contact: zawilliams@davidson.edu Created: 9/10/04 Updated: 9/22/04 11:21 AM |
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This page is part of a class assignment at Davidson College
Mike Rounds: A High-Quality Candidate
Could South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds have run for the Senate in 2004? Generally put, a high-quality candidate is someone “who has the skills and resources to run a competitive campaign” (Maisel, Stone, and Maestas 2001, 15). Rounds 's hypothetical Senate candidacy will be evaluated here based on this broad definition.
To begin, Mike Rounds would possess an immediate advantage as Senate candidate since his election to the South Dakota governorship in 2002 has gained him significant name recognition in the state. Moreover, before being elected as governor, Rounds served ten consecutive years in the state Senate before term limits forced him out. During the final six years of his state Senate post, Rounds was Senate majority leader, further elevating his political status in the state and priming him for a run at the governorship in 2002 (www.state.sd.us 2004).
Beyond elected office experience, Mike Rounds’s political skills and characteristics would also qualify him as a quality U.S. Senate candidate from South Dakota. Rounds, described as “the voice of unflinching candor and irrepressible reason,” defied critics and won the 2002 gubernatorial election by running a non-traditional campaign and focusing more on door-to-door tactics and less on get-out-the-vote initiatives (Washington Post 2002). Despite spending only $1,855,685 on his campaign as opposed to the $3,030,994 of one of his competitors, Rounds was able to capture the election by avoiding the negative attack politics of his competitors (followthemoney.org 2004). As a modest real estate/insurance agent and because of his unwillingness to pander to powerful lobby groups for contributions, Rounds was overmatched monetarily but his personal skills and strategy more than made up for this deficiency in the election (Beiler 2002).
Mike Rounds could have also proved a viable candidate in light of his personal beliefs and voting record. As governor, Rounds has increased funding for education in his state where, as of 2002, teacher salaries were the lowest in this country (Beiler 2002). Governor Rounds has also addressed water issues related to the Missouri River, a vital contextual concern in the state. Besides organizing a seven-state summit in 2003 to discuss issues related to the Missouri River, Rounds has fought determinedly for South Dakota’s water interests (Lambrecht 2004). In terms of his personal beliefs, Rounds’s staunch pro-life position has garnered significant public support in conservative South Dakota. Zogby polling showed that 52% of South Dakotans supported a recently failed bill that would have effectively banned most abortions in the state (Woster 2004). Rounds’s affinity for hunting has also resonated well in a region where up to 79% of voters support individual gun rights (zogby.com 2004).
Judging from his political status in the state and his connection with voters on major social and contextual issues, Mike Rounds could be a quality South Dakota candidate for the Senate.
contact: zawilliams@davidson.edu Created: 9/10/04 Updated: 9/22/04 11:21 AM |
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