Pressler’s Press Conference
l3wis 
Pressler jumped right into it. Blaming Republicans and Democrats in Washington for the stalemate. He called the political system ‘poisonous’ several times during the press conference. He concluded the parties are a conduit for money in Washington. Pressler said that is why he will only serve one term so he won’t waste time raising money for next term, but working for citizens.
As for running as an independent, he pointed to Senator Byrd as a successful Indy senator.
Larry says military spending in the mideast wars is ‘outrageous’ and thinks some army bases overseas should close to modernize the military to save money. He added that he hates endless wars because they don’t yield results.
One of his agendas is more international trade with agriculture in SD.
He described himself as a libertarian several times that is opposed to NSA spying on citizens and thinks it violates our rights and freedoms.
He said he initially supported Obama because he thought Obama would fix the patriot act, but was disappointed he has done nothing, also disappointed that Obama hasn’t done much to end our foreign wars. He also criticized Senator McCain several times for wanting to expand our wars into Syria and Africa.
While he thought the ACA was important legislation, he would have voted against it and thinks it needs an overhaul like cost containment and interstate insurance commerce.
He also believes Obama should concentrate on lowering the deficit.
He touched on supporting women’s and minority rights such as equal pay.
He contests that indies are not spoilers and doesn’t want to be treated as such. He thinks the race could easily be won by 35-40% of the vote and that raising money will be difficult. He joked, “It takes a lot of money to tell people you don’t have money.” He confesses that nobody watches debates so you have to compete with marketing your bid.
WHAT I THOUGHT
I think it was the first time I met Pressler in person. Before the press conference, we introduced each other and I was very surprised by two things, how good he looks physically and how approachable he is. His wife is also very approachable. After a friend told Harriet (his wife) about my blog, she had some kurt words to say about another ‘Republican’ blog.
My first impression is that Pressler is serious about this run, and very cool, calm and collected about it. I feel that this can easily be a three man horse race, especially since Rick and him have a lot of ideas in common and can easily gang up on Rounds. He also sets himself away from his opponents because 1) he has served successfully 5 terms in Washington (Rick is a two time loser) and Rounds is an establishment man.
Do I think Larry has a chance? Too early to tell. After the Republican primary we will have a clearer picture of how this will go. The EB-5 investigation could topple Rounds, which would put a very conservative Rhoden or Nelson in the candidacy. I think this will be one of the most exciting and interesting senate races in the history of the state if Pressler stays in the race until the end.
