I watched this for a bit last evening on the Brookings County Democrat page, and found myself feeling a bit sorry for Spencer Hawley, who as emcee couldn’t up and leave to go do something productive. Instead, he had to sit there while people blathered on about how they would return the South Dakota Democrat Party to greatness.
Current chair Ann Tornberg, John Claussen who is announcing this week, former Congressional Candidate Paula Hawks, perennial losing candidate Tom Cool, Dem Activist Allison Renville & John Cunningham, who apparently sponsored a poster contest, got up and made their case as to why they should be the next to lead the Democrat Party over the next 4 years.
It was painful to watch.
For intros..
You’re treated to Ann Tornberg, looking rather old, trying to bribe her way back to a return to the chairmanship talking about all the staff that have been hired, and all the money spent, and by promising even more spending in funding for counties, and noting a program for Democrats to match candidate money up to $5000. You also get to listen to other people talk about what they did in college…when college was 30 years ago for many of them.
Paula Hawks claims she has ‘personal experience’ as a candidate that she’s offering.. and promises a ‘central message.’ Tom Cool, who has lost 4 races now and is also undergoing fossilization, lamented that the Dem party never organized anything for their statewide candidates.
Then we moved into the candidates who actually stood up for their prsentation.
Bernie Sanders follower Allison Renville talks about hemp, native issues, and legislation and started going on about the electoral college in a context that made no sense. The main point she made was that because Reservations are the bluest counties in SD, Dems should have a Native American as chair.
John Cunningham parroted Dave Knudson’s campaign for Governor, and called himself “a fixer,” and talked about how Democrats have declined in the state, and then argued about math with the other panelists.
The intros were painful enough.. I’ve got the rest running in the background in case anything interesting comes up. But given Democrats electoral success over the past several years with Tornberg, I don’t think there’s any danger of unexpected incidents of ‘interesting..’
The videography is especially entertaining
I would agree!
Unimpressive, but we dare not take them lightly. The Dems’ sizable out-of-state fundraising advantage poses a threat, and Sam Parkinson, their Executive Director, strikes me as effective & professional. Was he rehired or is he a DNC employee? That the SDDP can give each congressional candidate $5000 is cause for concern. Let’s get organized & fight back. If SD Dems solicit money from California, Chicago, and New York, we should counter with donations from Texas, Arizona, Georgia, & Florida. Let’s form a potent regional bloc, partnering with ND, Montana, Nebraska, and Wyoming conservatives. It’s a team game & there’s not a moment to lose.
I agree that we don’t take anything for granted. If an obvious Bernie/Hillary supporter can almost become our governor we cannot rest on our laurels.
Please give Tornberg four more years! FOUR MORE YEARS! FOUR MORE YEARS!
“I’m a social media influencer.” HAHAHA
It WAS a comedy watching this!!
I tried, couldn’t do it. Uggg