Thune triumphs! Decision to close So. Dakota AF base overturned --

[DeepModem Mom]

Committee Spares Air Force Base in South Dakota
By DAVID S. CLOUD
Published: August 27, 2005

ARLINGTON, Va., Aug. 26 - The military base closing commission voted on Friday to keep open Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota and to delay the closing of Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico for at least four years.

The decisions came as the independent panel neared the end of three days of deliberations that led to several major changes in the Pentagon's plans for its bases....

***

In the most dramatic example on Friday, the nine-member commission voted 8 to 1 to overturn the proposed closing of Ellsworth, the second-largest employer in South Dakota, after concerted lobbying by the state's Congressional delegation and the governor, who camped out in the hotel ballroom a mile from the Pentagon where the commission was conducting its deliberations....


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/27/politics/27bases.html

[rodeodance]

1. I hate it that he wins. its that he won that gets to me

[existentialist]

2. I don't read this as a win for Thune

so much as a defeat for Rumsfeld. It's more of a win for Johnson and Herseth than for Thune--they will face re-election sooner.

As far as its political significance I see it more as a loss for the Bush Administration--Rumsfeld in particular.

Basically the BRAC commission voted 8-1 that the administration positions were not credible.