This weekend John Thune (R) started his TV ads for his race with Tom Daschle (D). While Daschle was winning about negative attack ads, and funding a full on TV propaganda effort for the last 12 months, Thune has quietly waited until 4 months before the election. Thune's TV ads are pretty generic, not at all negative, and actually kind of funny. He's got one that features his two daughters, that is very well done. The Daschle-Thune race is extremely close right now, and probably only going to get closer, since Thune has held off on ads until now, while Daschle has been advertising for over 12 months.
I think it's pretty funny that you used South Dakota and high profile in the same sentence , but yes, anything Daschle will get nationwide play. I haven't seen the ads, but I appreciate his tone. I saw a Bush ad this morning that started with "I'm George Bush and I approved this message" and proceeded to spend the rest of the 30 seconds ripping Kerry. Call me naive, but I really hate ads like that. I will check his campaign site for a shot of the commercials.
I looked online, but apparently Thune hasn't gotten as many donations as Daschle, and can't afford to put video online. It's a very well intentioned ad, and a good starting point, only mentions his positions/achievements once, it's more of an introductory ad, odd, because Thune was our US Rep for 6 years, I think most people know who he is.
When Thune ran against Democrat Tim Johnson in 2002, it was extremely close. Couple hundred votes decided the election, and there were some suspicious numbers reported from the reservations. I believe one of Johnson's main points was that electing him would help fellow South Dakota Senator Tom Daschle in his quest to become Majority Leader. Well, Johnson won, but the Democrats didn't earn the majority. I think Daschle could be in real trouble. He's too liberal for South Dakota, and if he wins it's only because of his seniority. In some ways, being the Democrats' leader in the Senate hurts him because he's always the one spouting the party line in the media. Often this puts him at odds with South Dakota voters.