Thune running from Bush?

In light of Bereuter breaking ranks on Iraq

I thought it was interesting that it looks like Bush's loyalty problem seems to be spilling into John Thune's South Dakota race against Daschle.  The Repubs are really fired up about this race,  so it's interesting that they seem to be marketting Thune as, well, "a different kind of Republican" (one who represents tax cuts and ethanol.)

The ads are good, but "Independent" is especially interesting.

http://www.johnthune.com/Multimedia.aspx

Thune clearly wants to appear in the ads as a nonpartisan "independent" type who will work with Republicans and Democrats to represent SD before the interests of the Republican Party.  He takes shots at Clinton and Kennedy, and praises the "Party of Lincoln and Reagan" but he also seems to want to distance himself from Bush -- with whom he'll "work" but may "disagree" -- and specifically I think from Bush's partisanship.

I haven't seen a poll in awhile and can't find one on line, but a Google search tells me that the right wing blogs are very fired up about this race.  With so much interest, it's interesting that Thune isn't taking any loyalty oaths.

If I were a Republican Senate campaign manager, I'd be distancing my candidate from the ugliness of the White House as well.  It would be good on so many levels to see the Republican Senate leadership hang BushCo out to dry.

Oh yeah, and in case it needs to be said, Go Daschle!