Does it matter that Curd donated to Daschle and Herseth?

Kevin Woster at the Rapid City Journal wrote today about Republican US House candidates Rep. Kristi Noem and Rep. Blake Curd each having past links to Democrat Senator Tom Daschle.

Woster reports that ten years ago Noem attended a Daschle camp to gather intel. Good for her - that tells me she's not afraid to waltz right into the enemy's camp and grab what they've got. (Relax, I use the term "enemy" in a philosophical sense not personal.)

More significantly, in October 2004, Woster notes that in the eleventh hour of the bitter Daschle v. Thune race, Curd gave Daschle money ($2000). He also gave Herseth (aka Mrs. Sandlin) money in '05 ($1000) before, to paraphrase his statement, he realized his initial impression of her was wrong?! Some are hoping for the best and giving Curd a free pass on these donations, but I'll confess it's one of the reasons I jumped into the race. It's not believable to me that at that point in that year, this was just a wealthy guy paying to play.

The treasure always follows the heart and in October 2004 I and every South Dakota Republican that I know was wholeheartedly engaged in getting John Thune elected. 

Pat Powers at Dakota War College asks if any of this matters and if so is anyone willing to say so and put their name behind what they say. Pat, obviously it matters to me and many who supported me. Does forthrightness and conservative philosophical consistency matter in who we send to Washington? I hope so. I am among many who are tired of politicians morphing themselves into whatever it takes to get elected and then changing back into who they really are once elected. I like Blake but his statement troubles me - that he made the Daschle donation because he was worried about legislation that would affect his own bottom line- I'd rather see someone get elected who has demonstrated they more worried about what's good for America than what is good for themselves?

Earlier this week Kevin Woster asked me a few questions about why I entered/exited the US House race and why I immediately went with Noem and not Curd or Nelson. Though my reasons are multiple, I used the phrase "mystery flavor" to refer to my concerns about Curd being the "Romney" in this race (in terms of being a seeming recent convert to conservatism, having very different political associations just one or two election cycles ago, and propelled forward by vast personal resources). I like Chris Nelson a lot but in terms of the charisma needed to beat Mrs. Sandlin - to keep the ice cream analogy going - Chris could be dubbed "vanilla." In light of the mystery flavor and vanilla, I joked honestly with Woster that I'm aware some would consider me the nut. However, Noem is the closest to the 31 flavors which I deem necessary to be the people's choice this fall.

Those are a few of the things I would have never said as a candidate - my plan on the campaign trail was to show myself strong and articulate on the issues.  But even now, from this vantage point, I don't view this as an "early cannibalizing of other GOP candidates." This is the time we need to size everyone up.