Democrat fighting history in race for governor

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• Election Central

PIERRE — South Dakota’s campaign for governor began in earnest Wednesday, just hours after Lt. Gov. Dennis Daugaard claimed the Republican nomination. But the state’s political history suggests Democrat Scott Heidepriem faces a tough fight in a GOPdominated state.

Since South Dakota became a state in 1889, it’s had 24 Republican governors and five Democratic ones. A Democrat last occupied the governor’s office 32 years ago.

But Heidepriem, a Sioux Falls lawyer who is the state Senate’s minority leader, said he believes he can win because voters are fed up with a looming budget deficit and a state government that has grown in the eight years Daugaard has been Republican Gov. Mike Rounds’ second in command.

“Which candidate is more likely to solve that problem?” Heidepriem said. “Is it the administration that created it or is it someone who has been a critic of state spending?”

Daugaard, who far outdistanced his four rivals in Tuesday’s vote to win the GOP nomination, has argued that the state’s budget problems can be solved with some commonsense moves.

The lieutenant governor has said he would cut some spending, limit state government growth and use some reserve funds if necessary to balance the budget. But he has noted that state revenues are beginning to rebound after the recession, and South Dakota is in much better financial shape than most other states.

Daugaard expects Heidepriem will run a competitive race.

“I think it’ll be very competitive,” Daugaard said. “Scott will be a strong adversary. He’s very articulate and he’s a good debater as a trial lawyer.”

William Anderson, associate professor of political science at the University of South Dakota, said many strong Democratic candidates have lost in past gubernatorial elections. Heidepriem has a good chance to be competitive this year, he said.

“I think he has a fighting chance,” Anderson said.

Anderson said he believes Daugaard starts the general election campaign with a lead, “but I wouldn’t imagine it would be gigantic.”

Because Heidepriem had no primary opponent, he has spent the past few months running television ads criticizing the Republican approach to running state government, Anderson said.

“It’ll be interesting to see how Heidepriem sort of ties Daugaard to the Rounds administration and the degree to which that ends up being a liability for Daugaard,” Anderson said.

Heidepriem has frequently criticized Rounds for adding approximately 1,300 state employees during the past eight years, and he has blamed Rounds’ policies for causing a budget deficit that could be $100 million or so next year.

Rounds counters that budget problems have stemmed from declining revenue and increased spending on medical care for poor people during the recession. Most of the additional state employees have been hired in higher education to meet increased university enrollment, he said.

Heidepriem said the state cannot justify adding more than 400 employees outside higher education in the past eight years when the recession cost 8,000 South Dakotans their jobs.

Republicans have criticized Heidepriem for seeking to add spending to state budgets in past years. He said he wants to spend more on K-12 education and economic development, but that won’t be possible until spending is cut in the rest of state government.

Heidepriem figures he has a good chance of being the first Democrat to be elected governor in South Dakota since Dick Kneip won in 1974.

“We haven’t had a situation this bad before that I know of” in the past three decades, he said.

Tags: election 2010, dennis daugaard, scott heidepriem, news, state