A look back: Natural talent propelled Daschle

By Kevin Woster, Journal Staff Writer | Saturday, November 06, 2004

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Early in 1972, then-Congressman James Abourezk received a call from a former campaign worker named Laurie Daschle.

Her maiden name had been Laurie Klinkel when she worked for Abourezk in a previous campaign. She was part of a family of bright, opinionated, liberally inclined Democrats headed by Public Utilities Commissioner Norma Klinkel.

Since that earlier campaign, Laurie had married a young Air Force officer with a similar interest in Democratic politics. And Abourezk, a loud-and-unyielding liberal voice in the U.S. House of Representatives, had decided to run for the Senate.

Laurie Daschle wanted to help.

"She was excellent, very intelligent and a tremendous worker," Abourezk said this week during a telephone interview from his Sioux Falls home. "She called and asked if she could come work on the campaign. And she wanted to bring her husband along.

"I said, 'Sure, we'll find something for him to do.'"

That husband was Tom Daschle.

And Abourezk would find plenty to occupy the baby-faced Aberdeen native with boundless energy and natural people skills. He would also see, early on, that the slender young guy was destined for more than behind-the-scenes service.

That served Abourezk well after he won the Senate campaign and took Laurie and Tom Daschle to Washington, D.C.

"Laurie became my office manager, and Tom became my legislative director," Abourezk said. "He was a guy who worked very well with people."

Abourezk saw evidence of Daschle's natural gifts between 1973 and 1977, as constituent groups turned up at his Senate office, sometimes in a highly agitated state. None was more outspoken than a group of South Dakota military veterans who came in one day to lambaste Abourezk for his strong opposition to the Vietnam War.

"They were chewing my ass up one side and down the other, and Tom was sitting there taking it all in," Abourezk said. "Well, I had to go to the floor for a vote, and I left Tom with them. When I came back, he had them eating out of his hand.

"When that group left, they all said goodbye to Tom," Abourezk said. "They didn't say anything to me."

Abourezk ruffled plenty of feathers during a single Senate term, then decided not to run for re-election. With Republican Congressman Larry Pressler set to make the move up to the Senate, Abourezk urged Daschle to run for Pressler's House seat.

Daschle did just that, topping former Congressman Frank Denholm in the 1978 Democratic primary and squeaking past Republican Leo Thorsness, an ex-POW from the Vietnam War, in the general election by 139 votes.

It was the first in a string of victories that would eventually lead Daschle to perhaps the most powerful position ever held by a South Dakota politician - the majority leader's spot in the U.S. Senate.

Future seemed predestined

Few who knew Daschle early on would have predicted that dramatic a rise to power. But there was little doubt that Tom Daschle had a future in Washington. Current South Dakota Sen. Tim Johnson saw that in 1978, when Daschle showed up at his door in Vermillion.

"Tom was running for the Democratic nomination for Congress, and I was running for state representative in Clay and Union counties," Johnson said Friday. "He was going door to door and came by our house."

Johnson and his wife, Barbara, liked Daschle right away. They had a dinner at their home to introduce him to friends. And they had a picture taken, one that Johnson still treasures.

"It's of Tom and I and Barbara outside our house in Vermillion," Johnson said. "We all looked like we were 14 years old, and you wonder, 'Who in the world would vote for those guys?'"

It turned out that plenty would.

While Johnson would go through the state Legislature on his way eventually to the U.S. House, then the Senate, Daschle's route was more direct: four two-year terms in the U.S. House, then a big victory over incumbent Republican Sen. Jim Abdnor in the 1986 Senate race.

Ten years later, Johnson would join Daschle in the Senate with his own big win over an incumbent Republican, three-term Sen. Larry Pressler. And during their past eight years together in the Senate, Johnson has seen close-up the gifts that made Daschle's political ascension possible.

"He has great people skills. He listens carefully. He doesn't just talk. He's sincerely concerned with other people's ideas, and he has tremendous energy," Johnson said. "He works harder and puts in longer days and listens to more people and reads more and studies more and does more of just about anything than anybody else I ever knew.

"He has an energy level and work ethic that I find just amazing."

Daschle is also credited for his ability to find compromise and settle disputes in the sometimes-cantankerous Democratic caucus, and to vigorously battle the Republican side on issues without making the disputes personal. Former U.S. Sen. Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., marveled at those people skills during a campaign stop for Daschle in Rapid City four days before the election.

Kerrey praised Daschle for his even-handed style of leadership and his ability to be a tough spokesman, negotiator and advocate for his party without turning petty or vindictive.

"Tom Daschle managed to lead his caucus on difficult issues yet continue to be such a strong advocate for South Dakota," Kerrey said. "And he managed to do all that and still be kind. He's a kind person."

Kerrey said kindness was in increasingly short supply in Congress.

Benefits bring risks

Daschle's rise to the top of the Senate came with both benefits to him and his state and risks to his political future. As a left-of-center Democrat in a Republican state, Daschle's longevity was always an open question. He managed during his 26 years in Congress to balance attention to the more conservative views of his state with the more liberal realities of his job as Democratic leader.

Daschle also made it a point to stay in close touch with voters, through regular trips back to South Dakota and his annual driving tour and commitment to visiting all 66 counties each year.

But he also had to confront President Bush - a popular president in South Dakota - on high-profile issues such as judicial nominations, tax cuts and social issues including abortion, flag desecration and same-sex marriage. Opponents eventually labeled him an obstructionist, with some evidence to back them up.

Abourezk said that is nothing to apologize for.

"He did was he was supposed to do as Democratic leader," Abourezk said. "He made sure the president didn't overreach himself. It's a tough job. He did the right thing."

But it didn't sit well with some South Dakotans. And when he toyed with running for president, he made uncharacteristic gestures apparently designed to expand his national base. Some of those, including his signature on a fund-raising letter for the National Abortion Rights Action League, hurt him in his Senate campaign.

Those conflicts - some avoidable, many not - converged this year with even more formidable forces. Daschle's most difficult re-election bid coincided with a presidential election and the important coattails of a strong Republican incumbent, as well as the emergence of a formidable, battle-tested Republican candidate in John Thune.

The former three-term congressman from Murdo had learned much and grown mightily during his difficult 524-vote loss to Johnson in 2002. He also hired one of the better campaign managers in the nation in Dick Wadhams.

With a top-flight campaign staff of his own, Daschle still ran strong in the most expensive campaign in South Dakota history. His second wife, Linda, and his children and grandchildren were part of the campaign. And his first wife, Laurie, who started it all 32 years earlier with a simple phone call to Abourezk, also came back to South Dakota to help.

But Thune, Bush coattails and a much-improved Republican get-out-the-vote effort proved to be the giant killers, barely. Daschle fell 51 percent to 49 percent.

"That's not a strong rebuke by any means. I think Tom can leave holding his head high," South Dakota State University political-science professor Bob Burns said. "Two years ago, John Thune came out 500-and-some votes on the short end. This year, Tom Daschle came out 2 percentage points on the short end."

Burns said Daschle's position in the Senate required him to serve two political masters - South Dakota and the nation as a whole. Daschle did both well, but his necessary attention to national interests became an issue with some South Dakota voters who had supported the senator in the past, Burns said.

"He has given all the energy and time anyone could expect in serving South Dakota and the nation," he said. "And senators are expected to serve the nation and not just their state constituents. That has always been a part of the Senate that is different from the House."

'Three-term phobia'

South Dakota voters have shown limited patience for that mix of priorities in the past. Former Sen. George McGovern grew in prominence throughout his three terms in the Senate but eventually was rejected by voters, in part, because some believed he had strayed from his roots - and from them.

Whether perception or reality, Daschle was aware of that danger as he prepared to run for his fourth term in the Senate.

Republican Sen. Larry Pressler was himself rejected by voters as he sought a fourth term. Other than Republican Sen. Karl Mundt, no South Dakota senator has managed that feat.

"We do, except for Mundt, seem to have a three-term phobia," Pressler said.

Especially in the Senate, steeped as it is in tradition and process, it takes time to develop real influence, Pressler said.

"It's something called the seniority system, and the longer you're around, the more you figure it out," Pressler said. "When you've got a freshman senator wrestling with 40-year- bureaucrats, the bureaucrats are going to win. That may not be apparent, but they will."

Pressler complimented Daschle on his service. "We worked together, and, on many things, I thought he did a very good job."

And he understands how Daschle is feeling today.

"You feel terribly rejected, because you worked as hard as you could and feel like you've been fired without cause," Pressler said. "That's the way it feels in your heart of hearts, your soul. It's hard to take."

Daschle isn't talking about his loss publicly this week, other than his Wednesday concession speech. Those who know and care about him say he is taking the loss hard but also will rebound quickly.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Stephanie Herseth, who won her re-election bid Tuesday, said Daschle's loss tempered her joy.

"My victory was bittersweet," she said. "I can't find the words to express my appreciation and admiration for all the work Tom has done for South Dakota."

Johnson said Friday that he hadn't yet talked to Daschle about the campaign but expects him to take some time off to reflect, write and eventually decide how to continue with his lifelong involvement in public policy.

"I'm disappointed about this. But we're a strong country and a strong state. And our democracy is stronger than any individual, whether it's Tom or me or John Thune," Johnson said. "Tom is going to be fine. He has a great many options. The real challenge goes to the South Dakota agenda that we'll now pursue without someone who can phone the president three times a day."

Timeline of Daschle's career

1973: Hired by Democratic Sen. Jim Abourezk as legislative director.

1978: Beats ex-POW Leo Thorsness by 139 votes for First District congressional seat.

1980: Wins re-election over Republican Bart Kull.

1982: Beats Second District Republican Rep. Clint Robert for consolidated congressional seat.

1984: Wins re-election bid over Republican Dale Bell.

1986: Defeats incumbent Republican Sen. Jim Abdnor.

1992: Wins re-election bid over Republican Char Harr.

1994: Chosen minority leader for Democrats in the Senate.

1998: Wins re-election bid over Republican Ron Schmidt.

May 2001: Becomes majority leader in Senate when Republican Sen. Jim Jeffords of Vermont switches from Republican to independent, giving the Democrats control of the Senate.

January 2003: Becomes minority leader again after Republicans regain control of the Senate in November 2002 election.

2002-2003: Considers run for president.

January 2003: Decides against presidential bid and begins Senate re-election campaign.

Nov. 2, 2004: Loses to Republican John Thune by 4,534 votes.

Nov. 3, 2004: Officially concedes and pledges to continue to work for South Dakota.

Contact Kevin Woster at 394-8413 or kevin.woster@rapidcityjournal.com