Is Billie Sutton trying to extend his “Best Used by” date?

If you recall the seemingly never-ending series of e-mails that had been blasting out from Billie Sutton:

As well as news stories regarding his future:

Sutton said his gubernatorial campaign doesn’t have any debt and his fundraising efforts come as he’s heard encouragement to stay engaged and think of ways to “have an impact moving forward.” Sutton said his goal is to bring people together in an age of hyper-partisanship.

Sutton didn’t share how much he’s raised since the election, and the next campaign finance reporting isn’t due until January. Sutton, 34, said it’s too early to tell whether he’d run against incoming U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson or U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds in 2020 and he hasn’t thought seriously about opting for a rematch against Noem in 2022.

and…

Republican strategist Jason Glodt in a statement called Sutton’s fundraising emails “unusual,” saying he should be more open with voters about his intentions since he’s seeking money.

Read that here.

It’s hard to tell from the latest campaign finance report how much of Sutton’s fundraising came in after he lost the election, but the heavy fundraising may have been done to bankroll his efforts at maintaining a profile.

Consider this firmly in the realm of rumor, but the rumors swirling in Democrat circles are that Sutton isn’t necessarily looking to jump into a race he can’t win against Mike Rounds for US Senate. But rather I’m being told that Sutton is interested in a rematch against now Governor Kristi Noem. A campaign that would start in 3 years.

Seriously. That’s what I heard.

The problem with that scenario is that Sutton lost for a reason, and like a gas station sandwich, his handlers can attempt a lot of things to stop the march of time, but there are reasons a majority of South Dakotans didn’t pick him in that race, and a candidate who lost an election goes stale pretty quickly.

Then again, if you’re a Democrat in South Dakota you’ve got what you’ve got. Even if it was the same gas station sandwich you saw on the shelf when you passed by 3 years earlier.

24 thoughts on “Is Billie Sutton trying to extend his “Best Used by” date?”

  1. He lost by less than 4%. If Noem does a crappy job and/or turns off just a handful of people, and especially if Trump loses in 2020, he could swing it his way. I’d say he has a better chance in that race than a Senate race.

    1. Really?

      For your scenario, you’re assuming stagnation to backsliding in addition to the state having a continual fascination with someone who just lost an election. Don’t forget Herseth-Sandlin lost by 2.2%.

      in 2022, Kristi will not have a hard fought primary, and if perchance she was facing Billie, she would not have to spend as much money to point out as much that Billie is a “Bernie Sanders” lovin’ cowboy.

      It would be a far different race, and not to Billie’s favor.

      1. Maybe. Lots could happen in four years. Economy could be in the dump, teachers could be stuck at their same crappy wages, there could be a progressive dem in the white house. Kristi might also become complacent.

        Good point on her not having to work as hard to smear his name though, that could pay off a second time.

        1. “teachers could be stuck at their same crappy wages” As a teacher, I do not consider my wages “crappy”. As a matter of fact, I would wager that in South Dakota if you look at the average salaries of the people in most of the towns, they are probably in the top 10%. This does not include the other benefits paid by the school district such as a matching pension fund and health insurance. So if you are a teacher, if you think your wages are “crappy”, you should probably seek another career. If you are not a teacher, please do lump me into that mentality. I for one believe we are fairly compensated.

            1. I looked up the hours in a school year for SD. It is about 960 hours for middle and high school, and less for elementary and kindergarten. A teacher making 30,000 per year would thus be making about $30 plus an hour. If you add in extra hours worked at 1200 per year, the hourly rate is about $25. These are not crappy wages for South Dakota. There are many state employees making less than this and working year round.

              1. Using math to back up an argument; how logical. I don’t know that Anonymous 12:22 will be able to understand the figures, though; he/she is probably of the 1984 school of math where 2 + 2=5.

            2. Springer below argues some of the points I would have made. In addition, as teachers we get another 5% added to our retirement account. Also, how many industries allows a person to retire as early as 53 and receive a pension? I plan to retire this year, but that does not mean I am done working. I will have a nice supplement to add to whatever I earn. I have a good health insurance program that is included in my compensation. Half of May, June, July and half of August are also nice.

          1. I totally agree with duggersd, in most small towns and counties the teachers are among the very best paid. I have a college degree and lots of experience and have never made $30,000. Plus most have the summers off to get another job or to loaf.

          2. Duggersd, duggersd, don’t you know that you aren’t making nearly enough? Let the Democrat/Socialists enlighten you as to how bad your life is and how they can make it better.

        2. He smeared his own name by professing his admiration for the socialist Sanders. Admitting you like socialism makes you look like a freedom-hating person who thinks people shouldn’t be responsible for themselves.

          Whatever race he enters I will do whatever I can to make sure people know that a cowboy hat don’t mean you have any common sense.

  2. He’s running….for something. As a conservative pro-life Democrat he should not be discounted. He’s the only future that the S.D. Democrats have right now. Trump will likely be ousted in the next election. We’ll be seeing a free-for-all throughout the political spectrum. Anything could happen.

    1. The problem is he’s not as much of a ‘conservative pro-life’ Democrat as his handlers would portray.

      1. The Democrats are dividing just like the Republicans. Billy can help restore the party, there will be a struggle. That was a rookie mistake opening the door for Kristi to paint him as a socialist.

    2. Well, he proclaimed to be conservative but his voting record shows otherwise EXCEPT for his last year. His conservative scores for his first seven years BEFORE he decided to run for governor showed him in the 30-40’ish percentile of the ACU scorecard. Oh, but while running for governor, he magically jumped up to the 70th percentile. He’s a chamelion… IF he should be naive enough to make a second run (and will only when listening to his internal circle thinking it’s “alot” of people), his ‘not so conservative’ side will be much more easily demonstrated if he’s already not a forgotten D in the state by then…

    1. Billie Boy’s own words can be taken as fact unless he is a liar. But, he is a Democrat, so that IS a possibility.

  3. When you look at 2022, I think the one thing that we must consider, is that the misogyny benefit, that Sutton had in 2018, because some voters – especially conservative male voters – would not vote for a woman for governor will not be there in 2022; because Noem’s mere incumbency will for the most part erase that issue in 2022. And when you take that advantage away from Sutton – an advantage which is not the Sutton camp’s fault – then what you have in 2022 is a more favorable political climate for Noem in ’22 than 2018, unless the Trump economy falters and offers a new issue for Sutton in 2022.

  4. JKC,

    Gallup, Pew, Nate Silver or someone did a study on mysogyny, mysandry, whites voting for whites, blacks voting for blacks, irish for irish, germans for germans.

    The conclusion asserted:The bias favors who is perceived as the disadvantaged.

    1) Mysogony vs. mysandry: Advantage woman. Its the glass ceiling thing. Plus there are more absolute # of women voters. Thus, by your logic, the next election actually hurts Noem as there was likely more net-net voters that moved to her this time and will be less motivated since the ceiling was crashed.
    2) Race: On a percentage basis, it skews to Blacks. However, if the Black population is of such a small absolute #, it can skew to the Whites. In South Dakota, the applicable race likely Indians regarding th % but the absolute number in most districts is such to be a non-factor in SD.
    3) Nationality: Has faded as an influence except where a significant % of the population is first generation Americans and there is overt hostility in the area.
    4) In all of the above, it is only relevant in the closest of elections because the net-net number is usually quite small.

    In short, Noem’s incumbency will trump (pun intended) all other factors. If she does a good job, nothing else matters, including the national economy. And, maybe especially the national economy because the Dem candidate might be tempted to go Sanders-Harris crazy and that will be a bridge too far.

    1. Noem’s weakest showings, with the exception of having to run against an incumbent in ’10, were against men.

      Democratic women, who are candidates, do not experience this as much because the problem generally found in the Republican and not the Democratic base.

  5. Firstly, people need to remember that whatever a candidate raises but doesn’t spend ‘essentially’ can be converted to their own pockets, if I’m not mistaken. Duane Sands R-ND did this for years and maybe still is…

    Secondly, Kristi is way too motivated and will do such a great job, there will be no way a D of any sort could win against her. I say that not as a die hard R but rather based on her pure motivation and desire to be a servant to the state. You may not ‘like’ her or everything about her but she will do right by our state without a doubt and in time, I believe it will be so clearly evident.

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