Barth Courts West River Dems

Yes, there is a soccer tournament at Sioux Park in Rapid City where The Machine (a Kurtz woman tends goal) is winning again after beating a Spearfish team.

Two hours before the game was the first time this blogger had been in the Alex Johnson since an Easter brunch in what was the Landmark Restaurant: a space that is now occupied by Seattle's Best Coffee. Very nice, very spacious. The iced tea is great.

@jeff_barth stuck his hand out after greeting the couple before me and after introducing myself he said, "you're a little bigger than I am." My 6'2" 173 pound frame and his 6'1" likely-more-than-that laughed simultaneously. It would seem he has seen some of my pile.

"Last month I supported your opponent in the primary: good to know I can still evolve," I blurted. He responded with a kind thank you.

I didn't hesitate: "where you at on the so-called War on Drugs?" It fell right out of my mouth.

"It's crazy," he replied. He described a future where, as long as law enforcement can easily test drivers stopped for some other infraction, cannabis law should look just like alcohol law.

The real press gathered behind us, we wrapped up, and he seamlessly moved on to other interviews:

Barth greeted the warm, enthusiastic gaggle, gave a thumbnail sketch of his campaign, and described the proposed Ryan budget that enjoys the support of incumbent Kristi Noem as "the final solution."

That banks are too big to fail suggests that banks are too big, he said. Corporations look like people to some; yet, British Petroleum killed 13 people in the Gulf of Mexico and nobody has gone to jail.

In response to a question from a self-described federal employee Barth said that public service should be celebrated rather than denigrated; and, "I have no problem that public employees have collective bargaining rights."

The biggest applause from the gathering came after he repeated his support for marriage equality: he revisited the topic several times in follow-up questions.

Barth cited Minnehaha County's responsibility to prosecute a capital offense in the death of a prison guard at the State Penitentiary as a necessary function of government.

Oh yeah: @ArgusMontgomery was there, too.