Water 1 - Canton 0

Canton is in the news again. This time, it's because we're underwater. KELO, KSFY and KDLT are in town covering the flood of Christmas Lake and the people who are fighting it.

Y'know, I forget sometimes that Canton is surrounded by water. We have Christmas Lake on the northeast edge, the Big Sioux River running along the south and Beaver Creek going through the western part of town. And right now, they're all exploding with water. Christmas Lake is the new part of town so I think they might have had less time to deal with flooding than the othe parts of Canton.

The whole town is dealing with this. I came home from work today only to find water in my basement. Other people are dealing with water issues. It's a big mess. But I'm glad to see the community coming together to help everyone out. Gotta love that!

*Note: Picture borrowed from Keloland's website.

If Clinton Wins in SD, Will Our Superdelegates Switch?

So a poll came out that shows Hillary Clinton ahead of Barack Obama in South Dakota. Pretty much all of our superdelegates support Obama, but if Clinton wins will they switch to support her? Around the country, many superdelegates are switching (sometimes reluctantly) depending on how their districts and states vote.

That's going to be a tough decision. Either stay a supporter for the Democratic Party's nominee (*cough*Obama*cough*) or switch to the person a majority of South Dakotan Democrats support (no matter if they're wrong).

And what of Daschle? He's co-chair of Obama's campaign. That would be an awkward conversation.

Obama: You're doing what?

Daschle: Y'see, South Dakota voted for Hillary and I don't want to go against the will of my home state.

Obama: But you work for my campaign. You were one of my earliest supporters.

Daschle: Yeah, sorry about that. We still cool?

Obama: ... Security!

Heh. That's not going to happen, but it was fun to think about. And if Clinton does win in SD tomorrow, it's going to be too little too late. All day I've been hearing rumors about her campaign shutting down tomorrow and 34 superdelegates coming out for Obama in the next couple days (putting him over the top).

So we'll see.

Jim Bolin for District 16 House

(Update: For my current views of Mr. Bolin, please check out this new post.)

I support Republican Jim Bolin for the South Dakota House of Representatives.

Why do I support him? Well, Mr. Bolin was one of my favorite teachers in high school. I have fond memories of his classes, including all the times we tried to get him to tell us stories of his time teaching in Africa. It's safe to say Mr. Bolin played a big role in the person I grew up to be.

But beyond all that, I think he'll make a great legislator. I've been watching him during the past year. He served as a city commissioner in Canton for six months. At that time, the community decided to change the form of government and Mr. Bolin was the only commissioner who stayed. And he was even elected mayor of Canton by the other commissioners.

During his time as a commissioner he fought hard for fiscal responsibility. Remember the hard time Canton had with a previous finance officer screwing up Canton's finances? Well I think one of the reasons Mr. Bolin ran for the commission was to help Canton get back to financial responsibility. He did want to cut spending where he could, but he wasn't a radical conservative in that regard (like, say, Rob Paul). He seemed to think that there were some things worth spending money on, but we need to be responsible with how we do it.

Another reason I think Mr. Bolin will make a great legislator is that he'll listen to people. Even if he disagrees with them, he'll respect them enough to give them a chance to voice their opinion. He has a strong sense of fairness and wants to make sure that every aspect of government treats the citizens fairly.

I was very sad when Mr. Bolin decided not to continue as Canton's mayor, but I hope he'll get into the legislature and do some good.

Mr. Bolin is also a teacher, so hopefully he'll care more than other Republicans about making sure SD's teachers are paid a living wage.

Now Mr. Bolin is a conservative and I'm a liberal, so I know he'll do things I disagree with and say things that frustrate me. Just look at his answers to the Family Policy Council's survey (warning: PDF). It's safe to say I disagree with most of his answers. But, if our legislature runs the way it's supposed to, those won't be the only issues that they will deal with. And I know Mr. Bolin will work hard for everyone in this district and this state. That's the kind of guy he is.

Pat Powers for SD State Senate

PP probably doesn't want to be endorsed by a liberal who just registered with the Democratic Party, but I'm going to do it anyway.

As I've been following the South Dakota blogosphere for the last couple years, there have been a couple people who have stuck out to me as representing what South Dakota is all about. Pat Powers is one of those people. I always enjoy reading his views about issues that are important to South Dakota. I don't always agree with Pat, but you can see that he really cares about what goes on in this state.

There are some issues I agree with PP on, like open government and fiscal responsibility. I see that those issues are ones he's focused on in his campaign. Also, and this is most important, he cares. Reading his posts at SDWC, I can see that he cares deeply about helping people. One of the best examples I found was discussing South Dakota's restitution system. He's had personal experience with the problems in that system and wants to fix it so no one else will have those same problems.

Unfortunately, I don't live in his district nor am I a Republican. But I pray that those who can will vote for Pat Powers tomorrow and also in November.