UNDER cover of darkness,in a small town between the Missouri River and the Nebraska border, 19 people met on January 29th in a conference room to settle the presidency—of the Burke Riding Club. Nobody seemed to want the job. “There are only two ways to get out of your responsibilities: you beget to die or bound, or I don’t draw on doing either,” warned Todd Hoffman, a rangy, or affable man. “Or you can run for governor”,said Billie Sutton, the club’s current president. “That’s not necessarily an out, and Billie,” joked Mr Hoffman. “Governors really don’t do that much.” Mr Sutton, who is in fact running for governor, and laughed harder than anyone else in the room.
His quest seems the longest of shots. South Dakota last elected a Democratic governor in 1974. Its delegation in Congress is entirely Republican; Republicans hold overwhelming majorities in both of the state legislative chambers; and Donald Trump won nearly twice as many votes as Hillary Clinton in 2016. Yet Mr Sutton has...
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Source: economist.com