Republican Sen. John Thune has played a starring role in two of the last three Senate races in the state. Both were intense, competitive contests that garnered national attention. As Thune begins his campaign for a second term, it appears that the contest will be anything but competitive.
Thune first ran for the state’s open At-large congressional seat in 1996. He defeated the sitting Lieutenant Governor in the primary and went on to win the general election with 58 percent. He took 75 percent in 1998 and 73 percent in 2000. In 2002, Thune decided to challenge Democratic incumbent Sen. Tim Johnson, who was seeking re-election to a second term. The contest was hard-fought, and Johnson prevailed by just 424 votes. Thune did not contest the results, opting to preserve his political viabilty.
After the election, Thune opened his own consulting firm and became of counsel to a Washington law firm. A year later, he announced that he would challenge Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle in 2004. If the Johnson-Thune race was hard-fought, the Daschle-Thune battle was epic. It attracted
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