Transcript 0:00 You can ride on my back seat. [laughs] Yeah. That'd be, that'd be a cold day in hell. [laughs] You, you can sit backwards. So... 0:11 [upbeat music] It's voting time in South Dakota, and conservative Republicans get to choose our next governor. 0:18 Will we pick another career politician who'll give us the same old excuses, or will we shake up the status quo with an outsider businessman who's actually created jobs and balanced budgets? 0:29 If you like Donald Trump's fight, you'll love Toby Doeden's grit. Here's Toby Doeden. I believe in South Dakota, and I believe government should work for the people who live here, not the powerful few who run it. 0:43 I'm running to be a governor for families, workers, farmers, and small business owners, not insiders and special interests, a governor who listens and who fights for ownership and opportunity. 0:56 Together, we can build a South Dakota where hard work is rewarded, freedom is protected, and the people, not the powerful, come first. The conservative outsider who's ready to fight, Toby Doeden for governor. 1:10 Paid for by Toby Doeden for South Dakota. A lifetime isn't measured in speeches. It's measured in actions. 1:17 Larry Rhoden spent his life ranching, welding, serving on the school board, as a deacon in his church, a volunteer basketball coach. 1:25 Long before he was governor, Larry Rhoden was serving his community, not for attention, not for headlines. That's just who he is. 1:33 As governor, he kept serving, delivering the largest property tax cut in South Dakota history, putting $1,000 or more back in families' pockets, reducing violent crime, murder, meth, and robberies by double digits, standing up for life, banning the abortion pill, and defending our Second Amendment rights, earning him the endorsement of the NRA. 1:55 Some politicians spend a lifetime pretending to be somebody else. Larry Rhoden spent his lifetime showing us who he is. July 28th, Governor Larry Rhoden, keeping South Dakota strong, safe, free, and built to last. 2:10 Paid for by Rhoden for Governor. We could have saved the three bears a lot of time. Just Right Mattresses built by mattress nerds with a lifetime comfort commitment. We build them by hand and deliver with love. 2:23 June Sleep Systems in Sioux Falls and online at junasleep.com. Let me grab my car keys, and we'll roll. Are we still going to that new bar downtown? Yeah. It's supposed to be fun. 2:34 Lexi, give me driving directions from home to downtown bar district. Autocorrect. Suggest Uber. Pick up home. Drop off downtown bar district. No, I'm driving. Suggest the metro bus departing in 12 minutes. Huh. 2:48 Point taken, Lexi. We'll grab a ride. If you drink, don't drive. Decide to ride, brought to you in partnership by Anheuser-Busch, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and Uber. 2:55 This message brought to you by Biel Distributing of Sioux Falls. 3:01 [upbeat music] Welcome to Scouting Lounge, a special edition of this 3:20 weekly program 3:23 that is based here in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in the bunker of the Dakota Scout newsroom, international headquarters, and host to all the important people that are looking for your vote as a Republican voter come Tuesday, 3:42 the movers and the shakers. Thanks to Biel Distributing, and thanks to my stand-in cohost, Farmer Dan. He's a, he's a mute apparently. [laughs] Well, he only looks at history. 3:59 He doesn't make it apparently. Uh, you're kinda weird, Daniel. 4:04 Uh, well, so the reason why this is a special intro is because, uh, Jonathan and I, which, who are often ships passing in the night as it is, uh, were unable to connect for our scheduled, uh, to make, to exercise or execute our, our plan, which was to have an opening with just he and I, but I had some dental work that was, uh, thrust upon me, and we couldn't get together. 4:31 So, uh, we have Toby Doeden and Larry Rhoden on the program this week. Uh, you know, we're not gonna talk a bunch of policy. As, as our listeners have come to realize, um, 4:46 this, this program is more less about Meet the Press, uh, as it is about humanizing the, uh, figures in South Dakota politics who are often easily dehumanized. 5:00 Um, so we try to peel the curtain back, uh, and show the human side of, of not only them, but, uh, the journalists who cover them as well. So, uh, I thought we had good visits with both. Uh, both men, 5:13 uh, they were in about a week apart from one another. Uh, both men are boasting confidence in how they will fare come Tuesday, and, uh, I do, I think it's anybody's game at this point. 5:27 I think Governor Rhoden seems like he may have an edge. Um, he seems more confident I think. 5:36 But, um, I think both of the candidates admit or acknowledge that this is a whole new animal with the runoff, first one in state history. 5:46 So, uh, polls are hard to believe because they poll likely Republican voters, and if we have so many people switching to become Republicans, they certainly wouldn't have been polled, uh, because pollsters, they aren't likely Republican voters. 6:02 You know, there wasn't data on that. So, um, I would imagine- We'll have to have two different versions of stories written heading into Tuesday night. 6:15 Uh, it's looking like Aberdeen is gonna be the place in which the Doeden camp has its election night, uh, base, and then Sioux Falls, uh, Governor Noem's planning on having his election night party here in town. 6:29 So, uh, why don't we, uh, just cut... Let's just go right to, uh, our first sit-down with Toby Doeden. Welcome in, Toby Doeden. Welcome back. 6:44 Uh, last time you were here I took a photograph with you outside the building. I posted it online, and I got killed for that. 6:54 I mean, a bunch of your supporters liked it, but a lot of people assumed because I took a photograph with Mr. Toby Doeden, that I was somehow- Endorsing?... carrying water for your campaign. 7:05 So, so- But you didn't need my water... so much for civility, right? The, uh... 7:10 Last time you were here, you, you made the bold prediction, and I wasn't sure if you were full of shit or not, but it turned out you were not full of shit. Uh, you won pretty handedly the, the regular election. 7:22 So congratulations. Thank you. Take your... Thank you. Here's... I'll crack a beer to that. Thank you. Welcome in. And I'm, I'm doing the fake Trump dance while you're cracking open the beer, so. Yeah. The, uh, uh... 7:33 Speaking of Trump, you were out there a week or two ago, right, with Jonathan. Did you guys see each other? Cowering in the, uh, in the, uh, from the rain and the- Yeah... the hail out there, yeah. 7:43 Jonathan, uh, if, if we were selling spots for money in this little canopy we were under, and they ranged from a dollar to a thousand, his spot would've been worth a thousand. 7:52 He was way back in the corner, completely dry. Uh, my large-boned body was right on the outskirts- You were-... and I got just soaked. 8:00 I'm on X and I'm scrolling through X, and Jonathan took a picture of me and posted it. Didn't you post it on X? Did you post it? I think I did, yeah. You did, yeah. Yeah. Yes, Toby getting drenched. 8:07 No, it was, it was a long day, man. Yeah, well- It- Uh, was it good though? You glad you went? Was it a good event? Well, for, when Trump got there to experience that was great, and all the flyover. 8:17 The flyovers were insane. Uh, our picture that this gentleman to my right took, he's an amazing photographer- Garrett... uh, Garrett, of, of Air Force One- He did a little-... 8:26 going right over the, the, the heads- Yeah... went like, well, went like super South Dakota viral. A- a- we had, like, oh, I think almost 2 million views on it, all organic. Right? Yeah. 8:36 And that picture got boosted by, like, every big account on X- Wow... like literally used his pictures w- without credit. Without, without, without- I'm, I'm just like, "What? Why would..." 8:46 I, and I know they don't know who Garrett is, but he could've just said @TobyDoeden or whatever, but- Yeah... whatever, it's Twitter, you can steal whatever you want. But no, man, that... 8:53 The, the flyover, seeing Air Force One fly right over us right above the heads was a once in a lifetime moment. Yeah. And so it made the entire day. 9:02 At one point we literally had to crawl up into the mountains and hide under brush [laughs] because it was hailing and raining. Right. We couldn't find anywhere to go, and then it was all worth it in that one minute. 9:11 The, uh, I was back home in Dell Rapids, but I saw Air Force One fly over Dell Rapids, like an hour and a half after the speech. There was- Really?... 9:20 there was, uh, F-16s or whatever they were in front of it, behind it, and beside it. Uh- Wow... and they were pretty lo- lower than a commercial airliner would be flying over, so that's why we looked. Uh- That's insane. 9:33 Yeah, like it had... I mean, it was headed, headed east. I mean, it had to be. What other kind of- Well-... like it-... well, fighter escort? Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Did you get a chance to meet him or anybody in that? 9:44 I don't think anybody did. Somebody told me, like, him and Larry didn't even get a- Yeah, Larry got kinda snubbed I thought. Somebody told me that. I don't know. 9:52 I think he just came in there all business, you know what I mean? He came in there, gi-... Listen, he was in Medora two days before. Yeah. Long day on the, on the fourth. Like, I mean, the, the fact that he even... 10:03 A- I mean, it's crazy, man. I, yeah, I know he flies in his big jet, but, like, his travel schedule's insane. 10:09 So yeah, it'd been great if he could've hung around a little longer, but, uh, like, I'm not gonna be critical of an 80-year-old man who, who outworks probably all of us, uh, for wanting to get the heck out of Dodge. 10:19 Yeah. You know? Well, it was- Yeah... it was a great speech I thought for Trump, and, and- It was... 10:23 that's not, and I'm not trying to say I'm en- endorsing Trump or anything, but I, in terms of, like, him, I thought the message was good because, hey, we're patriots, July 4th, you know, celebrate. 10:31 It- And, and I thought he... You know, he came out, ha- came out hard to the hoop against communism- Yeah... uh, which I think is kinda the, the Republican theme for this midterm election. Uh- It's very popular... 10:41 uh, but, uh, we were talking before we started, uh, Hasan Piker's working to get con- people, a, a leftist communist working to get actual communists elected to, to Congress. 10:52 Uh, so maybe there's something there, I don't know. But Democrats are kinda poo-pooing that a little bit. You, you wanna, you wanna know what the best... my favorite part of the Mount Rushmore thing, Jonathan? 11:00 And I hope you saw it. There was... I mean, I'm sure you did. He comes out, and they, you know, they have this fortress of, of b- bulletproof glass around him now obviously, wherever he goes. 11:09 So the door that comes out goes right into this little protected area where he can speak. He's, he, he steps outside of it and wave- Yeah. [laughs]... waves at everybody. [laughs] Right. 11:18 [laughs] Like, like, "You got one second to shoot, to shoot at me." [laughs] And I'm like, "That is so gangster badass." It was like- Like, seriously, I'm like that's my president right there. 11:28 The way you did that reminded me of, like, those, uh, inflatable car sale, like car dealer, uh... You know what I'm talking about? Those things that flop up? That flop up. Yeah, the banner thing? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 11:39 The, uh... Well, are you s- he hasn't endorsed in your race. Are you surprised by that? I know, um, everybody would... 11:47 Everybody that had been in this race, and the two candidates that are still in this race, hell, even Dan Ahlers would probably want Trump's endorsement I think. Uh, so 11:57 I don't think we're gonna get one here, and I never really wonder- I kinda thought we wouldn't because where, what would he gain? We don't have a never-Trumper in this race other than... 12:07 I mean, Dusty had mo- the most vocal opposition to Trump policies than anybody else in the race at any point. So I mean of- Are you surprised that we haven't gotten an endorsement? 12:20 Well, to, to be fair, and this, I, I swear to you, this is not rhetoric. Th- this is... I- I honestly believe this, and I think a lot of people do too. 12:29 Tony Van Heusen is clearly the brains behind the operation on Team Roeden, and I don't think anybody would dispute that. He's a never Trumper. 12:36 Uh, nobody despises Donald Trump in South Dakota more than Tony Van Heusen, and he is essentially the de facto governor. Um, which, which I think is largely, you know, kept him from getting the endorsement. 12:49 Um, I, I know how th- the president's team feels about him specifically. But l- let's not kid ourselves. Larry's never been a huge Trump guy. Like, he says the right things. 13:01 I supported Trump when he came down the escalators, right? And so, uh, you know, whatever. 13:07 W- when we got into this, I told him, if I didn't think we could win this regardless of what happens that I can't control, I wouldn't get in it, right? So I, I just don't worry about that stuff. 13:16 Listen, I had, like, what, four legislators out of 105 support me. Hansen and Johnson had all the supporters, and they got third and fourth. I, I took my message right to the people, right, which has been very effective. 13:27 What's that been... Uh, how has campaigning been different since the election and then the runoff in the eight weeks, or is it the same? To be fair, 13:40 r- right, wrong, or indifferent, uh, we talked to a lot of people after the second, and, um, they agreed with us, uh, wholeheartedly that people were so sick and tired of this race. 13:50 We didn't even campaign the first third. We didn't campaign at all in June. The, our race started on July 2nd when we went to the Rapid City parade, and then we've just been full tilt ever since. 13:59 Larry started running ads in June, which I, I don't know that that necessarily is gonna benefit him in the long term. 14:05 Probably in the short term it did, just because of, well, you know, th- they see Larry spend a million dollars in ads in June. We just didn't do that. 14:11 We saved up everything we had, w- and we said we're gonna take, w- we're gonna, we're gonna turn this into a 28-day, a 27-day campaign, right? 14:18 So, so we, we, you know, we've only been rolling really hard for this lower two... Now listen, we were busy in June doing it wrong. 14:23 I, I, I did more, more longer days just behind the scenes in June than I did any time during the campaign, but just from a public standpoint- Mm-hmm... we really wanted to give people a 30-day, uh, cleanse. 14:35 [laughs] Yeah, sure. So, you know, no postcards, no, you know, no texts. 14:39 Just, just give everybody a break, and then doggone it, we gotta remind them in July, 'cause a l- a lot of people, y- you guys have probably heard this. 14:46 A lot of people, until we call them, and we do a lot of outreach, or until we send them a text for an event, they're like, "Y- didn't you already win?" 14:53 There are literally people as ear- as, as, uh, just a couple days ago, that still think I won. And, and t- I guess technically I did, but it's not over, so I didn't win. Right. 15:03 I might've got the most votes in the second, but I didn't win anything. All I won is another eight-week election, right? Mm-hmm. But they're... 15:08 So we're, we're just working like dogs to get that message out to, 'cause we have a lot of rabid supporters. Like, like, people that have never voted in a primary are the reason we won on June 2nd. 15:18 Like, first time voters. Like, like, the, I'm, I'm not a- afraid to admit that. Like, that's a- So you gotta get those people-... badge of honor... back out. We, we, we gotta make sure they know. 15:26 First of all, we gotta make sure they know we didn't actually win, and number two, yes, you have to go vote again. So- Yeah... that's our- Well, and in Sioux Falls, there's gotta be some voter fatigue, right? Oh. 15:35 'Cause we- Yeah... we just went through our own runoff, and then another, and then a recount. But, um, with the, uh, you came in first quite a ways ahead of the other three, right? 15:49 I mean, maybe Larry couldn't afford to take the month off. It's possible. That's possible. You know? Because you were so far ahead in that. That's possible. 15:58 But- Uh, you know, uh, him and his team and others criticized me and said, "Toby might've won by th- by six points, but 69% of the people said no to Toby Doeden." I'm like, "F you. 75% said no to your guy." 16:11 [laughs] Like- Yeah... like, I was, like- How you gonna say that... I, I don't, I don't understand that talking point. [laughs] It's like, you, you've been a politician for 30 years in this state. 16:19 You've been the s- the lieutenant or governor for eight years. You have a 98% name ID, and three out of four voters said, "I don't want you to be our governor anymore." 16:29 And yet they, Ian Feary specifically, tried to say 69% of the voters slammed the door on Toby Doeden. I'm like, "You are a clown." Yeah. 16:40 Well, I will say, uh, Ian had the, you know, the gumption or the courage to come and sit down, uh, with Matt Hurley, what, a month ago? Two months ago? It was right after- Right after the election... the election. Yeah. 16:54 So kudos to- I, I w- I listened to it, and then immediately went and jumped off the roof of my house. Yeah. [laughs] How'd you think Matt did? 17:02 Oh, he was just calm and cool and collected, and then, you know, Ian's just, like, throwing hatchets at everybody, and he's juggling swords. And I, I'm, I'm like, just stop being mad, Ian. Listen, I like Ian. 17:15 I talked to Ian at a Lincoln Day dinner a couple months before the election when he knew they weren't gonna win. He was... 17:19 That was about the time he booked his vacation, and I said, "Genuinely, you're a very talented guy. I don't know you well personally. Y- I'm sure you've heard bad things about me. 17:26 I've heard bad things about you, but everything I've seen in person with you, I like. I'd love to have you on my team." He says, "Let's talk after the primary." 17:33 [laughs] And then, and then, and then doggone it, here we are in an eight-week runoff. [laughs] So, yeah. It's right after the runoff then, right? Yeah, so- Yeah, yeah... 17:42 he would be fighting people on my behalf if, if, if Larry hadn't crawled over Dusty, probably. Mm-hmm. 'Cause I would've... Listen, there's n- listen, he's a talented guy. 17:51 I just, I just wish he would s- I mean, I don't think it's appropriate for the campaign manager of another candidate- To personally comment on the other candidate's social media, I think it's very unprofessional. 18:04 That, that's my opinion. I, I think it looks bad for him and Larry. My advice to him would be to stop doing that. I'm, I'm not gonna block him. I don't block anybody, right? It's a, it's a free country. 18:12 If you wanna- if Joe Sneve wants to- Maybe he's like- He's commenting on your, commenting on your posts... 18:15 he goes on my Facebook page and, and my, and my Twitter, and he's constantly commenting on everything that I post. Really? He's just, he's just badgering me. I'm like, "How is that a good look?" 18:23 Everybody's like a chihuahua that... Like, they grab onto your ankle. Ankle biter. I was just about to say ankle biter. Yeah. [laughs] Ankle biter. [laughs] Well, they call the- it's called barking. 18:31 He's gonna clip this up and tweet it out. "Look how mean Toby is. Toby says I can't even be on Facebook. Toby's so angry, so mad." I like Ian personally. I consider him a friend, but I can- I do too. I- listen... 18:42 he's a good soldier. I literally just said I would l- I would've loved to have had him on my team. But I would... Listen, if Matt Hurley comments on Larry Rhoden's post, I would fire him on the spot. I would. I'm sorry. 18:53 If, if my son comments- You gotta draw that line... on Larry Rhoden's post, I will literally change my will. [laughs] I, I- These, these- I have a very strict rule. 19:01 You don't interact with the other candidates on their personal social media pages. It's off limits. I, I say that myself. That's a ba- not a bad rule. Don't I say that? What's that? Just leave it alone. I w- I would not. 19:11 Just leave it alone, right? Like, don't give it oxygen, right? 'Cause it only gives it oxygen when you comment on- Yeah. I agree. He does- he doesn't want me fighting on Twitter. Yeah. So- It's-... or X. 19:23 It's- I think it's okay to-... electrified... pick and choose your battles. Here, Jonathan, okay, listen. N- not advice, this is just something I've noticed. 19:29 The really, like, legitimately crazy people on social media, he's right. But there are some people that just sometimes just need a little pushback, and they go away. You can usually tell who they are. 19:42 You can sure as hell tell after the first comment you send back to them, 'cause if they come back again, you know they're in that crazy ass camp. Yeah, you usually can. And I... Listen, I used to be that guy. 19:50 Like, Toby Dote unfiltered. Somebody said something bad, I'm like, "What's your problem, dude?" And then w- then they would just spam me. I'm like, "Oh, gosh." Yeah. Just stop commenting. 19:58 It's hard to- Curly took my passwords away... not wanna respond and stick up for yourself or set the record straight, but some people aren't trying to learn anything. Right. Right? 20:10 So- It's, it's- I t- I turn my notifications off in November of 2020. Oh. Nice. What was going on in November 2020? COVID. Uh, uh, but wasn't there a big election then? Well, no, there was. COVID, yeah. 20:21 It was, it was COVID. The latrine flies who were like, "Shut everything down" were freaking out. It's still, you're, you're- And so, and, and I was... 20:27 I, I had, I, uh, I had p- tweeted out something 'cause I was having a, a drink with a friend, and I asked the bartender, I s- 'cause it was peaking in South Dakota at the time. 20:35 I asked the bartender, "Well, do you wanna lose your job?" 'Cause they were talking about shutting restaurants down. He's like, "Hell no." 20:40 And I said, I tweeted this out, I said, "The poll sample's admittedly small, but my bartender says he doesn't wanna lose his job," and that just, "Blah, blah, blah, everything off." Yeah. And so anyway. 20:49 But you knew what you were doing. I, I, I, I- But I knew what I was doing. Grenade! [laughs] Fire in the hole! So how did I, how did I get involved in, in politics? Yeah. I'll tell you how it started. 20:58 It was, uh, it was early in 2020, April, May, something like that. Yeah. And they shut down the, uh... They, they had announced that they w- that they weren't opening up the pool in Aberdeen. Ooh. Right? Yeah. 21:08 And I'm thinking, we didn't really know exactly how badly this thing was gonna affect us. At that point, the scare tactics were still working even for sane people. 21:16 But I'm like, the pool, so we're gonna keep these kids locked up at- Right... home breathing the same air? So I, I, I s- You can't go into chlorine and... 21:23 so I went on Facebook and said, I, I, I, Aberdeen Chrysler will donate 5,000... It was on their page. Uh, 'cause they're the only ones that had a big following at that time. We had like 15,000, 16,000 Facebook followers. 21:32 Says Aberdeen Chrysler will donate $5,000, uh, and, and maybe more. I'll fundraise to take, to, to... 21:39 So the city has all the money they need to take all the precautions they need for our kids to be safe at our swimming pool. And I mean, m- uh, I got... Th- that's literally all it was. 21:48 And so wh- when I saw that, I'm like, I'm like, there... I, I... That woke me up. Like, there's a lot of people out there coming for us. Like, these people- Yeah... are insane. Yeah. 21:57 That, that, that was the beginning of- Interesting... Toby getting into politics. Interesting. 22:01 CO- listen, this, this whole COVID thing that, again, I'm not gonna go in a rabbit hole with conspiracies here of why it happened or who, who perpetrated this happening, but it woke a lot of people up in this world, a lot of people in this country. 22:13 A lot of people like me around this country would still just be doing my 9:00 to 5:00, not paying attention. They thought they were, you know, gonna take the, the presidency from Trump or whatever they were gonna do. 22:22 All they did was actually wake up a whole bunch of really smart, powerful people, and, um, and I, I think they're gonna regret it someday. That's an interesting origin story, for sure. Yeah. Yeah. 22:32 Well, I think that it's true- 'Cause this wouldn't exist had that, had, uh, you know, this exists because of COVID in some sense, so. Did you start that after COVID? Yeah. Yeah, 2022, but- Oh, okay... 22:43 uh- Well- Yeah, I mean, it exposed-... that's cool... it, like, made very, it highlighted sort of the vulnerabilities and, like, shortcomings of our industry that we thought we could do better and, and avoid. 22:52 Uh, I think there was a lot of people- That's a good amount... that all, like, were stuck in their houses and they had nothing to do but, like, read and, like, pay attention. And those, a lot of those same people 23:01 five years before, if yous tried talking politics with them, they'd say, "Politics are stupid. They don't matter. Blah, blah, blah." 23:06 And they would, they didn't know enough to know that politics are, I mean, in your shoes. Everything comes on a truck. That's politics, you know? 23:13 Uh, people that they finally had some time to sit and think about all that while the, uh, the kings were locking them in their homes. 23:20 Uh- Speaking of this, uh, scout thing you started, I know, I know it's not really a newspaper, although you have a paper. Um, Aberdeen Insider started and is doing okay. We're, we were- Yeah... talking to Murdock. 23:29 I, I, uh, I got interviewed by him out west. You know, they're, they're doing their paper thing. I think it's great that people like you guys are going away from, you know... 23:37 I mean, look what happened to Aberdeen American News, Argus Leader. Like, these people stopped covering local sports, all the local stuff, which is why all these... Like, this is the future, so, uh- Yeah... 23:46 k- kudos to you guys. Well, thank you. Yeah, thanks. Uh, the, uh, print seems to be embraced still if you actually, um, invest in the community, the community will support it. 23:56 The, uh, American News and the Argus Leader created this opportunity. They did, yep. Right? By moving out of the market and stop- somebody was gonna pick up the gauntlet, and h- glad it was us. So- It was too fall... 24:07 amen... but you've kinda done the same thing, though. Yeah. You're an entrepreneur. You've charted your own course. Um, you know- People s- that's what people know about you, right? You're the businessman in the race. 24:22 I mean, everybody else was congressman, governor, house speaker, businessman. Um, have you felt like you need to maybe open yourself up more or show, 24:35 I guess, what you are besides just a businessman in these last eight weeks then, or s- seven? I would love to. Uh [laughs] you know, we tried hard for 12 months, you know. Uh, the media, 24:48 not you guys, you guys have been very fair to me. I appreciate that. Me? I don't know him, but- No, you both are. [laughs] But the, the media, like the, like the media literally ignored me for 12 months. 25:00 Like, even if, even if I... I could have s- s- I mean, I could have, you know, cured cancer during this campaign, and they would not have covered it, right? 25:09 And so the, now they s- now the big media has covered me all the time during the runoff, but the machine, the, but the whole machine now is just all negative on me, everything. I mean, so, so it's, it's very difficult, 25:21 uh, to get the, the proper messaging out to the right people when you're fighting against this massive conglomerate, right? And we were well-funded. 25:29 I know because I'm reminded daily by my CPAs how, how well-funded my campaign was and, and that w- we need to make some more of it, right? 25:38 [laughs] And, uh, so, like, just imagine being just a regular-ass candidate that loves this state so much. You couldn't run for this r- job if you wanted to, and that's what's terrible about politics. 25:49 I, I don't wanna waste our time talking about campaign finance reform. 25:54 I just don't think that candidates should be able to raise money outside of this state and bring it back, six, eight, $10 million, and run against really hardworking people that would've, that would be amazing governors. 26:07 Y- there's no fundraising in this state. If you wanna fundraise in this state, you know who you're taking money from: Sanford, Dykhouse. I mean, I'll, I'll go right down the list. You, you guys know who they are. 26:16 There's about 10 or 15 of them that control all the money in the state, and then the rest of it you gotta go get nationally from people that want hooks in you and want influence over you. So- Or you self-finance, right? 26:27 Or y- or you're the one guy in state's history that's self-financed. Th- this is l- I say this at my bus stop events. This is our one chance. If you believe what I'm selling, this is our one chance. 26:39 If you don't, that's fine. Vote for Larry. But this is our one opportunity to adjust course because I'm never running again. This is my one shot. Nobody's ever going to sacrifice and risk what I did. I'm sorry. 26:51 I, I, I'm not looking for a pat on the back. I, I made this decision on my own. Nobody's ever doing it again. Uh, it's just not happening. Yeah. Nobody's gonna do what I did and spend... 26:58 I'm not even gonna say the- How much have you spent? A lot. Like 10? You've seen the disclosures and, you know, it's a lot more than that. So- Wow... uh, and, a- and then, l- listen Yeah, yeah... 27:07 and then we got into a runoff, so this ended up being two campaigns, right? 27:10 [laughs] So it's like the first campaign was pretty expensive, and now the second campaign's pretty expensive, and so, but, uh, I, I'm like, you know, that poker player that's just like, "Well, I'm all in now- Yeah... 27:19 so let's just l- you know, let's roll." So, uh, you know, Matt's holding checks from me. Are you gonna- Like, l- like I'm writing hold checks to Hurley at t- at this point. You're not gonna, like, be the breadline. 27:27 Like, he can't cash for four years. Huh? If this doesn't work out for you, you're not gonna be the breadline or anything, are you? He, uh, he di- didn't go all, all in, right? 27:36 'Cause I think, I've put myself, I've tried to put myself in your shoes psychologically, and I can't because I'm not you, and I don't, I don't know what it's like to have that much wealth. 27:45 Just there's gotta be a lot of weight psychologically that just comes with that and employing so many people and having family and all that. Um, and then to put your neck out like you have, right? 27:58 And if, I mean, it's all worth it. If you can, if you can win the runoff, I think, uh, history would say, you know, the governor's gonna be yours. 28:09 It's, it's probably, you probably make less money than you do now being governor, but, um, it's still an income. [laughs] Uh- No, I'm, I- oh, I'm not accepting the salary, but yeah, I, I get your point. You think? 28:20 [laughs] But if it doesn't work out, that's gotta be like a kick in the dick, though. Uh, but so you, how do, how do you compartmentalize that? And you've gotta sort of focus on the goal here- It, yeah, w- w-... 28:32 throughout the whole thing, right? Well, t- two things. One, I'm gonna be the happiest guy in South Dakota on July 29th, regardless of what happens. 28:41 I either get to go back and spend more time with my grandkids, I get to go actively work back in my companies, which I love as much as anything in this world. I love working. I love building things. Or I get to go serve. 28:52 So e- either way, like, this isn't defining me. 10 years from now, win- if I win, this might define my career. If I lose, n- this is not gonna define my career. My wife and I have done so much philanthropy. 29:02 I'm gonna do so much more in the next 30 years. We're gonna build dozens of more companies. People are gonna remember me as, as, as one of the best business leaders in the history of the state. 29:09 They're not gonna remember me as somebody who lost an election and spent a bunch of money. 29:13 But back to the wealth thing, honestly, th- this is not bullshit, and you asked, you could talk to people that have done the same thing I did. This is true. 29:23 Whether your net worth is a dollar or $100 million, it doesn't feel any different if you are a good steward of this planet and you are doing things for other people. I don't keep this kind of capital around. 29:34 Every dollar I have is working for somebody or something, right? We take all of our capital, and we put it into companies and investments and businesses. Why? 29:44 So we can grow those businesses and make more opportunities for South Dakotans- Right... their families. Like, when, when, when the company grows, s- somebody's winning. We, we need new managers, new leaders. 29:56 So whenever we buy a new company, that's an opportunity for 20, 30, 50, in some cases 100 people, right? So, I live the same lifestyle today I did 15 and 20 years ago. 30:05 My lifestyle, my lifestyle has, has not changed in a very long time. I don't keep any of it. Every nickel we make goes back into investing into the business. 30:13 The money I'm, I used for this campaign, I had to go find liquidity. I sold things. I sold properties. I sold assets. 30:20 Like, and so when I say I sacrifice a lot, I, I sold income producing assets that would've provided for my family for generations to run for this election, right? So, y- y... 30:31 So yeah, we have to make more money because I spent the money I had, right? Yeah. So it's all fine on paper, but I'm, I'm never benefiting from that, right? The people that work for me are benefiting from it. 30:41 I'm, I, I, I have people that I bring on as partners. My children someday are gonna own all these companies. Uh- We can, we can relate on a lower, a smaller scale probably. Yeah, I understand. 30:52 So- Well, the paper makes a lot of money, but we, our lives still suck. [laughs] Well- I understand... you know, you're making, without, without being explicit about it, you're kinda making a, a, an argument 31:03 on behalf of free market capitalism. Yeah. And free market capitalism has really been under attack. Mm-hmm. Uh, I mean, you're talking about how, how, how, how the free market works is you create wealth. Mm-hmm. 31:17 And I was listening to a speech that Bernie Sanders made, and he was talking about how- Are you just trying to trigger yourself? Huh? Is that what you do? You just sit around- No. No, I was just listening-... 31:26 listen to YouTube videos?... listening to, listening to the news. [laughs] And, but, but Bernie Sanders was talking about how, um, Elon Musk owned wealth, not created wealth, you know what I mean? 31:36 But you're talking about you're creating cr- you know, there's, it's a, it's a, it's almost a mercantilist view of w- of the economy, that there's only a finite amount of wealth out there, and if somebody has a billion dollars, well, he stole it from those homeless people out there, right? 31:50 Yeah. It's so, so it's an intr- it's interesting. Yeah. I mean, you ca- It- Without being explicit, kind of even- If you start a company, and all my companies are face-to-face retail businesses. Like we- Yeah... 31:58 we service the public, right? If we start a company a- and I invest $2 million in that company, and in 10 years it's worth $4 million, yeah, we created that wealth by taking risk. 32:11 We risked $2 million in capital, not to mention thousands and thousands of blood, sweat, and tears, sleepless nights, you know, l- l- potential lawsuits every day, all of these things- Yep... right? Yeah. 32:23 And then along the way, we've created wealth for others. Now we have a partner, we have a general manager, we have, we have managers. We have s- you know, we have staff members making lots of money. 32:33 So people forget that every time a business is successful, society wins, 'cause it generates tax-based revenue. They buy a nicer home, they go build a house. Like, society wins when businesses win. 32:45 And they, they go, "Elon Musk with a trillion dollars." It's all in stock that's speculative- Right... that could go away tomorrow if somehow they find out there's a m- major flaw in one of his companies. 32:57 That, that mu- so it's... A- and plus he can't sell his stock. If he goes and sells his stock, Jonathan, the stock tanks. So he's got this w- wealth on paper, he can't touch it, right? Yeah. 33:06 So it's like people that invest in property. Property is not a great way to get rich. Maybe over 30 years you can build some wealth, but it's not a good cash flowing profitable business. 33:15 Like, we own a lot of property too, but you have to hold property for decades. You have to manage it. You have to, you know, there's just, I mean, it's, it's hard, right? 33:23 I had a CPA once told me, he says, "Toby, you're insane." He said, "You've, you've made and invested a lot of money in the state. 33:29 Do you know how much easier it would've been to just write checks to big developers in South Beach and all that stuff?" And I'm like, "But I like to actually do the work." You know what I mean? 33:38 And listen, I know people that don't, and that's fine. I, I had a, my next partner made a lot of money, and, uh, he just retired, t- took his liquidity. Great. Good for him. He worked hard. 33:48 He, it's his money, do whatever he wants with it, right? Mm-hmm. And so I- Yeah... I just think i- in this day and age, s- society generally, especially on the left, has gotten a little soft. Yes, it has. 33:57 And I think the people that are willing to just work their butt off really hard got a great chance to get ahead, so. 34:02 Well, I think you seem like a self-resilient guy, and I've said it in my life a lot of times, like when things don't go well f- if I spend too much money at the casino or something, right? 34:12 Like, then I'll say, "I can make more of it." You can always go make more of it if you have arms and legs and a brain. Yeah. Right? I bet you could figure out how to make money if you didn't even have arms and legs. 34:22 Honestly. So, uh- No comment... no victim mentality here, you know? So speaking of things are soft, but, um, what we got, 10 days till it's done? I don't even know what it is today. 20... 34:40 No, is this the- 18th, 17th? 17th. 11 days. 11 days. So, uh, I saw SDPB published its videos, interviews, and then Searchlight had its exposes on the candidates this week. 34:56 We're recording this, uh, a week before it will air. Uh, so the week that we're recording this, the big news, I guess, would've been... Well, you're getting a lot of pushback from the, 35:08 you said s- the machine earlier, and that, I think maybe you were talking about, like, the, the chamber of commerce types pushing back on your property tax- Right... proposal stuff. 35:17 And then the, the poll stuff that came out, um, shows the governor is in front of you. You know, I wonder what you make of all that, so. 35:33 Well, to the first point, yeah, it's, it's all the stuff. Th- they're really not, Joe, attacking me. The, I mean, really they're not attacking me on specific policy issues. They're just trying to 35:44 build doubt in the voters so they vote for Larry. I mean, that's what they're doing. Uh, is it gonna be effective? I don't know. We'll find out the 28th. Why would they, why do they wanna do that? 35:54 Because they live off the government- They, they-... revenue... 100%, the establishment, the media, like, it's just, like, they, they j- Come on, man. You've been around politics. They hate people like me. 36:04 They hate the outsider. How dare you jump into a political world with no experience? Doggone you, you know? 36:12 But, um, but yet they c- they control things like our economy and our law and order, and they have no experience in law and order. They have no experience running companies. 36:19 So they're literally running things that I do have experience in. So I find that kind of funny. 36:24 As far as, as far as the, the poll goes, I mean, listen, the polls, uh, have had me in third or fourth place by l- by huge margins since June of 2025. I, I, I think I only led in one poll ever in 13 months. 36:38 There was dozens that showed me down. Heck, there was polling that showed Larry and Dusty around 30% the week before the election, and me in the, in the upper teens, right? 36:49 We built a database here a few years ago, and y- you know the people on my team. They're smart people. We built a database here on my race, right? 36:58 So when pollsters come in, they come just do cookie cutter polling, right? Which is fine, whatever. We built our polling stratosphere based on my race, my support, my outsider status, who's gonna vote for me. 37:12 Like, like we really built a model that nobody else has. It's a, it's a o- one out of one. They won't be able to use it in any other races. This is just my race. 37:20 Our model showed me ahead almost the entire year of 2026, okay? W- clearly we were right, right? And I told you that. 37:28 I wouldn't have gone out on a limb- It's one of our biggest stories of this- I wouldn't have gone out on a limb-... spring... publicly like that. I'm, I'm, I'm a pretty, you know, whatever. I'm a just, ah, whatever. 37:37 I would've never set myself up for failure if I wasn't 100% sure we were gonna win. I knew we were winning this race in February, okay? Like, I mean, like, it, it, it was, w- we were just strong everywhere. 37:46 And we were strong in the moderate counties, the conservative count- We had broad support. We won Beadle. We won Clay. We won Lake County. I won Fall River, Custer, Rapid, East River, West River. 37:56 Like, w- we knew we had broad support. That's how we knew we were gonna win. W- we're leading by six points in early voters. That's, that's the fact. That's what our data shows. 38:05 So I don't care what the people that haven't voted shows on all these broad polls that don't have the system we built. The people that have already voted are breaking for me. 38:15 We're gonna chase every last vote till July 28th. I, I genuinely believe we're winning. Uh, I'm not gonna predict a margin. I don't know. I don't care. I, I hope it's not two votes [laughs] if I'm being honest. 38:25 Yeah, right. [laughs] And I actually- Same... I, I really don't want to go through that. 38:29 But listen, it, it's about inevitable decline versus hope, and at the end of the day, I always believe hope's gonna win out, and I think that message is gonna resonate with the voters. I mean, let's... 38:38 Look, I, again, I don't wanna go in a rabbit hole, but this, they, they overplayed their hand on this last poll. 38:43 I got 31% in the four-way primary, and now they say I'm basically at the same percentage in a two-way primary. 38:50 So basically, not a single voter [laughs] of John Hansen's or Dusty's bro- I mean, it's, it's, it's ludicrous. They... It's like they were trying to tell people Toby doesn't have a chance, don't go vote, which is fine. 39:01 I mean, that's, that's great, but then they shouldn't have stretched it so much, 'cause it's, it just seems so unbelievable. You know what I mean? Well, there could be 39:10 some of Larry's people might not show up now because they think he's got it in the bag with a poll like that, right? Maybe, yeah. So there's, so there's counter effect to- It's all about turnout. I mean, it is. 39:19 It's all, it, it's just all about turnout. It... So here's what we know. The outside... And there's been some national groups that have polled and have shared it with us, and th- their numbers are pretty similar to ours. 39:31 But s- you're polling who you think regularly votes in an election, while the people that regularly vote in an election aren't voting in this primary. We had 136,000 votes. 39:43 We think it's gonna be way lower than that, and, and you guys know that. I don't know what the number's gonna be. I just know it's gonna be way lower than 136,000. 39:51 So the people that, a lot of people that voted, perhaps as many as 30 or 40,000, aren't going back to vote again. And do you, do you th- do you believe my supporters are suddenly gonna lose their energy for the outsider? 40:03 I don't. I don't. If you can make sure they know there's another election. [laughs] We're- I think- Yeah... we, we could... Can you guys boost this on your Facebook page? [laughs] Well, they... 40:13 Jonathan just crunched a bunch of numbers on early voting and voter registration, and early voting's outpacing, but it occurs to me that that's probably because people are voting in the mayor's race. 40:23 Sioux Falls probably drove that, right? Because people show up to vote in the mayor's race early- And they were getting ballots then... and you can vote for the governor's runoff at the same time. 40:32 I mean, I think that's probably why we're seeing early voting. That, that's part of it, but you know what a lot of people have told me? 40:37 That or th- 'cause we go to these events, everybody tells you if they've already voted for you, because it's the summer, and everybody's so busy in the summer, and they got a bunch of stuff coming up. 40:45 People are just like, "It's, I'm too busy this summer. I just wanna get it out of the way." So people that always vote on Election Day, some of them are voting early. 40:51 Uh, so, um, and you know, I love voting on Election Day too, but in a runoff, I think, listen, if you got 10 minutes and you're close, just go vote. I mean, uh, I mean, that's, that's my opinion. 41:01 Just go get it, bank it, be done. Just in case. J- what if we get massive thunderstorms on the 28th? I mean, this is South Dakota in July. We could have tornadoes all the way up and down I-29, I-90. Uh, God forbid. 41:13 I, I, I hope not. [laughs] I mean- Yeah... I, I, I hope it's 85 degrees and sunny and- Weather, if a little rain or thunderstorm would keep somebody from voting, do they really deserve the right to vote? 41:24 [laughs] But going, going to your, to your point anecdotally, just I think for sure your supporters are definitely more motivated to get out and vote. But again, it is that education piece. 41:36 This is the first time in history we've had this runoff. So yeah, it's a, it's a tall order to make sure that you get everybody ginned up again, you know? 41:44 And I, and I do think you, well, just not, not, you know, commenting on your strategy, but I do think you was the right choice to probably take the month of June and kind of put it on dry ice for a little bit and then ramp it back up, so. 41:56 Yeah. A lot can change too. Yeah. I mean, if that poll's accurate Or, you know, reflective of anything. We saw how quickly things changed ahead of the June 2nd election. Right. You know? 42:09 So, uh, it might be a little premature- You wanna know what those sneaky like, like when they do these polls, it's crazy. 42:14 I didn't, I didn't use to know any of this, but I'm, I'm kind of a data geek so I ask a lot of questions. Regular polling companies, they'll come in and th- they weigh the results however they want. Mm-hmm. 42:24 So you can, you, you can literally manipulate these a million different ways b- and they never share how they weigh the polling, right? Well- Well, they should... they should. Yeah. The polling companies weigh 42:37 low-propensity voters, so people that have never voted in a primary, th- they, they give them as low as 0%, like they don't even factor them into their polling. Yeah, I think so, sure. They, they don't even show up. 42:47 We factor at about 25% in our poll, and, and our polling's right. So do you know how much those numbers move when you figure 25% of people that have never voted are gonna come vote, and they're... 42:58 and 90% of low-propensity voters, by the way, are voting for me. So th- that's how these numbers... But guess what? It's propaganda. And guess what? It works. The regular-ass voter sees that poll and goes, "Uh, 43:11 Toby Stud." [laughs] I mean, why, why is he still driving that bus around with his fat head on the side? [laughs] Like, why is he- Well- Why is he-... they're psychology... 43:19 and we're like, "Hey, we're still winning by 6 points with people that have already voted. People that have voted are breaking for me by 6 points" And so, and dude, we... 43:28 I, I'm not gonna get into the details because I don't wanna give Ian any ideas, but we are, we are, we are, we are tracking down voters, man. 43:33 We are, we, w- we have, people have no idea how sophisticated our system is tracking down voters and, and it's, it's huge, it's widespread, and, um, and, uh, it's working. Well, you can't under... 43:45 I personally can't underestimate you given your performance, uh, and sort of how the, the talking heads politicos, how far off the results were from the narratives, you know? So, uh, 43:59 you know, I think there's valid, there's some... It's hard to say that, that, uh... It feels like a coin flip to me, I guess, is what I'm saying. I don't, I wouldn't know how, who to, who to pick. 44:10 I don't really s- buy polls at all since 2016 anyway. Yeah. Uh, we, we saw lots of problems with polls then, but your polling though, 44:20 uh, ahead of the June 2nd apparently was, was right, so I was really impressed actually, um, with how that all shook out when it came to you guys. 44:29 But, um, on your, what are you getting the most pushback on, on your campaign? Like property tax stuff comes up. How's he, how's he gonna do that? Uh, where's the money come from? 44:40 Surely there's not as much fraud, waste, and abuse as would fill that bucket if we don't pay property taxes. And then they're also s- little sus of the idea of like raising taxes on tourism or, um, trusts. 44:56 Do you get those questions a lot? Well, property tax is definitely the most polarizing issue, and it's not even close. And, and why? 45:03 Well, because that's, I mean, we, i- in a four-way primary, we had to find a niche lane, and affordability and specifically property taxes, w- we were the only one in that lane, right? So we just owned that lane. 45:17 The propaganda that was spread, and it, listen, it, it, it has been relatively effective. Uh, Dusty's people did it, and now, um, Larry's people are doing it. 45:26 They literally tell people that I'm gonna eliminate property taxes on day one, and we're gonna have $1.8 billion shortfall in our budget. 45:33 Larry is running attack ads on TV right now from his campaign that literally say that word for word. I have never uttered those words one time in my life. It's, it's ridiculous. 45:43 Somehow the guy who built companies for 30 years thinks you can just chop $2 billion off the state bud- I mean, it's, it's, it's so radical of a lie to even try to push, yet it's been somewhat effective. 45:53 Of course, that's ridiculous. We ha- Would I love to get rid of all property taxes in South Dakota over the next 5, 10, 15 years? Yeah, I would, because I think they're unfair and unjust. 46:02 I think there's other ways we can get revenue. But we have to start small somewhere, right? And what I've said repeatedly, probably at 200 events, I would like to start with owner-occupied 46:16 single-family homes for South Dakota residents, and even more specifically, the fixed-income seniors that are selling their homes because they can't afford the property tax. Like, let's start there. 46:25 That's less than 100 million. So now we're talking less than 100 million out of an $8 billion budget. That doesn't seem ridiculous, right? So l- l- let's go work on that, right? 46:34 And so, but, you know, a- again, so that's why these bus stop events were so important. We've had somewhere, I don't even know the number, it's probably close to 15,000 now, people that have attended. 46:43 Some of them have attended twice, so I don't know how many different people, but probably 10 or 12, at least 1,000 if not more, have came to a bus stop event where I've gotten to talk about that in person with them, and then they go home and they tell all their friends, their family, their coworkers, "Toby's gonna do it." 46:56 No, he's not. This is actually his plan. 46:57 So, like, that, that is really what won us the election because that, like, it, I don't have enough money to, to spend $15 million on television and radio and all this other stuff to, to fight back against all these, you know, things. 47:10 It, so- Well, that doesn't seem like it's unreasonable of a, of an approach as day one And then as far as the revenue- You know, am I right? So-... th- listen, South Dakota's never audited our state government. 47:20 So are we gonna find a, a million dollars, $100 million, 400 mil- I don't know what the number is, gentlemen, but I know it's, I, I know it's 100% more than we've ever found because we've never done an audit, so there's that. 47:32 Targeted consumption taxes are a necessity in a state like South Dakota because we have this naturally rich state. Every state in the country has a targeted consumption tax, right? A- we charge the lowest. 47:44 One, it's, it's 1.5%. It's the lowest in the country. You go to Fort Worth, Texas, it's anywhere from 8, 14, 16% depending on where you're at, what you're buying, rental car, hotel. 47:54 You go to Twin Cities, go to a Twins game, you're paying through the nose in targeted consumption tax. So 2/3 of our taxable receipts are from non-residents. 48:04 They come here, they drive on our roads, they, they consume the same resources we do, but we pay to build and maintain the infrastructure. 48:12 All I'm saying is it, it, it's not that difficult to put in targeted consumption taxes. Look at the folks in Sturgis. I know a lot of people in Sturgis. 48:21 They don't particularly love the rally, but they understand it's important to our economy there, right? 500,000 people. 48:28 You think somebody's gonna stop coming to Sturgis because they gotta pay another 20 or $30 during the week in, in Target, 'cause, 'cause of today? I'll take one drink. 48:36 It, it's ins- It's, it's a ridiculous notion that people that are saying- Right... that should be ashamed. 48:40 Y- Somebody comes to the h- you know, a C store out in the Black Hills and they go swipe their debit card, and their kids come in, they buy $600 worth of snacks and, and, and somehow or another it's 38 cents higher. 48:51 It's a rounding error. Nobody's looking at that. Let's put the residents of South Dakota first. 48:56 So the people that are coming here should pay to help build our infrastructure, and then the third part of that is the economy. Our economy collects the same sales tax revenue today we did in 2023, 1.5 billion, right? 49:06 I mean, Google it. It's insane. But our, but our expenses, our state spending's gone up 38% the same three years. Our economy's not growing. Did you see our GDP in the first quarter? 49:15 Did you see that report that came out? Well, we're not on the top of all those lists anymore. We're 50th out of 50, and our GDP in quarter one of this year retracted 1.6%. That's scary, okay? 49:26 So our sales tax revenue's flat, our GDP is contracting, and our state spending is going up 13% a year. Seems like we need a new governor. [laughs] Call me crazy. Yeah. You should ask Larry about that. 49:37 [laughs] Oh, we will. We will. No, play him that clip specifically. So, uh, you were asked in I think the Kelly debate what grade you'd give Governor Noem. The, uh... Was that a good question? 49:52 No, it was a terrible question. It was. Like, h- here's the, here's the question. Listen, Governor Noem is a very polarizing figure. She served as governor. She's a very famous person nationwide. 50:02 How do you think she did serving the people of South Dakota? Great. That's an open-ended question. Give me a minute to answer it. But it's like- I agree... I don't know, like, fuck, a B? 50:12 Do we, do we, do- I don't know, but what, what do you want from me? Are we gonna... Is it 92% and higher is an A? No, it's the 80, 90. 80, 90. So yeah, I give her like a, you know... Now listen, I mean, I don't know. 50:23 I mean, listen, I d- d- There's a lot of subjectivities... I, listen, generally I think she was a good governor. Uh, she won in 2018. Sh- she did a lot of good things. 50:32 You could argue all the nuanced details you want, but the, this fact remains and it will never change. When there was very little hope across this country, she gave people in this country hope. She did. 50:44 She stood up, she said, "F everybody. We're staying open." Again, you can argue all the nuances of how she got to that point. I don't care about that. The people that moved here, I've met 'em. I've met many of them. 50:54 Good, good conservative people. They get a bad rap. Oh, they moved here from here. The people that moved here are good people. She put us on the map. 51:01 Sh- they came here because of her, and so where would our population be without that? We've had a lot of youngsters move because the state's a l- less and less affordable, all these things. 51:10 Our n- our population is the same today as it was five or six years ago, and we have tens of thousands of new retirees that have moved here because of Kristi Noem. 51:19 We would literally have lost 30 or 40,000 population without her. So again, I don't agree with everything she did. I don't l- l- like some of the controversies that popped up the last year or two. 51:30 It was, um, very unfortunate. And I don't agree with every policy decision she made, but to just say that she didn't do anything good is just complete, complete nonsense. The, uh... 51:39 I was more curious as to what's, uh, the Dan Santella's question really. Yeah. But I, uh, actually- I know she regrets picking Larry Rhoden as her lieutenant governor. Here is a- She, she has told mutual friends that. 51:50 I, that, that I can tell you. She, that, that, that's a... Why hasn't she endorsed him? Well, would you want it at this point? You know? Well. You might believe it then. 52:00 You think Un- you think Uncle Larry took a call from Kristi and turned down her endorsement? No way. No, probably not, but it might lend itself to the idea that something- Uncle Larry took $4,000 from an abortion gal. 52:11 I, we should talk about that. Got some heat right there. No, Kristi Noem, um, lost interest in what happens in the borders of South Dakota after 2020. Um, so I don't- That's a fair criticism... 52:24 you know, and I don't think she really gives a shit what's going on here now. So she, uh, let's just leave it that. So she hasn't done any local press or anything, you know, nothing. So anyway, uh, uh, what... 52:41 I mean, how many events you guys schedule? What, are you somewhere every day kissing babies between now and- Pretty much... July 20th? The, yeah, I'm busy all weekend. The bus, uh, stops again start on Monday. 52:52 I'm in Aberdeen Monday. I'm in Spearfish Tuesday, Sturgis Wednesday. Thursday I'm in Custer. Friday I'm in Rapid, and then we're back out in Sioux Falls, um, through the 27th, and then election day's the 28th. 53:06 The, uh, what's the favorite town you've been to that you had never been to before? Um, every one of them is my favorite. You're a good politician. I mean, you're starting to figure it out. 53:15 Hey, you wanna hear something funny? This Murdock guy who's, you know, I, he's... I don't care if he does listen to this. He's, he, he's, he's a little goofy, right? But I kinda like him. Brad? He's funny. 53:24 Yeah, he's funny. He told me not to call him Brad, so I call him Murdock. I'm trying to respect his wishes, right? [laughs] Yeah. Uh, even though Taffy called him Brad yesterday, and he, he, apparently that was okay. 53:32 But anyway, uh, I'm not talking about that. Why can't I call you Brad Murdock? Like, that'd be funny. Like- Just call him Murd. I don't know. You make up whatever you want. He is a goofy guy, though, uh, in a good way. 53:43 Lot, brings a lot of energy. Yeah, he does. He- We got a Dakota town hall. Is that what it's called? Yeah. But you guys did that. Yeah. So. Yeah, it was. No, he's, he's a funny guy. 53:52 He's got, tell you what, he's, he's got a lot of fun stuff h- uh, happening over there. He's- Taff, he's got, he got a lot of his fingers in a lot of, uh- He got a... He does, man. His offices are amazing. 54:02 I mean- He, well, he's also got, um, it's a Lot America, and he's a partner in that. Yeah. In Sturgis. We did- Uh- We did one of our bus stop events there. That place is fricking crazy. 54:10 He was here a couple summers ago around this time, and I sent a tent pack with him, and then I picked it up at the Lot America when I went out for the rally. Spent my $30 cocktails, so. Is that what they are? 54:23 Pretty much. I had to sleep 25 bucks to put my tent up in this lady's yard. And went and had a $30 drink. [laughs] I guess I could have got a hotel maybe, but you gotta plan like a month in ad- or a year in advance, so 54:36 maybe park the bus out there and I can sleep on your bus. That'd be cool. So. We're gonna have to clean it first. We've, we've had a mice, uh, infestation twice in that thing. Oh, cool. Yeah. Mothballs and then... 54:48 Yeah, I know. That thing's been all, that thing's been everywhere, man. I... That, that thing, I think had 15,000 miles when we got it. That's like- And now it's got like 60- What are you doing? 54:56 Well, listen, sorry, but mice are part of the deal. They get in there, we get rid of them. They get back in there, we get rid of them. 55:01 But, uh, uh- That's- So y- y- you can sleep in there if you want, but you might have some friends So you'd be mowing your own yard at the governor's mansion- 100%... and you'd be setting your own mouse traps. 1,000%. 55:11 [laughs] 1,000%, yes. I, I have developed a system that's very effective. Have you done... Have you got any of your own mowing done this year? Yeah, some of it. You still get home to do your own mowing. 55:21 I've had to, I've had to... It pains me to admit this. I've had to hire some of it. But- [laughs]... 55:25 if I, if I get a d- if I get a half a day off the camp, because you just a half a day, like maybe w- our events don't start till the afternoon, I might have four hours of morning or something, and the weather's nice, I will, I will go out. 55:36 I have very fast lawnmowers. I, I have very big, very fast lawnmowers. I, I can mow somewhere between 12 and 18 miles per hour, depending on the terrain, so... 55:44 [laughs] And it, it's got a seat belt and everything like that in the... [laughs] I shit you not. So, uh, yeah- If you- If I ever don't show up somewhere, I probably died in a lawnmower accident. 55:54 But, um, uh, no, I, I have... I can mow, like, uh... I have, like, 30 acres that I mow. Sh- well- Like, it's, it's pretty crazy. You- I have a lot of mowing... 56:03 you genuinely, I believe you, like, enjoy doing that sort of work. It's hard to- I genuinely enjoy working on my fake ranch, yes, I do. It's, uh, it's hard to give up things for the greater good sometimes, right? 56:15 Joe, I don't hunt anymore. I don't fish. I don't have any hobbies. I don't go on boys trips. I don't golf. 56:22 I spend time with my family, and I work, and the only time that I get just me and my thoughts is literally on my lawnmower. So it's very therapeutic. Wow. 56:31 Almost every one of my good business ideas, all of the critical thinking that I have done, 90% of it has been done on a lawnmower. That, that is the... That is... Like, like I, I... 56:41 The, the lawnmower time has been very good for my career, let's put it that way. I love that. Yes. It's... I have that same effect when I'm out- Bro, how-... mowing or something... 56:49 do you know how many people are gonna be driving by the governor's mansion when I start mowing? Like, seriously, there are gonna be people driving by just, like, seriously taking vi- like, "Toby, what's up, buddy?" 56:57 Like, "Mowing, guy. Like, you want me to come over and do yours too? Like, that's fine." It's too bad inauguration is in January and not a time of year where- I'll be snowblowing sidewalks... it's do that way. 57:08 So- Yeah... uh, well, I wish you well. Uh, uh, I think you're gonna perform better than some folks might have wanted people to believe this week. Um- Thank you for saying that... and I do think it's just a coin flip. 57:24 So either way, I mean, y- we should schedule it right now to have you back here either, like, a, um, you know, how are you gonna kick the shit out of Dan Hollers kind of an interview- Right... 57:37 or what happened kind of a thing. Um, you said you weren't gonna make any predictions, so. I do have one prediction to make. Okay. Um, if I don't win, I'm gonna be in Nashville on the 29th of July, yes. 57:52 What's going on there? I don't know. Me. Just letting it all hang out. Yeah, Kid Rock's Bar, I don't know, something. Yeah. [laughs] Hoot- hooting it up with my friends. I got some buddies over there. 58:02 Liz and I like to go to Nashville, so- Yeah... I, I haven't gotten to go in a few years. I've been a little preoccupied trying to save the future of South Dakota. But I miss, I miss going to Nashville. 58:10 Uh, once or twice a year, we'd sneak over for, like, maybe 24 to 36 hours and just go have a nice dinner. It's just, it's just a beautiful city. The people there are amazing. They're so... 58:18 It's like Vegas but without all the nonsense. Right. It's just a nice place. It has a little small town feel yet to it- It does... but it's- It does... a bit. 58:26 And if you know the right people, they can take you to, like, the old, like, authentic honky-tonks, not- Really?... you know, not Broadway. 58:32 Like, just, like, the old places where all the stars, like, played before nobody knew who they were. You know, we've gotten to know, um, you know, some folk like Hank Williams Jr. 58:40 Like we d- we're, we've got to be very good friends with his band. Yeah, you were out there at Sturgis last year, right, when it was- I've seen Hank 30 times in the last six years. Dang. 58:49 Now, granted, I haven't got to go in the last two and a half. Like I, I was like a Hank groupie there for a couple years. I'm like, I was, like, almost half semi-retired. I didn't really know what I wanted to do. 58:58 I never got to see him. My dad loved him, and I never thought he would tour again. All of a sudden he starts touring about five, six years ago, and, uh, I'm like, "I'm gonna go to every Hank concert I can get to." 59:07 So, uh, my family loves him, so it was like we did a lot of family... This was before my kids were married, before they had all their grandkids. 59:13 It, it was the last chance my family had to spend time together before I married off my daughters, and, you know, everybody started doing crazy stuff. It was a pretty good time, so. 59:22 Nashville, I was there last year, maybe two years ago now. My... It was a good time, but it's the first time I ever was approached by a bum. A- I offered him a bag of food because I was outside the White Castle. 59:35 It was, like, 4:00 in the morning. And it was the White Castle. John Pr- John Prine has, like, a booth in there. Um, and I'm like, "Well, here, here's some sliders" or whatever, and he goes, "Are they vegan?" Oh, no. 59:47 And I said, "No" and he rode off on his 10 speed. And I sat, I stood- Bro... silence, like, for, like, 10 seconds. Like, did that just happen? I waited about an hour. 59:57 It's probably some rich guy that just cruises around on his bicycle. He was so indignant about it too. It was like, dude, it reminded me of that Elton John song. You know, we live in a time where the poor get fat. 1:00:08 You know? Like, it's like- Dude, you know what's nice about-... ridiculous... you know what's nice about Nashville? We've been there quite a few times. W- I mean, and at, we've been there at times when it is packed. 1:00:19 I mean, 80,000 people at a George Strait concert coming down to the strip afterwards, can't move. I have not, a single time ever-... seen a fight, let alone an arguing match. Nothing. Hmm. Nothing. People are happy. 1:00:32 You go to Vegas, within one hour somebody's getting punched in the face- Yeah... on the strip. You know what I mean? [laughs] Speaking of, speaking of homeless people- People are getting chased down in cars and stuff. 1:00:39 Like, I mean, the nicest... You know, Fort Worth, Texas is the same way. You go to Billy Bob's, like the big- world's biggest honky-tonk bar, you go to the rodeo, the damn nicest people. 1:00:47 I mean, they're just, just amazing people. I mean, South Dakota's that way too. I think that's why we're attracted to these places- Places like that... that feel like South Dakota, you know? 1:00:55 Another homeless story though, Vegas. Gave a guy five bucks, he threw it back and goes, "My wife, my wife stole 50 grand." So you know, that's why he's homeless probably. He's still bitter. 1:01:05 You should have gave him 50 grand, Jack. Yeah, I gave like right at zero on it and gave it back. But- Did you write him a check? [laughs] No, no, no, the, uh... I picked it back up, put it in the machine and lost it. 1:01:15 But, uh- [laughs] No, put it in the machine, won 50 grand, and then didn't give it to the homeless guy. Didn't give it to him. Walked right by him. [laughs] Fucking went and- Stepped right over him. So, well, all right. 1:01:26 Uh, we've got a question we're gonna ask Larry Rhoden now. You, uh, you've, you've inspired us. So, uh, appreciate all the time you've given us in your campaign and coming in right before the election too. 1:01:38 I know you're busy, so um- Yeah, it's all good. I appreciate it, man. Uh, Jonathan, we should make some money. Yep. A lifetime isn't measured in speeches, it's measured in actions. 1:01:49 Larry Rhoden spent his life ranching, welding, serving on the school board, as a deacon in his church, a volunteer basketball coach. 1:01:58 Long before he was governor, Larry Rhoden was serving his community, not for attention, not for headlines, that's just who he is. 1:02:06 As governor, he kept serving, delivering the largest property tax cut in South Dakota history, putting $1,000 or more back in families' pockets, reducing violent crime, murder, meth, and robberies by double digits, standing up for life, banning the abortion pill, and defending our Second Amendment rights, earning him the endorsement of the NRA. 1:02:27 Some politicians spend a lifetime pretending to be somebody else. Larry Rhoden spent his lifetime showing us who he is. July 28th, Governor Larry Rhoden, keeping South Dakota strong, safe, free, and built to last. 1:02:43 Paid for by Rhoden for Governor. Come on along, head for the mountains of Busch Beer. Head for the mountains. It's cold and it's snow and it's waiting for you. Come on, head for the mountains of Busch Beer. 1:03:01 Head for the mountains of Busch. Head for the mountains of Busch Light Beer. Enjoy responsibly. Copyright 2022. Anheuser-Busch, Busch, and Busch Light Beer. St. Louis, Missouri. 1:03:14 Beale Distributing, Sioux Falls, South Dakota. It's voting time in South Dakota, and conservative Republicans get to choose our next governor. Will we pick another career politician who'll give us the same old excuses? 1:03:26 Or will we shake up the status quo with an outsider businessman who's actually created jobs and balanced budgets? If you like Donald Trump's fight, you'll love Toby Doten's grit. Here's Toby Doten. 1:03:39 I believe in South Dakota, and I believe government should work for the people who live here, not the powerful few who run it. 1:03:47 I'm running to be a governor for families, workers, farmers, and small business owners, not insiders and special interests, a governor who listens and who fights for ownership and opportunity. 1:04:00 Together, we can build a South Dakota where hard work is rewarded, freedom is protected, and the people, not the powerful, come first. The conservative outsider who's ready to fight, Toby Doten for governor. 1:04:13 Paid for by Toby Doten for South Dakota. Prepare yourself for a comfortable and relaxed experience when you shop at Juna Sleep Systems for your next mattress. It's where you'll find your mattress zen. Hey. 1:04:31 Welcome to Juna. Welcome to Juna. It's a complete 180 from what you're used to with mattress shopping. All we want is to help you sleep like you're supposed to sleep, and that can't happen if we do all the talking. 1:04:43 We'll ask you the right questions, listen to you, and within five minutes you could be peacefully relaxing on your next mattress. We have seven mattress options to fit a variety of sleeping habits and budgets. 1:04:54 These are hand-built at our location. You get a lifetime comfort commitment, a 120-night risk-free trial, free shipping within 100 miles, and a free mattress protector. Showroom in the front, factory in the back. 1:05:07 41st and Grange in Sioux Falls. Come see why it's the last mattress you'll ever have to buy at Juna. Thanks again to Beale Distributing, Juna Sleep Systems, and Toby Doten. 1:05:25 Uh, I... When we spoke with Toby Doten, that was about, what, five days ago? I'm five days more exhausted than I was then, and I can only imagine what it's like to be a candidate in this race that won't end. 1:05:41 And we have another candidate, the, the governor of the great state of South Dakota. So not just a candidate. You're, like, running the show. You're the king, mister. Yeah. Welcome back into the studio. Yeah. 1:05:53 Great to be back. You're, you're, uh, you're a regular down here. This is like your fourth time I think. Uh, yeah, something like that. Yeah. Well- Toby and I have been together the last couple times. 1:06:03 The- So I'm, I'm solo today. Did you get a haircut recently? Yep. So did Jonathan. Yeah. I did. Did you guys see each other at the barber? [laughs] My wife has cut my hair for 40, 40-something years now, so. Holy cow. 1:06:19 That- Figure I've saved $20,000 in barber fees. Yep. You probably have. No kidding. And she's probably stopped you from, like, dyeing your hair or doing something you didn't wanna do, like bleach blonde back in the '90s. 1:06:31 Well, well pink. She kinda drew the line at when I wanted to have pink hair. No, no. Well- You, you were in the military so you never, you were never able to have a mullet, right? No, [laughs] 1:06:41 I never- You [laughs] never- Never cared to even consider a mullet... didn't miss those? Right. The, uh, uh, the pink hair. Uh-huh. That reminds me of that. 1:06:47 There's been some funny memes out there trying to align you as some sort of a progressive liberal because of the change in r- party registrations happening. Oh, yeah. Have you seen any of this stuff? Oh, yeah. 1:06:59 It, it didn't surprise me. Uh, you know, that was... That kind of paled in comparison to some of the other, some of the other just so far-fetched- Well-... crazy stuff that has been coming out of that, 1:07:13 that Kiff campaign... well- Yeah... well, I kinda feel bad because we weren't able... Well, it hadn't broke yet, uh, the Obama stuff, you know, when Toby was in here. But nonetheless, that's just the sequence of events. 1:07:26 Um, that, you guys kinda got into this little who's more... Who, who, which kinda liberal, uh, noodle will stick on the fridge of the candidate, right? Right. Uh, well- Isn't that bizarre? 1:07:40 Or is that what happens in a primary? Well, you know, it's... Uh, uh, that had been ongoing, all the, the incoming just ridiculous accusations and, you know, the, the text messages. 1:07:56 They, they just got more, and more, and more desperate. 1:07:59 The la- the last few days it's almost, it's, it's almost been entertaining to see just how wacky, uh, they become and how far-fetched, and just outright fabrications. 1:08:12 But, you know, after months of, uh, uh, of the attacks and 1:08:20 we were made aware that this, this long recording that was, uh, there and where he's talking, and he kinda, kinda tends to have diarrhea of the mouth [laughs] when he gets to talking. And so he was talking freely. 1:08:35 And, and, and then you look at the records, it was, it's a matter of fact in public record that he never cast a vote in a Republican primary till 2024. So he obviously didn't vote for Trump- Right... 1:08:49 y- the years prior to that. And then so he's just talking through this 109 minutes recording and, and saying, "Yeah, I, you know, I think I voted for," you know, whatever it was he said. 1:09:00 Why is that not fair game after, after all the garbage that he'd been throwing at us, uh, about, you know, all this stuff? Well, I actually, uh, told Ian, um, 1:09:14 'cause I, I appreciated that the ad that came out that had that in it was paid for by your campaign. You weren't hiding behind a PAC or anything- Right... like that to... 1:09:25 I mean, sure, it's a negative ad, but it's also... I mean, the, it's politics, right? Well, you're defi- you're defining your c- you're defining the person. Yeah. Well- You know, it's like-... 1:09:34 let me make the clarification though, because we talk a lot about that nobody likes negative ads, but there's a difference between negative ads and, uh, and negative or attack ads that are false. 1:09:46 There was nothing in any of the ads that I've ever done that are false- Mm-hmm... or, or fictitious. Well, I had to go firm that up actually. 1:09:56 Uh, after you guys published the commer- or started running that ad, um, you know, he came out- That's, that's right. You, yeah, I s- I saw that. Uh, what'd you think of that? Yeah, I thought- Good story... 1:10:07 I thought great. [laughs] I, I thought w- yeah, because that- Well-... removed any doubt that we were just... 1:10:14 Because there again, you know, we put that out and then, and right on cue, uh, Toby comes out, "All this is fake news. It's r- you know- Yeah... all fabricated. That's not me." Yeah. Well- We know it was... 1:10:26 well, I, I was, you know, I, in order to be able to write the story I wrote, I had to have access to the raw, you know, f- to be able to say that with my judgment you could... 1:10:39 I mean, we confirmed that its, its legitimacy or whatever. We, our, the story did also provide a little more context around in which he said that. 1:10:47 Um, and I can respect the, him, him opening up to somebody, and I feel bad for him that that was, you know, you, you have to worry about being taped all the time. I mean- Yeah... 1:10:57 Phil Jensen, uh, you gotta, that guy's got a recorder on him everywhere he goes. Um- Yeah, I found that out. Yeah, you found that out before most of us did. What? Like six years ago. Um, 1:11:07 so I feel bad about all that, and I can appreciate that he, he... And I think he was genuine in what I heard in the audio, uh, about, hey, his dad was a Democrat, yada, yada, yada. Uh, people change, you know. 1:11:20 So, but to come out and say it was a fabrication or you slice and diced it, you know, I think that was a stretch of the truth at best. Um- Yeah... 1:11:30 and then, I mean, you could slice it I suppose, but I don't think you diced it. Yeah. So, I mean- Well, it became... 1:11:37 And it also, it just came, became one more demonstration of how badly he's misrepresented the truth on, on a daily basis. I mean, uh, I've said, [laughs] 1:11:52 I guess I can say this here, uh, 'cause I've said it a few times, you can tell when Toby's lying. Uh, just wait till his lips are moving. [laughs] But it's, it's almost that bad. Yeah. 1:12:05 And you look at this- That is hyperbolic, but I get your point. Yeah. Yeah. Well, um, the, here, what was it, a week ago, when he tried to connect the dots and, and make a statement that I was pro-choice- Mm-hmm... 1:12:18 because of the connection with Nancy Turbeck Berry- Yeah... who by the way is, uh, suing me, uh, on the very issue that he's saying proves that I was pro- Right, right. That's a good- Pro-choice. Yeah. 1:12:31 I mean, think of the irony in that. Yep. Every time I see Turbak Berry versus Rhoden on- Oh, that-... abortion pills... 1:12:40 not to get way off topic here, but bringing up Turbak Berry, my first memory of you in the legislature, um, was, uh, I think it was... Would that be out in the Senate? 2009? She was in the Senate, yeah. 1:12:53 The, uh, they were debating, you guys were debating a bill to allow open carry on campus, I believe. Yeah. 1:13:01 And it was SDSU Day or something up there, and the chambers, the gallery chambers were full of progressive students that did not want firearms. They didn't want... 1:13:13 They, you know, the narrative is if you did that, there's gonna be people carrying guns everywhere. And- Gun battles... uh, it was an unpopular in the room to support that bill. Um, 1:13:27 and there was a big applause every time... 1:13:28 Like, she- Turbak Berry got up and said some grandstanding thing, and she got an ovation in which the, uh, I think it would've been Dennis Daugaard at the time, had to gavel them down. 1:13:38 And, uh, and then I think you were next up and, and you kinda stoically looked around and said, "I don't give a damn what these people up here say because the Constitution dictates that." [laughs] I remember that. 1:13:52 So I'm like, "Who's this guy?" Um, that was... That's the first time I remember Kristi Noem that session, too, but anyway. So do you remember that? I do remember that. Yeah. I'm not sure that I'm, uh... 1:14:04 I can't say it for a fact because it might've been a different year. I carried the guns on campus bill, uh, one, one year. Yeah. And, uh, I... That might've... 1:14:15 That was probably the year that I- Maybe your bill was that... was a prime sponsor on that bill. Well, you pro- probably weren't gonna win the student vote that year, but- Well, depends on the student. 1:14:25 It's wh- the faculty was the worst. I mean, uh, we had the ex- executive director got up... It was in state affairs that we heard that bill, and, uh, I remember, uh, 1:14:40 uh, one of their chiefs, as I can remember, was the executive director of the Board of Regents or w- one of the professors, but told how absolutely terrible that would be if you had a active shooter in a classroom, how bad it would be if somebody gets up and starts returning fire. 1:14:57 Now you got two people shooting. And so- Makes a lot of sense... I brought him up during the question phase. I says, "Are you trying to say that 1:15:05 you're better off having an active shooter in the classroom that's just shooting people- [laughs]... barricaded and they're shooting people at will, that it would be terrible to have a good guy get up and return fire?" 1:15:17 [laughs] Yeah. He says, "Oh, yes, that would be just awful because then th- th-" Yeah. Well, the other one is, well, if the first responders come, it'll be harder for them to know who the bad- Yeah... guy is. Yeah. 1:15:25 It's like, well, usually the... it'll be settled- [laughs]... by the time, you know, that were to have happened. Yep. So but now that the law- When sec- when seconds count, law enforcement's only minutes away. Yeah. 1:15:35 You know, the- [laughs]... they do their best and, uh, as... We're pro-law enforcement. We like police here at the Dakota Scout. Um, but the reality is, is when danger presents itself, it's, it's in an instant. 1:15:49 It's not... You can't wait for a three-and-a-half minute response time- Yeah, y- you know-... kind of thing... 1:15:53 it's kind of a broader, uh, t- to the same subject bec- because that was one bill that I carried years ago, and it was trounced. 1:16:03 Um, c- uh, constitutional carry, I carried that bill years ago, and we got it passed and, and then ultimately was vetoed by the governor. 1:16:13 And every time it was this fear of the unknown about taking that step of what, what kinda carnage it was gonna re- lead to. But you look back, now we've g- we've got constitutional carry. 1:16:26 It was the first bill the r- uh, Noem-Roden administration, first bill that Kristi signed. Oh, yeah. Um, so that was eight, eight years ago. Yeah. Yeah. 1:16:38 Haven't heard a peep out of law enforcement as far as any issues that they've come up with that, and especially 'cause they always use the Sturgis rally in my backyard as a prime example of why they couldn't do it. 1:16:50 My sheriff at the time, Ron Merwin, was one of the chief... I had him come and testify. For it? For it, because he says, "Yeah. Yeah, it makes our job maybe a little tougher," m- uh, uh, you know. In certain situations. 1:17:05 But he... But the one thing he said that I always remember, he says, "You know, Larry..." "Cause I was trying to challenge him with that just to find a, a, a good response i- if it made his job tougher. 1:17:16 And he said, "Well, maybe it might make our jobs a little tougher," but he says, "Y- you wanna know something? 1:17:21 It's tougher being in law enforcement in the United States that is, than it is in Russia because we have so many more rights, liberties, and freedom than they do in Russia. 1:17:30 Makes our job a little tougher as part of being in the United States." Yeah. Is, you know, liberties for securities- Yep... kinda thing, you know? Exactly. Yeah. Exactly right. Yeah. 1:17:39 So speaking of Sturgis, starting to see... Did you guys see some bikes today? You come up from Vermillion this morning, right? Or- Yeah... this afternoon. 1:17:48 And it's really turning into a trailer parade is what it is, but did you s- you starting to see bikes out there? Uh- I, not... Hadn't, hadn't even noticed. I hadn't even thought about it, but no, I didn't. 1:17:57 Well, they, well, they got you in the back of the Escalade now, and you don't even probably- I'm in the front of-... get to see out the window... I'm in the front of the Escalade. 1:18:04 [laughs] I figured a lot of time you probably wanna drive. You probably hate watching other people drive. No, you know, that doesn't bother me. 1:18:10 In fact, when, when Sandy and I are on the roads, 90% of the time she drives. Yeah? Yeah. She's a good driver? Interesting. She- Yeah... 1:18:18 she's a good driver and she likes to drive, and I like to nap and catch up on emails. Yeah. Yeah, well, the windshield time is a good time to, to work if you can not drive or do it safely. Yeah. 1:18:33 Unfortunately, I do all the driving, so there's no windshield time for me. Well, I do all the driving, and I get a lot of work done in the car too, so just leave it at that. Uh- And, and it's not great. 1:18:43 [laughs]Anyway, um, well, so we should probably talk about this election again. I'm just- Well, I wa-... quite tired- I wanna go, I wanna go back, though, to, to one thing about... 1:18:54 This, this came up in the interview with Toby. 1:18:57 Um, he talked- he kinda said, b- before all of this came out about voting and the Obama thing and all of that stuff, he actually said that it was the COVID crisis that really kinda triggered him politically, right? 1:19:08 In fairness to him. So that's 2020, and that's probably true of a lot of people. Um, so you know, that, that... 1:19:15 I guess maybe people who are in- involved weren't involved politically as much before pre-COVID because the government hadn't tried to lock them up or whatever, you know, so fairness to him there. 1:19:27 But, um, who was responsible for- Well, he- Who... Yeah, South Dakota... but here's the thing, though. He's brand new to it. Uh, does that make 1:19:35 him ca- qual- I mean, does that undermine his ability to be governor because he's new? He would say that's what people want, but we'll find out Tuesday. Yeah. We'll find out. Who was- You're the opposite of that. 1:19:47 You have been, I mean, three, two decades of, of, uh, public service. You're not- Well-... a shiny come lately. You know- I'm sorry to cut you off, Jonathan, but- Well, ca- uh, can I respond to that just for a second? 1:19:59 Absolutely. Because- [laughs]... yeah, that's pretty typical, is a career politician. Right. You hear that all the time, and that, and Toby has played that card to death. Yeah. 1:20:09 And then made ro- remarks about me, you know, having been on the ranch for, uh, you know, for the last 20 years, that, you know, that was just a facade or something because I'm a career politician. 1:20:20 Well, rem- I've reminded people, uh, in 16 years as a legislator, I serve 38 days a year. 1:20:28 One of the th- big advantages, and I think it's what one of the things that I've said that makes South Dakota, sets us apart, makes us special, is because of our process, a citizens legislature. 1:20:39 We hire citizens to come and represent us and, and pass our laws. They do it in 38 days, so 10 weeks, nine weeks out of the year, 1:20:50 and then we go home and we live with the laws we passed, and we put our business back on track, 'cause we've given up that time at home. 1:20:59 Uh, during those 16 years, I was raising a family, running a ranch, running a, a second business, my welding business on the ranch, and come home after session way, way behind, and got paid $6,000 a year for- Damn... 1:21:15 the trouble, which didn't even come close to paying my expenses for the year, you know, the additional expenses, 1:21:21 and lived with the laws that we passed, and then go back the next year if we got something wrong and fix it. That's good process, and that's what should look like. 1:21:31 But our legislators shouldn't be called career politicians and talked down to f- from people like Toby Doten, who doesn't have the slightest clue of what it's like to, uh, 1:21:46 cultivate good legislation and get, take it through the process, and how arduous that process is. 1:21:54 And it might get ugly at times, but we have a good process in South Dakota, and it's, it's hard to get laws passed, and it should be. And so they... 1:22:03 Usually the, the bad ones get weeded out pretty, pretty well in the process. You mentioned that $6,000 salary. It was that way for a long time. Nobody wanted to raise it, right? 1:22:12 'Cause it's gonna, you're gonna get postcarded- Yeah. Yeah... uh, uh, on that deal. 1:22:16 But you would know, I mean, I, I don't know how much participation you had with, like, the National Association of State Legislators and stuff, but you would... You know, you... 1:22:23 There are many state legislature, s- state legislative bodies that are pretty near full-time, right? I mean, they're in- Yeah... like New York and Cal... I mean, like a lot of these places. Yeah. 1:22:32 And they, and they get six-digit salaries, right? Yeah. So I... It is a lot different. They have their own staff. They have their own staff, yeah. Each- Not just interns and pages and stuff. 1:22:42 They have their own- There, there's- Yeah... there's only one state that pays their legislators less than South Dakota, [laughs] and it's, that's, uh, New Hampshire. Is it? Live free or die state. Yeah. 1:22:53 In New Hampshire, but half of their state population is in the legislature. I think they got like- [laughs]... 200, 300 legislators. Give them $100 a year. 1:23:03 Well, I wonder what, what their governor has a lot of power to divide and conquer. You know, give them some scraps. We had Twigs on and Ernie Otten last week. Oh, yeah? And they talked about, um, 1:23:16 you know, the surplus and all that. Um, we kinda were joking around a little bit about how in the old days they'd get to fight over, like, a few hundred thousand dollars out of the proposed budget. 1:23:28 Like th- last year you let, you let them, you let them, uh, fight over about 14 million. Is that... Do you think... Are you, are you the legislators' governor, like a player's coach in, in sports or something? 1:23:44 You know, because you spent so much time in the legislature, it's a part of your perspective for sure. 1:23:49 Well, I, you know, I don't know, um, how I'd classify myself, but I know, you know, Dugard and Rounds both came from the same kinda background. You know, they're both legislators. I do... I... 1:24:01 It is a leg up, I think, for the governor to know the legislative process that well. And, uh, 1:24:08 and so for, um, for me, especially as a leader, majority leader, but I think I was kinda unique for me because I was front row seat. 1:24:17 I was a product of term limits, so I had a front row seat to see the evolution of the legislative process in the absence of good leaders like they used to have that were, had been part of the process 20 years before they became leaders of their caucus. 1:24:34 I was four years into legislature when I became majority leader. I'm still learning the process at that time. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Uh, for- fortunately, I had mentors like Matt Michaels and Bill Peterson, 1:24:47 you know, that were the connect- were still connected to the old school that could pass that knowledge on to me, but- Uh, I think it made a huge difference in the way my relationship with the legislators, and even now, you know, 1:25:02 I'm, uh, I'm way more accessible than any governor I've ever seen. Mm-hmm. And I do it intentionally because I, I think it's kinda my stock in trade. And so in that way, I go out of my way to be a legislator's governor. 1:25:19 Yeah. Well, we were talking this morning, Jonathan and I, uh, you know, Bill Janklow's the only governor we've had who wasn't a state legislator before, so it's not that the other governors haven't had that perspective, 1:25:35 but it just seems like you... Well, you came in at a time where we needed a reset and sort of just start afresh. Um, maybe that fueled some of that or made it a necessity to, to be that kind of a governor. Um, and then, 1:25:52 uh, with your race, if you win, is that, uh, is that how you approach the next four years then too? I mean, I don't know. I wouldn't- Um, yeah, absolutely. You know, this, the campaign doesn't change anything. 1:26:11 You know, I think, um, things will, things will change just like they did in the legislature, you know? The longer I was in the legislature, you know, things kind of evolved and, and I'm sure that maybe I'll, um... 1:26:26 Uh, I've really knocked myself out the last couple years of going to every reception, every night during session because I wanted, I wanted to get connected- Mm-hmm... 1:26:37 and I wanted to stay really well connected with all aspects, the legislators, the, the citizenry, the, the lobbyists, uh, the agencies- Yeah... my staff. And so I kind of went above board 1:26:55 to go to everything, and that gets, that gets really- Might pull that back a little bit. [laughs] Yeah, might pull that back a, a little bit 'cause that gets really, it really gets, uh, to be a long day. 1:27:07 Yeah, you can't go out every night, unless you're Kyle Shanefish. [laughs] Then you can go out every night, but, uh- Or Joe Sneve. 1:27:14 No, there's a couple times, so you gotta keep it in, or you get done working so late there's no point in going out- Yeah... because everybody else is there. Don't wanna try to catch up with a room full of wasted people. 1:27:24 It's annoying, and they get- I got tired of seeing Phil Jensen out getting tanked every night. Okay. [laughs] No, I'm kidding. I didn't. I will say- I will take it back. I take that back. 1:27:33 I, I- [laughs] I will say that- Sorry, Phil... the mod- Yeah, I mean, the... 'Cause he's a, he's a part of the, kinda the further to the right, I mean, that part of the, 1:27:43 the f- that faction of the party, uh, more evangelical, I would say. I don't know, Tea Party-ish. Mm. You know what I mean? Do not call him evangelical. Okay. Then I won't. I'll retract that. What would you call... 1:27:54 I mean, he fits in with that faction, though, and you don't see those people out. They don't go out at night after session. They don't socialize. They, uh, they kinda keep to themselves. Don't, don't they? Um- No. 1:28:09 They, they don't? No. I thought, well, maybe they're not hanging out in the underbelly of Pierre like I am or something. 1:28:14 But I feel like I see the moderates or the more traditional chamber of commerce type Republicans out socializing more so than, like, the John Hansens or the- [coughs] Well, I think-... Sue Petersons or whatever... 1:28:29 I think it's just, uh, a lot of it depends on, you know, different lobbying groups that different legislators go through. You know, there's, there's certain lobbying groups that the... you'll see- Oh... 1:28:41 different factions of the caucus, but there's not very many legislators that don't, that boycott- It's gonna go to anything at all... the receptions. Yeah. Yeah. 1:28:49 They're just, they're just segregating into the different- Well, maybe I'm thinking of after those organized receptions. I'm thinking maybe, like, a karaoke or Bob's after 9:00. 1:29:01 Well, well, you could have put me in that category 'cause I never, I didn't do anything after the socials were over. The- Go back to my room... the, uh... 1:29:09 Well, yeah, I mean, I suppose I'm talking about legislators, and when I started covering Pierre closely again, you were in the executive, I suppose, by that point, so. Yeah. Um, well, 1:29:22 before we came on I was saying how tired of this election cycle I am. Uh, Sandy, your beautiful bride, said could... I mean, I could imagine how tired you guys are of this. Uh, did you expect a runoff and has anything... 1:29:39 I mean, we've not, nobody's been through this before. Yeah. Has that been unexpected? You started out as sort of felt like Toby was, he maybe won, so on June 3rd, whatever day that was- Yeah... 1:29:52 it felt like he was sort of the favorite to win a runoff. Did you have to work harder? Uh, he said he shut off his campaign for a month. You know, like publicly they didn't do a ton for a month. The- Did you guys make... 1:30:07 I mean, is that, do you think that's true? Did you guys- Well-... um, adjust anything because it was a two-person candidate, uh, uh, campaign, uh, race? Well, that was... Yeah, we were both the s- same way. 1:30:19 I think we were probably at least three weeks, uh, that we kinda just regrouped and reorganized. Um, but it was, uh, as far as the, 1:30:32 the way that he won that race, you know, people have commented about that, there was nothing mysterious about him winning that race. He was the only candidate of the four. You think about the four camps. 1:30:45 Think about my campaign. I mean, for months, even before I announced, um, Dusty and I were polling about in a dead heat- 1:30:55 Until the, you know, until I announced, and then we got into the race, and I had, uh, it, it ended up over $2 million dropped on top of me as solely on attack ads, and vicious- Yeah... 1:31:11 vicious false attack ads, uh, leveled on me. Uh, as we went farther into the race, when John Hansen then started to come up in the polls, the, 1:31:26 that got spread over onto Hansen and knocked his numbers into the dirt. Uh, the only person that lo- was left untouched through all of that was Toby Dodan. Yeah. The, the candidate that probably had the most, 1:31:41 you know, that provided the most ammunition to be lobbed into his camp, uh, was untouched, so, uh- And-... I, I thought it was obvious that he was a candidate for one of the final two. 1:31:54 Who was, uh, responsible for the attack ad on Johnson that compared him to Omar, the, the squad? Who, know, anybody know which, where did that one come from? Was that a PAC ad or... Yeah. Well- Ilhan Omar... 1:32:10 I, do you think if Dusty- Was that on the, uh- Was that-... the, uh, in vitro? No, it was comparing, like, he c- like, he voted, he voted, votes with the squad or whatever. 1:32:19 It was a- Show Dusty walking into a hotel with her or something like that... it s- it seemed like it was a pretty effective ad. The, well, I wonder, do you think we should have Dusty on? 1:32:28 But it was probably a mistake if, if Dusty and his, the PAC supporting his candidacy, they probably should've spent a little more money on Toby. On Dodan. Oh, yeah. Right? Well, yeah, they didn't spend any on, um... 1:32:42 And, but there were a couple different, I think there was PACs, uh, but I know that, uh, 1:32:50 Dusty, you know, because then he inc- his PAC was including John and I both on the tax deal, trying to go after us on the, uh, the tax cut to, to warp that around a, into a negative, uh, and mis- misrepresent the facts on h- what that, how that was paid for and- On property tax stuff. 1:33:10 Yeah. Yeah. But I say all that to, you know, it was very, I didn't think as, a- as soon as, as soon as that primary was over, I, I had every confidence that it was a new, a new day dawning, 1:33:27 and I wasn't overly concerned that he was, that he had won the primary- Well-... or, or got the most votes in the primary. 1:33:35 Have you, have you been pol- I mean, we've obviously seen a public poll, and we talked a little bit about this, but, um, have you been doing, has the campaign been doing your own polling as well? Yes. 1:33:47 So you feel pretty confident- Well-... going into Tuesday? We, um, well, we, we feel good. Are you gonna win? [laughs] By more than four votes. [laughs] Yeah, by m- yeah. Well, 1:34:05 we have, uh, we've just been keeping our heads down. I, you know, I've, I get asked about the polling all the time, and I don't, I don't even like talking about it because it doesn't change. There's so many variables. 1:34:16 W- we're in uncharted waters with this, with a, a runoff election, so there's so many variables that, you know, the polling can't predict. Mm-hmm. Exactly. 1:34:27 So we're, we're just gonna keep our nose on the ground and continue to be single-minded and moving forward and continue to the very end, getting our message out, telling people why, why 1:34:41 I know in my heart of hearts that I'm the right guy for the job. And, uh- Are, are, are you running into people who don't, don't realize that they need to vote again? I mean, is there, uh... 1:34:51 And, and, and, uh, that, and I would imagine in Sioux Falls too, because we had a mayoral runoff. I mean, there's people who s- like, think that everything's done, right? Are you running into those people? 1:34:59 Uh, not really. Okay. I mean, I, we have, uh, we've, we've invested a lot in get, get out the vote efforts, and so, uh, I, I've been doing, I've done a couple tele-town halls now. Um, and 1:35:15 as I've gotten around the state and the more people I've talked to, the people that come up in parking lots and talk to me, uh, it's, it's really encouraging because people are really engaged, and they're motivated. 1:35:30 Uh, that was their biggest fear, was getting out the vote, but I real- I really feel like we'll have a good turnout. 1:35:36 We've already, we've already had more absentee votes, uh, days ago outnumbered the number of votes they had in the regular primary. Is that Sioux Falls driven, since all these people had to run- It w-... 1:35:51 to the election center- It-... for that... that was a boost when they had, when they had that special election for, for the mayor. 1:35:59 That was a, a boost at that time, but this is statewide, 'cause those numbers have, have been overshadowed since then. 1:36:06 That's been over for a couple weeks now, and, and we're still seeing record numbers of, uh, early votes. Well, well, I should, they, they're record numbers, but- Yeah. A strong- Much, much stronger than the primary. 1:36:21 Well, actually earlier today, um, you, you were, you had Christine Erickson, the new mayor, um- Yep... out with an endorsement. I think, [coughs] I took that to mean that 1:36:34 you're probably gonna win because, or at least what the numbers say, that Christine Erickson believes, because I don't think, if I'm a mayor, I won't piss off the governor, whoever it is gonna be, right? 1:36:46 If it's a close race, I don't think I endorse. I know you guys are close. You've, you've known each other for a long time, but, you know, politics is what it is. Both you and your opponent endorsed her. 1:36:59 Um- So I think it's a good sign. I mean, I think Christine in her heart of hearts would endorse you anyway, 'cause she's known you longer. But I think it is tenuous enough... 1:37:07 If it was tenuous enough, I think maybe- Well, I-... she stays out of the fray like Paul did in the mayor's race. I won't very often say flat out that you're wrong, but you're wrong. You can. 1:37:17 Yeah, because it- I can, I can take it. [laughs] Well, I say that because had she not got tied up for weeks, uh, in this, you know, the recount and all that- Yeah... 1:37:28 you know, I had in, I end- had endorsed her and, and, um, I think this an- announcement would've come a lot sooner had it not been for all the- Okay... confusion. That makes sense. 1:37:40 Think about it, that- And I, I say, and I say that with confidence just because Christine and I have developed a relationship and worked together on some key issues, and we, and we both had a pretty keen respect for each other. 1:37:51 So I feel confident in saying that. Well, I think I even had her as a potential to be your lieutenant governor at some point, when we, before you picked Tony. Um, and I don't... 1:38:03 I mean, you guys weren't really talking, so I was kind of making up names that I thought would maybe be in your sphere, and nobody told me I was, uh, way off base on that. You didn't tell me I was wrong on that one. 1:38:14 So- Nope... um, she... So you guys were close, and like I said, I think, um, I wasn't... Uh, but I do think it, it... I took it as a, in the moment, um, a sign of strength for your candidacy. Yeah. So, uh, anything else? 1:38:30 Yeah, I was gonna... Yeah, I wanted to ask, 'cause you, you talked about you're working on getting out the vote, some ads that are out, things like that. That obviously takes money, and 1:38:39 the, uh, campaign finance, uh, schedules are what they are now, and they don't account for a runoff, so we don't know how much money your campaign raised after the, the first- Yeah... initial election. 1:38:51 How, how, how much res- how much resources came in after that first election? Uh, substantial. Um, and I... You know, you're right. We're not required to, uh, announce or publish what we raise. Uh, we were asked by who? 1:39:07 Kelo Land. Kelo Land asked us, and so we s- we had nothing to hide, so we, uh, we told them. I think it was 1.8 million that we raised. That's substantially more than you'd raised before the primary, correct? 1:39:21 Well, we raised, I think, 1.3. Okay. Um, rough numbers prior to the primary. Uh, by the way, Doden was asking. He wouldn't, he wouldn't offer that information, so for what it's worth. Yeah. I mean, would you support... 1:39:37 No, this is kind of going down- Well, he's already raised-... going down a rabbit-... it's in his bank account... huh? It's in his bank account. He, he doesn't wanna tell. 1:39:43 I'm like, "This is how much I got left in my bank, my own personal bank account." Yeah. Well, I, I know for a fact, though, that he's- [laughs]... 1:39:48 you know, after all the flap, uh, originally that he was, he's been trying to raise funds and making calls trying to raise funds. I've had that confirmed to me from certain people. 1:40:00 He did volunteer that his accountant says he needs to start making more money. Right. He spent too much on his campaign. He did. 1:40:07 Um, would you like, uh, I, I mean, would you be in favor of adding a, a requirement if there's, and for fut- future runoffs, that there be a, an additional report made but so people have an idea of what's going on? 1:40:19 You know, I, I, I'm not prepared to say that- Yeah... 'cause I don't know what the laws are and, and- Well, nobody's forced to disclose now until- The, right before the general election... 'cause your... 1:40:30 I appreciate your transparency too because without it, we wouldn't be statutorily, uh... It wouldn't be, we wouldn't be, uh, entitled to it- Right... until January 1st. No. 1:40:43 There, there's a, there's a general, a pre- A general election... a general election, pre-general election report. I, I can't see that- So it wouldn't-... 1:40:49 you know, if that's something we wanted to look at, I don't- I like-... I don't know why I would be opposed to it. Wow. Yeah. 1:40:55 Well, hopefully, uh, whoever we get as a new secretary of state can just make it like a real time. If we can have a debt tracker that just kinda keeps up, we could probably just have them file it in real time. Right. 1:41:07 Anyway. Anyway, uh, what is it, what else was I gonna ask you? Okay. If you win Tuesday, and then you'd be... I know it's a lot of ifs, but I mean, let's just face it. Whoever wins Tuesday's gonna be the governor. 1:41:20 99.9% chance, right? 99. Yeah. [laughs] Four years. You're eligible to run again. I think I asked you when you announced that you were gonna run for governor 1:41:36 if you would run again, and you laughed because it's like getting way too ahead of the skis there. [laughs] Yeah. 1:41:41 But we're a year further down the line, and, um, it's looking like that's gonna be the case if you win Tuesday. I mean, that's... People... 1:41:51 'Cause people are gonna start looking ahead, like who's, who's gonna challenge you in a primary in four years? You know, stuff like that. Yeah. Well, I didn't, I didn't announce this year till November. Yeah. 1:42:05 Um, that was, you know, it was a big decision. And, you know, I'm not getting younger, so I, I would, I would say as politely as I know how that- [laughs]... ask me in three and a half years. Ask her, too. [laughs] Yeah. 1:42:22 And ask her in three and a half years. Yeah. Or ask my grandkids. They might want a little time with their- Sure... grandpa. Or if Phil Janz is still in the legislature. [laughs] They- [laughs] God heaven forbid. 1:42:35 [laughs] Yeah, he's been around a while though. Yeah. The, uh... It's a weird district. Anyway, they'll probably have redistricting done again by then. So it's the first runoff ever. 1:42:46 We're in ch- uncharted territory, right? So, um, I would, I would vouch for more disclosure dates is what I would do. But, uh- You're a journalist and you're supposed to do that. You're just doing your job. Yeah. 1:43:02 Good job. Yeah. So then, so after Tuesday, if you win, um- Do you, what's the rest of the summer look like? Are you out in Sturgis kissing babies and stuff? 1:43:12 Do you go away from campaigning and just go govern for a month or two and then go back to campaigning? Yeah, we're gonna, we're gonna take a few days off. 1:43:22 The day after the el- the election, we have a National Governors Association meeting we're gonna go to. But then, 1:43:30 yeah, i- i- you know, we're still governor full time, so you s- you still got obligations there, but we're gonna take some, some days off. It's been- Hmm... we've been burning the candle at both ends. 1:43:41 To- Toby's going to Nashville no matter what. He said- That's what he said... I thought he said only if he loses. No, I think he said bo- regardless he's gonna be. Oh. So. But what if you lose? Then what do you do? 1:43:50 Just quit governing? Just say, "Screw it, I'm done. No two week notice" [laughs]. Still, still have to be governor for another six months. Yeah. Well, the, uh, uh... you think Trump will come back for Sturgis? 1:44:03 That's not really a thing. That was last year, right? We thought maybe he'd show up for last year's Sturgis. Maybe he'll do it. Yeah. Yeah. W- yeah, there was kind of rumors floating around with Woody. 1:44:14 Woody was kind of being mysterious around me, so I kinda thought maybe something was up. The Buffalo Chip Woody. The- Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Rod Woodruff. Well, I will be headed out there. 1:44:25 Are you, are you gonna be out there at all just doing events or just- Oh, yeah. Um, it's... the last couple years it's, um, the stuff hasn't materialized until, like, that week. But, like, uh, I know for 1:44:40 a number of years now I've been invited to s- speak at the, uh, hamster's annual meeting, and, uh, I always get a kick out of that. Oh yeah, you were, you were talking about that last time you were here. Yeah. Hamsters. 1:44:50 Yeah, a good bunch of guys and... Last time you were in here you were, you were riding a little, uh, new Enfield motorcycle out at the TPS. You put that helmet on and- Oh, yeah... cut the ribbon. 1:45:05 Yeah, cut the ribbon with the motorcycle. Yeah. The, uh... maybe you can find a Harley to ride out there in the other one. Yeah, they... I've rode... you know, been out there a time or two and went on their, uh, uh, 1:45:15 different mayor's ride or the, uh... oh, they had a couple different benefit rides that put me on a new Harley. You can ride on my back seat. [laughs] Yeah. That'd be- You- That'd be a cold day in hell. [laughs] What... 1:45:31 You, you can sit backwards. So... [laughs] Well, I wish you well. I appreciate your, uh, accessibility, not just during this campaign, um, but as governor. 1:45:44 You know, you've, you had said there's gonna be a reset with the media, the legislature, all that, and we felt that here. So, uh, appreciate that. 1:45:53 And should you be victorious on Tuesday, um, which I guess the prediction markets are saying you're gonna be, uh, we'll hopefully get to have you back before the general. Sure. So- Yep... maybe a time or two. 1:46:09 So, uh, Sandy, thanks for letting him come in, um, sparing some time. Ian, Ben, uh, Jonathan, let's hear from our, uh, our good friends, uh, at Beal Distributing, Juneau Sleep Systems. 1:46:27 Introducing Bud Light Seltzer Hard Soda. Classic cola, cherry cola, citrus soda, and orange soda. [soda can opens] [soda pours] You hear that? It's seltzer with the pop of soda. Flavor! All with zero sugar. 1:46:42 Bud Light Seltzer Hard Soda, the loudest flavors ever. [soda can opens] [soda pours] Ah. Enjoy responsibly. 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Showroom in the front, factory in the back. 1:47:48 41st and Grange in Sioux Falls. Come see why it's the last mattress you'll ever have to buy at Juneau. Thanks again to Governor Larry Rhoden, 1:48:05 Aberdeen businessman Toby Doten. Good luck to both of them Tuesday. Uh, thanks again to Beal Distributing and Juneau Sleep Systems. Support them because they support local South Dakota journalism. 1:48:21 And pardon me for not having my partner in crime on the end of this. A emergency root canal kept us apart, so I am gonna have to just say news tips welcome, and in his honor I shall say thanks. 1:48:37 [upbeat rock music]
