schools ins and south dakota, western south dakota. this is good for south dakota. it is good for america because it allows us to continue with creating an energy independent country. keystone xl pipeline brings not just canadian oil done, but also 100,000 barrels of north dakota crude. as 10 unit trains -- that is 10 unit trains where we will not be taking oil out of north dakota, and it makes it available for bringing crane at of south dakota. some people will say that is a drop in the bucket. right now we will have more and il developed in north dakota. these farmers and ranchers in south dakota will get less on a bushel basis. here's what is happening. all the interchanges going east of you are filled with trains coming out of north dakota that are filling them up, blocking the way so our trains cannot get to where they would normally go to job off corn. we have corn, wheat, soybeans sitting on the ground. in order to move it, it used to take two weeks to get our grain from south dakota to where they would drop it, and now takes two weeks, which means our produc

senator from south dakota. now a debate for an open u.s. senate seat in south dakota. democrats which -- rick weiland is running against mike rounds. there are two independents in the race larry pressler and gordon howie both former republicans. >> moderators.jorgensen and ben dunsmore. >> good evening welcome to this special report. over the next hour you will hear from the four candidates vying for south dakota's open seat in the u.s. senate. >> moderator: this is a free-flowing conversation with the candidates. only the opening and closing statements will be timed so republican mike rounds democratic rick weiland independent larry pressler independent larry pressler an independent court and how we should have plenty of time to answer and respond to questions. >> moderator: we want to remind the participants we may jump in at times during a conversation if it gets off track and move the conversation along or you can ask a follow-up question. we do numbers before we went on air to determine the order tonight's opening statements in the seating arrangement. we will beg

south dakota and the south dakota newspaper association. we have teamed up to bring you south dakota's gubernatorial debate. here are the rules and the instructions. each candidate will have a one

in western south dakota. this is good for south dakota and also good for america because it allows us to continue creating an energy independent country. keystone xl pipeline brings not just canadian oil down but also 100,000 barrels of north dakota crude. that's trained we won't have to be taking oil out of north dakota and that makes it available for bringing grain out of south dakota. some people would say that's just a drop in the bucket but right now we have more and more oil developed and north dakota. during the same time these farmers and ranchers along the rail lines in south dakota are getting less on a per bushel basis than they would otherwise. here's what's happening. i'll be interchange is a severe filled with trains going to north dakota that are blocking the way so our trains can't get to where they normally go to drop off corn. we have corn sitting on the ground in me sitting on the ground and soybeans sitting on the ground. it will take two weeks to get our grain from south dakota to where t

2014 brought to you by south dakota public broadcasting, aarp's south dakota, and the south dakota newspaperociation. we have teamed up to bring you south dakota gubernatorial debate. and tonight's moderator. here are their rules and instructions. each candidate will have a 1-minute opening statement. each candidate will have the opportunity for a one minute closing statement at the end of the debate. the questions have been solicited from the friends of south dakota public broadcasting, members of the aarp south dakota, and members of the south dakota newspaper association. i will ask the questions on behalf of all three partners we do ask that each candidate limit their answers to 90 seconds or less. each candidate will have 30 seconds for a rebuttal, should they feel they needed, and each candidate will have equal opportunity to respond to all questions. let's meet our candidates. republican candidates governor dennis daugaard, independent candidate michael myers, democratic candidate state representative susan wismer. welcome to all of you, and thank you for participating in tonight's de

aarp south dakota, and members of the south dakota newspaper association.l ask the questions on behalf of all three partners we do ask that each candidate limit their answers to 90 seconds or less. each candidate will have 30 seconds for a rebuttal, should they feel they needed, and each candidate will have equal opportunity to respond to all questions. let's meet our candidates. republican candidates governor dennis daugaard, independent candidate michael myers, democratic candidate state representative susan wismer. welcome to all of you, and thank you for participating in tonight's debate. names were drawn to determine the order of our opening statement. that order will be covered under dennis daugaard, then 91, followed by representative susan wismer. governor, you have one minute and can begin. daugaard: thank you, susan. four years ago i came asking for a job, and you gave me a big one. a lot has changed since then my family has grown. a lot more has changed. together we balance the budget without using gimmicks or raising taxes. we stood up to record

and absent that, i believe south dakota once again loses. it is time for south dakota to win. and my conservative traditional values represent a win for south dakota. >> we will now move on to the question and answer portion of tonight's debate. names were again drawn to determine the order. after the first round of questions we'll then rotate who goes first. mr. rounds you'll get to begin with this first question as it comes up. again, these were all taken from south dakotaens. eb 5 is a federal program designed to improve rural economic development. if properly administered does this federal program have merit? should it continue, be overhauled or shut down? please explain. >> any federal has an opportunity to be g proved. this particular program in south dakota was a tool for economic development. $600 million in investment opportunities to people in south dakota, dozens of projects from daries to power center entertainment and even processing. over 50,000 jobs created but it can be made better. as a united states senator i have a real interest in improving at the federal l

many people in south dakota think that's a joke.'s nothing bipartisan about pressler and never has weil an received support to the tune of millions of dollars. rounds is in the lead so far at 35%. pressler is polling second at 32% and wyeland is gaining up to 28%. and rounds is only candidate supporting the keystone excel pipeline. both weiland and pressler are against it. he has deep, conservative roots close to the pea party. on wednesday the democratic senorial campaign committee announced it's in play. they're going to spend $1 million on this race. the may day pac announced they'll also be spending $1 million in supporting rick weiland and supporting big money. this will keep weiland on the air in south dakota until the election and that's been a problem for the democrats to run the table. earlier today i was on the ground in south dakota to size up the the race. here in south dakota the rick weiland take it it back campaign is hoping history repeats itself. it was back in 2002 when tim johnson twont bed down 3700 votes and wok

up until now, south dakota was best known as the dakota that 'doesn't' have fargo, which is in northakota, which is, of course, famous for the movie. "fargo" which takes place in minnesota. (laughter) but south dakota just got south interesting. >> in south dakota, which was on no one's radar screen, now we're looking at a tight race. >> republican mike rounds, who has been leading by double digits, now holds only a three-point lead over independent candidate larry pressler. >> it's potentially a game changer for the republicans and the democrats because if the republicans lose this seat, i don't think they can win back control of the senate. >> suddenly, there's a three-way race there. >> it's a three-way race. >> stephen: yes, south dakota is a three-way race. nothing new to the state. there's still a four-way race for president on mt. rushmore. south dakota was supposed to be an easy pickup for the republicans on their way to a senate majority. but now it's a dead heat between these three candidates, who are making their final pitch for campaign cash -- or whatever currency they u

senator from south dakota as a republican. when he lost his senate seat, he was the only incumbent republican. in 1998, he announced he was seriously thinking about running for mayor of washington, d.c. really? washington, d.c.? mostly black and probably the most democratic pollty in the nation. why would they elect a former white republican senator from south dakota? it was never explained as part of the rationale for his candidacy, but it was explained that it was pretty sure he could win the candidacy because he said, quote, i have a lot of african american friends. >>> despite the strength of that case, he was not elected mayor of washington, d.c. but, hey, maybe this year he's about to be elected senator from south dakota then. the recent poll is a survey u.s. poll. the latest survey which just came out does show the republican who's supposed to be a shoe in for this race with a grand total of 35% of the vote. larry presler comes within 32%. and unlike georgia, louisiana, in south dakota, there's no runoff. so whoever win

in your case of south dakota, a case is, working its way through the courts. marriage in south do ke dakota? >> absolutely. i don't believe in discrimination of any kind and i think people should be able to marry who they love. >> and with the confirmation of supreme court justices, would it be an absolute must for you that a supreme court nominee affirm roe v. wade? could you vote for a supreme court nominee who does not promise to uphold roe? >> well, you know, i know that both mike rounds, my republican opponent, and larry pressler, are in favor of overturning roe v. wade. i don't support that. this court did decide that decision and we need to keep abortion safe and legal and hopefully rare. >> what about the issue of immigration? this is a comprehensive bill that made it through the senate last year and stalled in the house t provided for a path to citizenship, the undocumented who are here. it's a multistep process but ultimately it could provide citizenship. do you favor the concept of a path to citizenship for the undocumented who are here now? >> yeah,

i spent last week in iowa and in south dakota. in the hawkeye state, new polls shows joni ernst slipping to a one-point lead over congress and bruce braley, mike rounds is sinking like a rock in his bid to fill senator tim johnson's seat. prairie pop you list rick wallace former senator and so-called independent larry pressler brings up of here. >> these put in over $2 million into this race. the dscc put money work that, hammering rounds for his questionable handling of the eb-5 program. >> you've had heard about mike rounds citizenship for sale schemes, the fallout, the investigations, turns out there's more. after using a beef packing plant to sell citizenship to wealthy chinese investors, rounds gave special tax breaks to a shady offshore corporation to keep the scheme afloat. mike rounds, schemes, special favors, vargz, the commit aye is responsible for the content of this advertising. >> what is the eb-5 program? it gets very little media attention. eb-a allows foreigners to obtain u.s. green cards by investing a minimum of

i want south dakota to select me as independent. for the first time, there will be a force to work with democrats and republicans. so we would finally start getting some votes going. now we have to give credit to bill clinton. i have been critical of premises -- president obama and also republicans. let's remember republican senators vote for higher deficits because they vote for corporate subsidies. -- the way we are building of the deficit. recently, i would have voted up an increase in the gas tax. we are adding on to the deficit. and roads are not being repaired meanwhile. >> that is time. you get gonads. -- you get to go next. shutting down the federal government, for reasons that we did not get our way on a piece of legislation, or threaten to andult off the good faith credit of our government. i have not gotten any response from candidates in the race. too not think that is a way run a government or a railroad or a business. with thatw happen shutdown is that it ended up government $24 billion, which is what they were shuttin

he graduated from south dakota state university and the university of south dakota law school. from 1973 through 1990, he was a state's attorney and prosecuted hundreds of felony cases. he served as the chief deputy attorney general for south dakota. in 2002 was elected t eed the s dakota attorney general. he has been a judge since then. he created the 24/7 sobriety program you will hear about today. it's a zero tolerance program for alcohol abusing offenders that give them a chance to dry out and walk right without going to prison. it has been recognized as being effective, efficient and humane. in 2008, council of state governments saw the merit in the program by awarding it an innovations award. the institute for behavior and health awarded it the john p. mcgovern award in 2009. the national highway traffic safety administration gave it the life savosaver's award in 2. to his left is the honorable stephen ohm. judge ohm is a former prosecutor and now sits as a judge in hawaii. from 1994 to 2001, he was the united states attorney for the district of hawaii. he took the bench

south dakota? >> getting rid of bad actors like governor daugaard and those previously but when i'm governor i'm going to appoint a special independent attorney and send out those invitations. i want governor daugaard and others to come in under oath we -- we have had no testimony under a. i gave testimony in front of a committee. i was ruled out of order. y? -- why? because i was pushing them to issue subpoenas and the governor i will try to accomplish that. >> we have some time for rebuttals representative wismer you have 30 seconds. >> it is important for the citizens of south dakota to know this governor did learn about litigation regarding the activities he had taken in a separate signing of the contract. his office was apprised of that in february 2009. also, it is important to wonder why this administration did not hire richard benda. why was that? also this administration did not stop the activity until just one year ago. >> governor daugaard you have time for rebuttal. >> it is important t

south dakota. democrats all of a sudden think they can maybe win in south dakota. democratic party announced a million dollar ad buy there. and in south dakota, a million dollars goes a long way. what just happened in south dakota of all places to put that race on the map for the democrats? and how much more scrambled is the map going to get over the next 27 very confusing days? woo-hoo. joining us is the great steve carnacy. thank you for being here. >> sure. >> what happened in south dakota to put it on the map? >> the public poll came out. it's a three-way race. so mike rounds, 35%. there's the wild card larry pressler. a three-term republican senator. he lost the seat to tim johnson in 1996. he's now running again as an independent. 32 and rick weiland at 28. democrats looked at this and took their own polling and they looked at this and said, everybody, our party, the republicans, everybody in politics has been assuming mike rounds, south dakota, republican, 2014, he's going to win with ease. this is real. we're a month out and this is a competitive race. wher

>> well, 24/7 is operational in south dakota. it's operational in north dakota. and it's operational a in montana. there are pilot projects that are currently in various stages of development in i think 10 or 12 other states. there's a pilot project going on in london, interestingly enough. i've been trying to get a free plane ticket to go to london. to speak. i haven't been able to pull that off yet. but i'm still trying. i've had this discussion with some of the folks from nhtsa several times. and there is a concern that south dakota is a rural program, because it works in south dakota, it works in north dakota, it works in montana, which are large rural states. but my advice to anybody is, pick a city and try it. start small, pick a small area in a big city, and see if you can make it work. there will be problems that you will run into that i haven't thought about. if you simply run into the problems and decide you're going to fix them, then it will work. that's how we started the 24/7 program. we knew there were going to be problems, we just couldn't anticipa

he served as the chief deputy attorney general for south dakota. in 2002 was elected t eed the s dakota attorney general. he has been a judge since then. he created the 24/7 sobriety program you will hear about today. it's a zero tolerance program for alcohol abusing offenders that give them a chance to dry out and walk right without going to prison. it has been recognized as being effective, efficient and humane. in 2008, council of state governments saw the merit in the program by awarding it an innovations award. the institute for behavior and health awarded it the john p. mcgovern award in 2009. the national highway traffic safety administration gave it the life savosaver's award in 2. to his left is the honorable stephen ohm. judge ohm is a former prosecutor and now sits as a judge in hawaii. from 1994 to 2001, he was the united states attorney for the district of hawaii. he took the bench in 2001 and has been a circuit judge in honolulu ever since. in that capacity, he established the hope program as means of using probation aggressive drug te

eb-5 scandal that drew them into south dakota.as pretty vulnerable, but all the things you say you do mention you support, is on the democratic platform. why haven't they supported you, rick? >> i think they from the very beginning were basically pouting that they didn't get their candidate in the race. >> who do they want? >> i wasn't the guy. harry reid said that i wasn't his choice many times. he's done a lot to basically slow down my campaign, dry up my funding, and i tell you what, this is my national party too. we need to take it back, and that's what i'm talking about in this campaign. they should be in there helping me. they should be not in south dakota trying to hurt me. >> what has harry reid done to dry up your funding. what you do you mean by that? everything from saying south dakota is a lost cause, you know. within a week of them cometic in and announcing their big $1 million campaign in south dakota, his staff, whether it was his senate staff or political committee staff, we saying south dakota is a lost cause. tom

south dakota has broken out into a three-way contest.r governor mike brown was a shoe in to pick up the senate seat for the party now the eb 5 scandal has rocked his chances for win, the program allows foreign investors to by citizenship at $500,000 a pop and the money is invested in businesses intended to create job but didn't happen. money went missing in south dakota under then governor mike brown, the sit zcitizens are st feeling $1.5 million fall out. >> the plant closed and within a month 20 apartments vacated. the employees didn't have any ties to the city so they up and left. >> the prong was championed by rounds but the former governor says he had no involvement with the deal but a new report tells a much different story. the founder for the firm says he met with the governor brown and officials about the plant. rounds has no recollection according to a spokesperson. mike rounds has already submitted inaccurate testimony. voters are starting to get the full picture of what put their economy in danger, especially in aberdeen. tha

south dakota ranks in the bottom for teacher pay and is dwarfed by all neighboring states. could you concisely answer how you plan to improve south dakota education system for teachers? and this comes from travis in rapid city. myers: i come down to parent teacher control. my daughter worked as a teacher up in central, drove the bus to monitor the halls, broke up fights and the playground, did it all. and the mandate that comedown from common core and so one dictate at different kind of way to teach. we need better funding.

so you have independents in kansas all of a sudden coming out of nowhere. >> and k.d. -- south dakotaf all -- gwen: tell us about south dakota. >> an extremely red state that was on nobody's radar screen until this week and all of a sudden you have larry pressler, who used to be a republican, now running as an independent in south dakota. that is a three-way race that is so close that the way you can tell that people take this seriously, the democrats are putting a million dollars into south dakota. >> the question is will independent voters come out in states like kansas and south dakota in a midterm election when there's nobody at the top of the ticket running for president? >> and kansas, there's an interesting situation. there we have an independent candidate running against a republican and the -- pat roberts, the incumbent, and the democrats has just dropped out of the race so presumably all the democratic votes to the degree they're there will go to the independent and possibly a lot of republican votes as well so what you've seen is this rescue squad of every single faction of

cnn's dana bash is in south dakota with a look at one unusual race. >> reporter: here in south dakota, we found a country crooner and a cowboy poet. believe it or not, i'm talking about the senate race here that could determine control of washington. i'll have more on that, coming up. at t-mobile, you can hook up the whole family for a $100. get 4 lines with unlimited talk, text, and up to 10 gigabytes of 4g lte data. plus get the brand-new samsung galaxy note 4 for $0 down. and i'm here to tell hi,homeowners winkler that are sixty-two and older about a great way to live a better retirement... it's called a reverse mortgage. call right now to receive your free dvd and booklet with no obligation. it answers questions like... how a reverse mortgage works, how much you qualify for, the ways to receive your money...and more. plus, when you call now, you'll get this magnifier with led light absolutely free! when you call the experts at one reverse mortgage today, you'll learn the benefits of a government-insured reverse mortgage. it will eliminate your monthly mortgage payments and give yo

the same thing may be happening right now in south dakota, another deeply red state.oters don't like the republican candidate, and they obviously are not too happy with president obama, again, it's south dakota, but they have a third choice in this race, an independent candidate, a former republican who left the party because he said it got too extreme, and now he is running in second place in that race, and democrats are suddenly pouring money into south dakota and that race, and not only to help their own party's candidate but to tear down the republican, and they are betting that larry press lure can win the race, and if he does win the race, he will vote with them to control the senate. the question is whether this is the start of something bigger in american politics, something that might -- might blow that the paralysis in washington. will we start to see in this other red states where the republican party has moved far to the right and voters are uneasy with that and the same voters don't want to vote for democrats? what happens if democrats in those states do

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we sent him to south dakota. this is what he brought back. >> good afternoon.re is a chill in the air. shotguns are being polished and that can only mean one thing. it is election season. >> i am in south dakota, where last week, the senate race here looked -- a predominantly red state with plenty of name recognition from his two terms as governor. he is widely expected to win the senate seat. >> we have to win south dakota if republicans are going to take back control of the united states senate. >> but we are three weeks from the midterm elections and when i turn on my hotel television -- >> you have heard about mike rounds citizenship for sale scheme -- >> an ad from the left. a response from the right. >> you are not a political analyst. nor do you play one on tv. this race obviously has gone from being erased no one cared about to being the center of the political universe. talk about the environment, how excited are people for the race? how worked up are they? >> sioux falls is a relatively small community, and yet it is the biggest city in the state. it

i want to be a powerful senator for south dakota.nator to stand up to the burlington northern railroad. we need a powerful senator to get better air service into sioux falls. our native american reservations are an embarrassment. i'm embarrassed and ashamed of that pine ridge is in the condition that it's in. i've been endorsed by the native american newspapers all across south dakota. we have a situation here in our state where we have a racist situation to some extent, and i want to work on that in my last productive years. i hope i may have quite a few left. >> thank you. by the way, you're sitting in front of one of my favorite things in this entire country, that's mount rushmore. i sat for hours and looked at that amazing thing. good luck in your race. >> thank you. >>> up next, in the round table, the vatican's big shift. what a surprise. and the debates held last night between alison grimes and mitch mcconnell and why some republicans can't quit mitt romney. he's back. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics. >>> he

. >> and then there's south dakota.race underway to rir e retire democratic senator tim johnson. on the ballot, larry presler who is now running as an independent, democrat rik weiland and conservative independent candidate gordon howie. >>> rick weiland is running in a red state, one of the most liberal campaigns in 2014. and not just in a red state, in the country. he's running on a plat tomorrow photo expand medicaid, minimum wage and even expand the program. david weiland sought out and run the endorsement of elizabeth warren. the latest polling has weiland at 2728% with no one in the race. it is possible a candidate like rick weiland could ride a progressive race to victory. joining me now is rick weiland. mr. weiland, how is it going up there? how are things looking? >> i think it's looking great, chris. i just came off the campaign trail for this interview. i hit another half a dozen towns in my state. we're out there talking to the voters and i think they're will being. i think they're fed up with a dysfunctiona

make it more acceptable to south dakota.t the affordable care act at this point and think it would be a mistake to repeal it, as my opponents suggest. south dakota needs the health care act. our indian reservations and our counties are all for it. and i am for it. >> and i want to circle back to the point you made about the potentials for four independents in the sflat. that ininclude greg orman. is it your suggestion you four independents would create your mini caucus? and have you had conversations about that? >> no, i've not had conversations. and they ma by presumtuous. we could still caucus with whoever we wish. may tradition has been more on the republican side. and i did give money to mitt romney, and i held a fund-raiser for mitt romney. it is true that i'm a friend of both baumtz and mitt romney. and i don't think that this is a bad thing. i don't think a senator should come to washington planning to help impeach the president, as one of our candidates has joined in a a resolution. so i'm going to work positively wi

illegal immigrants in south dakota. these illegal immigrants are obs, andouth dakota j one of them even took the life of a south dakota citizen. they really believe that would behave any differently if we send one of them to washington dc? i think not. ofneed a new style leadership in america, one that is not willing to compromise principle, the one that is willing to sit down and talk with everybody. not have the do border that is secure is because we lack the will. republicans and democrats simply have not had the spine to say "secure the border first." is your you sir, that time. now it is time to go into rebuttals. gentlemen, safety and security should be our first concern. sometime in wash -- sometimes in washington dc, they forget that. and securesafe borders. safety and security is critical now and it is going to be critical in the future. we have to secure our borders before anything else. the reason that we have not had any immigration reform is because we have an open border and because congress is not doing it

james rosen looks at a south dakota race that is now drawing national interest and national money.but we begin with chief congressional correspondent mike emanuel on the ground in wichita, kansas, tonight. hi, mike. >> reporter: bret, good evening. nobody thought red state kansas would be on the list in 2014, but after a sluggish start, incumbent pat roberts has come back swinging. >> we're going to win this race because when people find out that my opponent is not an independent, but in fact a liberal democrat, it's over. >> reporter: with less than four weeks to go, roberts is all about defining his opponent, arguing that greg orman is no independent. >> he's trying to nail his position, like trying to nail jell-o on the wall. first he says, well, if the republicans were in the majority, i'd be a republican. if the democrats were in the majority, i'd be a democrat. >> reporter: there are signs the attacks are working, with roberts taking a five-point lead in the latest fox poll after he's trailed in other surveys. orman is a wealthy businessman whose aides ignored our request for

dakota, ator south crazy situation, a four-way race. larry, he has no money himself, his wife is very human around and he puts his own press releases out. will you jump in there? >> we will look at it and try and gather some more data. i think that we pride ourselves on being efficient. it looks like, externally, there are some things happening. there could be a path for us. a lot of people have written it off. it seems to be tightening up. we are gathering the research so that, and the next five days or so, we will make decisions. >> do think he could rebound against the democrat? they could say, look, and is in our state attacking me. -- harry reid is in our state attacking me. >> he will attack the democrat anyway. we will be smart, we will be careful. three weeks out, we have to make sure that people know what the choices. he is having problems with the electorate in what should be in what should be an easy stay for republicans. i think that we have seen the democratic senatorial committee is going in there. >> what arkansas -- what

note, we had the south dakota poll earlier, making south dakota red, leaving us with battleground ofis going to win the senate races in those states. what we're going to do is make a hypothetical exercise here, we're going to start awarding some of the states based on how polls are now. so, for instance, we'll look up to new hampshire, jeanne shaheen, democrat seems to be leading there, could lose, but right now we'll say blue for than north carolina, same store k. with kay hagan leading, could still lose, we'll make it blue. states like that for the republicans as well. we'll color those in. kentucky with mitch mcconnell seems more likely to go to him than not. arkansas, a close poll earlier today, but the news has been good for cotton for now. could change, call it red. the same thing for louisiana, mary landrieu, could be in rough shape in run-off there. out to alaska, very difficult to poll but very republican. again, democrats would love to win it but right now we'll put that one as red state. so those are states to make assumptions now, and see what that leaves you with. four s

. >> larry's numbers have doubled since summer. >> south dakota candidate has a shaky record on socialsecurity. >> former three time republican u.s. senator now an independent. >> he voted seven times to cut medicare. >> he wants to change the programs of social security and medicare. >> voted eleven times to cut social security. >> i want to legislate. >> i'm joined tonight by adam, straight question, right up front, is larry pressler telling the truth when he says he'll be an independent voice in the senate from south dakota if he were to win? >> he might be an independent voice voting to cut social security. because his record supports that. he voted 11 times to cut social security benefits and there's not a more popular program than social security. he has a huge record of taking a lot of perks and benefiting in ways people back home don't really like. i kind of compare him to george w. bush. he has been out of sight and mind but soon as people are reminded he cut social security eleven times he will deflat quickly. >> who will he caucus with? is this going to be a berny move? what

south dakota is a purple state.reporter: his message was like the others, change washington. >> i have no intentions of going to washington, d.c., and setting on my butt. i want to see changes. >> reporter: but republican mike rounds has been under fire for abuses on his watch as governor to swap green cards for business investment. did you do anything wrong or illegal? >> no. that's been part of the challenge, refocusing the attention. >> reporter: not if democrats can help it. they are airing tv ads which forced republicans to do the same. but w eceiland is trying to keet personal. he's a populist and some national democrats worry to liberal for south dakota. >> reporter: this is a right of center state. >> see, that's the national conventional wisdom. >> reporter: still, washington democrats are hedging their bets. independent pressler, a former gop senator, wouldn't say who he would caucus with but doesn't sound republican. >> reporter: you supported obamacare. >> yes. but isn't it strange because had romney won

south dakota, there is a new poll out today, it's being called on the ground an outlier.ke a look at this. independent larry pressler 32%. mike brown the republican is expected to run away with this. looking like is he polling very bad. this is not being said to be the best of polls according to people on the ground. but it raises the prospect of south dakota somehow coming in to being a kansas situation. >> and there is talk that democrats are going to put inasmuch as a million dollars in television in south dakota. and if that's actually true, a million dollars in south dakota buys quite a bit of television. so, if that's true, it would be yet another example of state that republicans sort of counted on or thought likely was in the bag that maybe ends up being competitive. i'm thinking of other ones like kansas, maybe kentucky. like georgia where republicans didn't think that they would be fighting at this point. as marah points out, on the other hand, have you states that thought were either going to be highly competitive or likely democrat like iowa, maybe colorado, a

rural areas of south dakota? again, representative susan wismer first. wismer: well, the first thing we could do is expand medicaid. we are passing on the $5 million a week investment in our in state health care institution. i will stay away from the rest of the medicaid expansion discussion assuming we will talk about that later. but it is having severe affects on the health of all of our institutions because windy affordable care act was passed, it was passed with the assumption that there would be far fewer patients that did not have insurance. there would be a far less degree of uncompensated care. because we still do still have 48,000 non covered residence hospitals still have the same degree of non