01-08-1997
1998 ELECTIONS - SOUTH DAKOTA SENATE: AKER PLANS RACE AGAINST DASCHLE
State Sen. Alan Aker (R) said he intends to challenge pro-
choice Senate Min. Leader Tom Daschle (D), becoming the first
GOPer to do so. Aker: "I've let every Republican Party person
know who should know. ... It's not a secret. ... Ultimately, the
party has to decide if they feel they have a better candidate
than me and I have to let them have a good look at me, because
I'm not so well known east of the Missouri River." Aker intends
to hit Daschle on "partial-birth" abortions, the balanced budget
amendment and term limits, and believes Daschle will be
"especially vulnerable" in '98, when Pres. Clinton is midway
through his second term (Mercer, RAPID CITY JOURNAL, 1/7).
THUNE BALLOON: Whether another GOPer intends to announce
against Daschle "remains unclear," but Aker said that would not
dissuade him from running: "I'd be willing to run in a party
primary election. I can think of very few people who would cause
me to step out if they were running." He said one exception
would be newly-elected pro-life Rep. John Thune (R-At Large).
Thune has not "publicly indicated any interest" in running, but
has "promised" to remain in the House no longer than six years.
Thune's term-limit pledge puts him "on a timetable for a possible
challenge" to newly-elected pro-choice/anti-funding Sen. Tim
Johnson (D) in 2002. Thune, on a '98 Senate run: "Right now
nothing could be further from my mind. ... I don't have any such
intentions." Thune added that he believed Aker would "present an
interesting contrast" to Daschle, "both philosophically and
professionally": "Alan would be a very viable candidate. I don't
know who else might be interested. Now is the time to be
thinking about it if someone is." Aker said that Thune's defeat
of ex-Daschle aide Rick Weiland (D), who declared himself a
"Daschle Democrat," was "a signal of potential weakness" for the
Senate Dem leader (RAPID CITY JOURNAL, 1/7).
The Abortion Report
