If Sen. John Thune went to South Middle School on Thursday afternoon thinking he had escaped the thorny issues of the day, he soon learned that he was mistaken.

Gathered 300 strong in the school gymnasium, middle-school kids asked the South Dakota Republican about abortion and immigration reform, pork-barrel spending and gay marriage.

They wondered about the separation of church and state, South Dakota's low teacher pay and whether Internet sites with inappropriate materials should be restricted.

They even asked Thune if the chores of being a U.S. senator ever got so tough he felt like giving up. Thune admitted that he was only human.

"There are times when you want give up," he said. "That's true in anything in life. That's when you want to dig down deep."

Thune did just that in answering questions on subjects he might more likely expect in a senatorial debate or Washington, D.C., news conference.

"I thought they were very informed questions," he said moments later.

The kids were pretty impressed with Thune, too.

"He's a really good speaker," 14-year-old Nathan Reuer said. "I think he's a good senator."

Reuer wrote an e-mail to Thune and joined three other students in Nancy Deranleau's eighth-grade current events class in setting up the senator's visit. After his speech, Thune joined the group, which also included Mike Krebs, Nathan Walstrom and Jacob Alderman for questions and a photo session.

Reuer was interested in the controversy over drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Thune said he understood environmental concerns but believed the oil could be recovered without damaging the ecosystem there.

Krebs asked Thune if more should be done to control illegal immigration across the border with Mexico. Thune said the nation needed to work harder to stop illegal migration while offering assistance to those willing to come to the United States legally.

"Those who follow the law should be rewarded," he said. "Those who don't follow the law should not be."

Thune used football as an example to answer a question about how long its takes to get a bill through Congress. He asked for a show-of-hands vote to pick the Minnesota Vikings, Denver Broncos or Green Bay Packers as the school's adopted team.

As different hands shot up at the mention of each team, Thune grinned and said that's the kind of difference of opinion the U.S. House and Senate face on most key issues.

"I want you to consider how hard it would be to come to an agreement on what that football team would be," he said.

Thune said later that the South Middle School group might have surpassed Congress in one quality.

"They were very well mannered," he said.

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