South Dakota State Senator Larry Rhoden (R) of Union Center was in Rapid City today to officially announce that he is running for one of South Dakota’s U.S. Senate seats that will be vacated by Democrat Tim Johnson next year. Rhoden said he feels call to serve our nation, and that we could probably all agree that our nation is headed in the wrong direction. “We don’t fix it by maintaining the status quo,” said Rhoden.

Shad Olson at KNBN in Rapid City did a piece last night on the U.S. Senate race coming up next year, and South Dakota Rep. Stace Nelson. Examined was some of Nelson’s history, his service in the South Dakota Legislature, and his thoughts on RINO Mike Rounds’ candidacy.

A friend sent me an interesting article from Daniel Horowitz at RedState this evening. It paints a painfully vivid picture of the asinine behavior of many “Republicans” who do the work of the Democrat Party by helping advance their policies. He also paints another vivid picture of what I fear we may be about to do here in South Dakota: trade an opportunity for real positive change back toward the principles and values that created the greatest nation on earth…for a feckless nest-feathering politician whose greatest dedication is to maintaining the status quo of cronyism.

With today’s statement by Rep. Kristi Noem (R-SD) that she has decided against running for South Dakota’s opening U.S. Senate seat in 2014, there are no names on the table with sufficient name recognition and resources to inspire serious hope that anyone more conservative than former governor Mike Rounds. It appears likely that instead of sending someone to Washington who’s serious about fixing our nation’s problems, we’ll be contributing a vote to maintain the status quo.

The coming mid-term elections may well be the most important in our lifetime. America faces a crisis as profound as the Revolution and as divisive as the Civil War. One day our grandchildren may ask us this question. Will we have an answer that will make us and them proud or will we have to sit silent knowing we stood silent when it was time to speak or remained passive when it was time for action?

A friend sent me a good article by Eric Erickson at RedState. The article has a title which would astonish the RINOs we have passing for “Republicans,” these days…astonish them and then make them pee their little boy pants: “We Can Win. But Only if We Fight to Win.” Fighting for Republican principles would be too much for these pathetic jellyfish. Fighting to win? Not in their gutless nature.

As reported by The Right Side, former South Dakota State Senator Bill Napoli from my district is apparently throwing his hat in the ring for the 2014 United States Senate race next year. There have been a number of names thrown around so far-including Congresswoman Kristi Noem and South Dakota Representative Stace Nelson-but until now, the only “Republican” who had announced was former governor RINO Mike Rounds. That seems to have changed now-and changed big, with the entry of a real conservative who has demonstrated commitment to Republican values and goals.

I see the RINO liars are busy around the internet lying about RINO Mike Rounds record, trying to rehabilitate his record with claims that he ran no deficit during his eight years as governor. This is pretty typical behavior for RINOs, since they by definition support and promote liberal policies while claiming to be conservative, but let’s look at the facts.

Don’t you just love the signs of “decisive leadership” that RINO Mike Rounds sends out? In a fresh article discussing his U.S. Senate candidacy, the Argus Leader explores some of the soft spots the former governor has among his own people in South Dakota.

It seems conservatives on the national stage are figuring out what most conservatives in South Dakota already knew: former governor Mike Rounds is too liberal. Or as I put it recently: wrong for South Dakota, wrong for America. The Senate Conservatives Fund says it won’t support Rounds and is looking for a conservative alternative.