Saturday was a great day in Mitchell, South Dakota. Bill Clinton and most of South Dakota's political figures were in town to dedicate the new George and Eleanor McGovern Library at Dakota Wesleyan University. It was really inspirational to hear about his lifetime of public service, including his grassroots efforts to organize in a state dominated by the Republican party. The only problem was that Eleanor McGovern was unable to attend the ceremony because of health problems.
The early part of George McGovern's career reminds me a lot of today's 50 State Strategy. When he started organizing in the 1950's, Democrats only had two of the 105 seats in the state legislature. By the 1970's, South Dakota had elected a Democratic governor, two Democratic Senators and Democrats were in the majority in both legislative houses.
Today the Republicans have large majorities in both houses today, and we have a very conservative governor in Mike Rounds. But everybody on this site knows that this is a long term process, and this year, there are more Democratic candidates in state legislative races than in any recent year. We also have a very progressive gubernatorial candidate in Jack Billion. So I think we are making progress here in South Dakota, and hopefully we will elect a Democratic governor this year like Wyoming and Montana have done recently.
The Argus Leader had a good summary of Saturday's dedication: http://www.argusleader.com/...
Jack Billion's website is http://www.billionforgovernor.com