I know this is not a scientific poll, but I thought the comments on the Rapid City Journal's blog about the recent debate between Jack Billion (the Democratic challenger) and Governor Mike Rounds were very interesting. You all probably remember Mike Rounds as the ultraconservative who signed the abortion ban. The reporter who covered it asked readers who they thought won the debate, and more importantly, if they were better off now than four years ago.
Rapid City has a reputation as a conservative town, but most readers said Billion won the debate and that Rounds had done nothing to improve the state economy over the last four years. Here is one comment (and no, none of them are from me)
"Better off than 4 years ago. Nope. Opportunity now compared to 4 years ago. Less. What concerns me though is Rounds inability to listen to the people he works for. Some of the wacky religious right have his ear but for most South Dakotans we're shut out by Rounds. Rounds could offer every citzen $100,000 a year for life and I would not vote for him. My personal freedom and commitment to real open government that is not owned by some special interest group can't be bought."
Comment by Lucille -- 10/6/2006 @ 3:02 pm
All of the comments are available at:
http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/...
There was some really bad press last week for Rounds and the state's largest newspaper endorsed Billion Sunday, in an editorial that was unusually critical of Governor Rounds. There is another debate tomorrow and I think Billion has the momentum as we are now only four weeks away from election day.
The Billion website is http://www.billionforgovernor.com