JOHN THUNE IS BETTING THE MARRIAGE ISSUE WILL BRING SOUTH DAKOTANS TO THE POLLS. AT STAKE: SENATE CONTROL

On Main Avenue in Brookings, S.D., a smartly dressed woman spotted John Thune, the Republican running to unseat Sen. Tom Daschle, and charged across the street, her smile beaming and her hand outstretched. "I'm with you," 62-year-old Connie Burdick told Thune. "Something's got to be done," she said, to stop the downfall of traditional values. It's the gay-marriage issue that riles Burdick, an issue that Thune is betting will knock down the Democratic Senate leader.

Days before the Senate failed to advance a measure that would change the Constitution to forbid same-sex marriage--Daschle voted against it--Thune went on the attack. Barnstorming the state in a twin-prop plane, he crisscrossed South Dakota to warn that gay marriage could be looming. In a radio ad, he charged that the "institution of marriage is under attack from extremist groups," adding ominously: "They have done it in Massachusetts and they can do it here." Daschle, who has served in the Senate since 1986, opposes gay marriage, but believes that amending the Constitution is too drastic a step.

In places like Brookings, with a twirling barber pole and a grain elevator, people pride themselves on being close to the soil and to God. The tanning salon and the gym have Bible verses on the wall. This is a state that gave George W. Bush a 22-point victory four years ago, and Daschle's foes see him as out of step with the conservative values of the high plains. A clear majority of South Dakotans favor an amendment to ban gay marriage, says William Richardson, chairman of the political-science department at the University of South Dakota. "The question is, how passionate are they about this issue?"

 

THE GAY WAR ROLLS ON
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