed and, well, f’ing stupid, I still support their right to dissent. For those of us that were against the failed experiment in Iraq, we should have been this vocal. But I see, our Washington delegation is chickening out as usual and not holding any public meetings.

Sen. Tim Johnson and Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin would be most likely to bear the brunt of any angry opposition to the health reform plans driven by their party leaders in Congress. But they won’t be holding any town halls on the subject.

I think the best way would be to get all 3 of them on a stage together so they can hear it from both sides, I know I have a few things I would love to ask all 3 of them. No surprise though, especially from Johnson (Mr. dodge debates). I remember last 4th of July when he was running he was in the SF parade and a certain poster here (wink-wink) approached him before the parade started and very politely asked him NOT to support FISA. Him and his wife acted surprised that a constituent would encoste him before the parade. They act like they are freaking untouchable. We elected you, it is time you listen to us, even the batshit crazy ones among us.

Though the Republicans think this gives them the advantage, they couldn’t be more wrong;

As a Republican, admittedly you’ve got to love it.  Herseth Sandlin’s prognostication is going to make it all that much easier for whomever the Republican candidates is (and I have my own thoughts on that), because by the time she makes up her mind and chooses congress as I’d anticipate her to, Heidepreim won’t be able to build up more than a warm simmer, as opposed to anything approaching a head of steam.

And of course Pity Pat Powers who thinks smoking weed is worse for you then breathing second hand smoke in bars (oh the hypocrisy) is going to rip on the Democrats, he is Munsterman’s campaign manager. It’s kind of like a cigarette company executive telling you that cigarette’s don’t cause cancer.

Even the great Woster is stirring up controversy;

“Her taking so long is important to the extent that it keeps other candidates waiting, which shortens the time they could use for fund raising,” Schaff said. “It is true that early money is key for candidates, as it gives the impression that one is a credible candidate, making it easier to raise money down the line.”

I couldn’t disagree more. Even if Steffy decides not to run, I think it is a brilliant political move by the SD Democrats, I don’t often give them credit, but I think Steffy is purposedly dragging her feet. See, while four well known Republicans compete for donations, and beat each other up before the primaries the Democrats will probably just pick one candidate and avoiding the primaries all together. It will show that the Democrats are not only united but that when it comes to donations, they won’t be split up amongst a bunch of candidates. You have to realize, the election is over 16 months away. Patience grasshopper.