There will be a Democratic opponent for Kristi Noem in 2012

[existentialist]

There may be several possible opponents. One I know of is Minnehaha County Commissioner Jeff Barth.

He has committed to running unless Stephanie Herseth Sandlin elects to run again and makes her intentions known in a timely manner, in which case he will defer to Stephanie Herseth Sandlin.

As Jeff Barth noted, he got more votes in 2010 than any other Democrat that won in South Dakota in 2010. Of course being in the state's most populous county--a county with more voters than any state legislative district helped.

He also knows that if he is to win he will have to reach out to the rest of the state, and particularly to Indian Country, and he has started initiating feelers for support.

He's a former union leader, and a reasonable person, and about as liberal as we are likely to get in South Dakota. His deference to Stephanie Herseth Sandlin should she choose to run is a recognition of reality rather than an endorsement of her politics.


Some pundits have written off this race to Kristi Noem, but I can't see why. She does not have a high approval rating, she makes lots of stupid statements, she only won by a few thousand votes (and less than a majority in 2010) which was a strong year for Republicans.

If you are at all interested you can contact me and I can help you contact Jeff.

[hfojvt]

1. seems like he is in now

http://www.jeffbarth.com/

another possible candidate is Matt Varilek, who I know nothing about except that he works for Tim Johnson
http://www.facebook.com/draftmatt

[Name removed]

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