Open Secrets: Thune is poor Senator

Not only that, he's a shitty campaigner:




Pink slime not only defines the Thune experience, the Senator is virtually greased by the manufactured meat product.

The Center for Responsive Politics hosts Open Secrets, THE source for money in campaigns. Her blog featured candidates not necessarily considered the most likely winners of the Romney Veepstakes. Author Adam Wollner describes South Dakota's junior senator as the earth hater party's "dark horse" choice for Veep and as one of the Senate's poorest members.

Here's the Thune portion of Wollner's piece:

Sen. John Thune (R-SD) may hail from one of the least populated states in the union, but that hasn't prevented him from rising up the ranks of the inside-the-Beltway elite.

Thune arrived in Washington in 1997 as South Dakota's lone House lawmaker. He mounted a successful bid for U.S. Senate in 2004. Facing no Democratic opposition in 2010, he was easily re-elected.

Over the course of his five congressional campaigns, Thune raised a total of $38.8 million, according to Center for Responsive Politics data. Top donors include the Club for Growth, Wells Fargo and Blue Cross/Blue Shield. Thune was also able to rake in nearly $3 million from retirees throughout his career and over $1 million from the securities and investment and real estate industries.

After just two years in the Senate, Thune started his own leadership PAC for the 2006 election cycle called the Heartland Values PAC, which raised $1.6 million in its debut year. So far, his PAC has raised over $885,000 for 2012, contributing to 20 GOP congressional candidates and Romney's presidential campaign.

Additionally, Thune is likely one of the few candidates on Romney's supposed shortlist to have gone through the revolving door. In between his stints in the House and Senate, Thune founded his own Sioux Falls-based lobbying firm, Thune Group, whose clients included DM&E Railroad and BPI Technology. He also briefly lobbied for the Washington firm Arent Fox LLC in 2003.

Thune's average net worth of $423,000 places him among the poorest members of the Senate. According to his 2010 personal finance disclosure report, most of his investments are in several different mutual funds.

Just as Bush43 didn't select Dick Cheney to win Wyoming, adding a fundamentalist Protestant certainly builds credible earth hater voter depth to a Mormon-led ticket.

If Gov. Gary Johnson can gather enough uncommitted and disaffected Ron Paul supporters in South Dakota, having John Thune on the losing ticket in his own state would be the coldest of dishes.

The Mitchell Republic's Tom Lawrence speculated in the paper's blog, Republic Insider on Thune's chances, too. Since South Dakota's current governor is feuding with his predecessor, a leading contender to finish a Senate vacancy left by (Allah forbid) a Romney/Thune win, who would Guv Doogargh appoint?