I've been a little surprised by the lack of a good challenger here. Thune narrowly won 6 years ago after narrowly losing 6 years earlier. SD isn't that red a state and Thune is about as conservative a senator there is outside the south or upper Rockies. I recall one of his big campaign claims was swearing could keep the state's big airbase open even without the pull of being Minority Leader like Daschle, but sure enough it closed within a year of his election. Surely there's someone other than Sandlin on the Dem. bench who could give this guy a serious run?
What do you mean narrowly losing 6 years earlier. 6 years early Thune was reelected to the House. In 2002, 2 years prior to beating Daschle, he narrowly lost to Tim Johnson.
