Kristi Noem back on top with 47%

From Eric Dondero:

In Election Year 2010 this one may go down as the one the Republican Party almost let slip away. Kristi Noem, a libertarian-leaning Tea Party Republican held a solid lead for months, over incumbent Democrat Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin. Then the Democrats ran a series of well-prodcued ads, which put Herseth-Sandlin back in the lead. This is one seat they really dumped a lot of funds into and hoped to retain.

Driving record problem overcome

Additionally a small scandal arose over the summer regarding Noem's driving record. We reported here at LR back in August "SD Republican for Congress Kristi Noem, a libertarian on speed limits and seat belt laws":

Keloland.com is reporting that libertarian-leaning Republican Kristi Noem has a bit of a lead foot and doesn't particularly care for seat belt laws:

KELOLAND News checked the records for all five candidates for U.S. House and Governor; Noem has the longest list of violations, including 20 speeding tickets, three stop sign violations, two seat belt violations, and no driver's license. Noem also has six court notices for failure to appear and two arrest warrants.

Noem has broken the law dozens of times.

Now this welcome news from Rasmussen:

Republican Kristi Noem has edged back into the lead over incumbent Democrat Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin in South Dakota’s U.S. House race.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in South Dakota finds Noem with 47% support, while Herseth-Sandlin earns 44% of the vote. Six percent (6%) like another candidate in the race, and three percent (3%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

It remains a very close race. Noem fell slightly behind Herseth-Sandlin last month 47% to 45% for the first time since winning the Republican Primary in early June.