John Thune

Posted: August 10th 2009

CQ Politics reports:

South Dakota’s John Thune is emerging as a fresh public face for the depleted ranks of Senate Republicans, who are trying to move past their trouncing in last year’s election and the embarrassment of Sen. John Ensign ’s public admission of an extramarital affair.

When Ensign, R-Nevada, resigned under fire as chairman of the Senate GOP’s policy arm, party leaders turned to Thune, the conservative known for unseating Majority Leader Tom Daschle in 2004.

Upon taking the reins of the influential Republican Policy Committee in June, Thune has stepped up the party’s partisan engagement, offering, for instance, a contentious firearms amendment that put many moderate and western Democrats on the spot.

“He isn’t associated with the older and more dyspeptic elements in the Republican Party,” said Ross K. Baker, a political science professor and Senate expert at Rutgers University. “He’s dependable, solid, attractive, ideologically pure – you put it all together and you have someone ready to step into a major leadership position.”

Republican John McCain of Arizona, who has often riled senators on both sides of the aisle, said Thune is widely admired by Republicans for his congenial, low-key approach and command of policy details.

“He’s one of the best-liked,” McCain said. “A lot of people that you call ‘my dear friend,’ well, these friends aren’t always much liked.”

McCain quipped that he would have won the presidency last year if he had Thune’s looks. Standing about 6-foot-4, the perpetually tanned 48-year-old cuts a lean silhouette in his well-tailored suits and has become a regular on the political talk show circuit. During Senate floor votes, the former basketball standout will often toss his ever-present Blackberry from hand to hand as he looks for a fellow senator to chat up.

For all his affability and good humor, Thune doesn’t hesitate to put the screws to Democrats when the opportunity arises.

After the Democrats added a hate crimes amendment to the defense authorization bill (S 1390) last month, Thune responded with a proposal that would have allowed licensed gun owners to carry concealed firearms across state lines. He fell two votes short of the 60 needed for adoption, but 20 Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, joined 38 Republicans in supporting the amendment. Charles E. Schumer , D-N.Y., led the opposition to Thune’s proposal, saying it would have gutted state and local laws.

Despite the loss, the vote reaffirmed Thune’s bona fides as a darling of the gun lobby. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the campaigns of only two sitting senators — McCain and Republican Saxby Chambliss of Georgia — have reaped more money from gun rights organizations than Thune has. The center found that Thune’s campaigns have received about $62,300 from groups such as the National Rifle Association and Gun Owners of America during his career in the House (1997-2003) and Senate, with about $48,000 coming from the NRA.

Despite triggering the brawl over his guns amendment, Thune said in a recent interview that Republicans must focus on building coalitions with Democrats to have an impact. “You have to be conscious of not being the anti-party, not being the party of no, but being the party that is the check and balance on the agenda,” he said.

After a conversation on the floor earlier this year, Thune and Schumer, who represent major agricultural states, forged an unlikely alliance to stave off the possibility of a so-called “cow tax.” Their bill (S 527) would prevent the government from imposing a tax on farm animals’ methane emissions from burps, which the EPA says is over 20 times more effective at trapping heat than carbon dioxide. The agency has said it has made no specific proposal, and the bill is still in committee.

With Congress gearing up for a fight over climate change legislation, Thune said the administration’s proposal for a “cap and trade” approach to curbing carbon dioxide emissions gives Republicans an opening to work with some Democrats.

“My view is, on a lot of issues there are Democrats who would want to be part of a center-right coalition,” Thune said. “Some of the things the administration will try to do — cap and trade is a good example — there are just a lot of Midwestern and Western Democrats who are put in a very difficult position on that in the Senate, and I think that’s going to be a very heavy lift.”

In addition to opposing cap and trade, which he said amounts to a “national energy sales tax,” Thune is a key player in the campaign to defeat an overhaul of union voting procedures known as the “card check” bill (S 560). The legislation is a top priority for organized labor, but it lacks support from several moderate Senate Democrats.

At the Policy Committee, Thune leads a staff of 17 focused on producing policy papers and providing in-house cable television coverage of floor action. He’s also working closely with Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who replaced Thune as GOP conference vice chairwoman, in leading Republican outreach to K Street business groups and grass-roots organizations.

National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn of Texas said the job puts Thune in a critical role to shape the party’s legislative positions, especially on health care.

“He has a great staff that can help do a lot of the nitty-gritty research and factual development that can then help us craft our messages,” Cornyn said. “And so far, our main message is, let’s slow down and get this right.”

Thune is up for re-election in 2010, and so far a Democratic challenger has yet to emerge, and as of June 30, Thune had about $5.1 million cash on hand. ...