North Central Midterm Super Tuesday Update

As Markos pointed out in his election day post The Iowa and South Dakota gubernatorial primaries are worth watching today both for their connection to the 2008 presidential race and the effects on the electorates of those two states of the South Dakota abortion ban.  

The New York Times has an article today that delves into the abortion ban issue in Iowa, South Dakota and many other states.  Of special interest are some South Dakota legislative races that the North Central Observer looks at in a preview last night.  The preview also covers some of the less publicized issues in SD and Iowa as well as the Democratic infighting over the abortion ban in South Dakota.

Elsewhere in South Dakota, the Rapid City Journal expects a low turnout. As expected, Pat Powers is really, really excited. Unfortunately, his Microsoft Office software has proven to be more unstable than the South Dakota state parties. Speaking of the the state parties, Proud Liberal laments the infighting among the state Democrats over abortion (the impact of this issue is not limited to the Republicans). He really takes Democratic Leader Moore to task, as well he should. Moore has come down hard on Steve Hildebrand for his work in oposition to pro-abortion ban candidates:

    Sen. Garry Moore of Yankton said consultant Steve Hildebrand, a former executive director for the state Democratic Party and past campaign manager for Tom Daschle, is working to defeat Democratic legislators who voted for HB1215, the controversial near-total ban on abortion approved by the Legislature this year.

Of course, Hildebrand is simply stepping up to the plate on an issue of importance to thousands of South Dakotans. For shame.

It looks like the North Central Observer is going to be following those races throughout the day so it might be a good place to check in a couple of more times this evening if you are at all interested in these races.