Thune, With No Major Challenge, Raises $1 Million In 1st Q
Sen. John Thune (R) reports raising more than $1 million in the first three months of 2010, boosting his warchest to over $6.5 million as he runs for a second term in South Dakota.
Thune's fundraising takes on an added significance given that Democrats failed to field a single candidate for the office. There is a June 8 deadline for other independent candidates to file, and his campaign talks of the potential for a liberal netroots-fueled challenger. But realistically, Thune boasts an impressive warchest with little reason to spend much of it on his own race, which can only further fuel talk of a 2012 run.
Thune steadfastly refuses to talk about 2012, saying he's focused only on 2010. To that point, he was notably absent from last weekend's Southern Republican Leadership Conference, choosing instead to stay home for party-building activities like county GOP dinners. As chair of the Senate Republican Policy Committee, he's also beefing up his issue portfolio, with a particular focus on fiscal issues.
But his warchest gives him some options in setting the stage for a national campaign. Thune, who first took his Senate seat by knocking out the sitting Senate Minority Leader, will now be active in Republican efforts to retake a Senate majority. Indeed, an adviser says he plans to be active in the coming year supporting other Republican candidates across the country, specifically mentioning the campaign of John Hoeven in North Dakota.
Thune would also be expected to help the party in his home state. South Dakota features a potential GOP pickup opportunity in the at-large Congressional race, with Democrat Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin facing her first major threat in years. The state's governorship is open, with any of the three major Republicans candidates would also benefit from Thune's generosity.
Thune's Heartland Values PAC has already been active, endorsing and contributing to candidates including Kelly Ayotte in New Hampshire, Jim DeMint in South Carolina and Chuck Grassley in Iowa. He will likely be an active campaigner regardless of whether he contributes broadly, and he can be a fundraising draw for these campaigns without opening his own wallet, while at the same time testing the waters in critical early primary states.
In 2006, Hillary Clinton spent heavily on her re-election race, hoping to demonstrate strength heading into a 2008 White House run. Without opposition, Thune likely can't justify the same kind of spending binge on his own race. But his ultimate strength as 2012 darkhorse is that he can plant the seeds for a 2012 run with some cleverly-targeted spending in his own back yard.
The Sioux Falls television market in South Dakota covers most of the eastern swath of the state. But it also extends into two counties in Iowa, which borders Thune's home state to the southeast. South Dakota's Union County is also part of the Sioux City, Iowa, coverage area, a market that covers the heavily Republican northwest portion of the state (McCain won a whopping 80 percent of the vote in Sioux County). Combined, these 15 counties accounted for more than 10 percent of the Iowa caucus votes cast in 2008.