Elections are not just about votes. They're also about symbols. And for Senate Republicans, minority leader Tom Daschle has long been Moby Dick. Here was a Democrat from a solidly Republican state. South Dakota, who not only couldn't be defeated but also seemed to emerge from each legislative and electoral battle bigger and more powerful. So when John Thune arrives in Washington next year, he will not be just another freshman Senator. He will be a conquering hero—the man who vanquished the G.O.P.'S 18-year obsession. Thune, a clean-living former Congressman (friends say he doesn't curse or touch alcohol), ran a profoundly focused race, taking every opportunity to remind voters that Daschle's positions on gay marriage, gun control and abortion set him at odds with "South Dakota values." But he did not bag his big game alone. Majority leader Bill Frist broke with more than a century of Senate etiquette by visiting South Dakota to campaign for Daschle's ouster. (The last time anyone can remember a Senate leader visiting his opposite's state to rail against him was in 1900.) President Bush, who personally persuaded Thune to make a losing but whisker- close Senate run in 2002, made sure that money flowed freely from the G.O.P. spigot; despite Daschle's incumbency and name recognition, Thune raised $12 million to his opponent's $18 million.
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