Full Transcript for Flying Delta and United | Using polls | Iranian messaging on AI | Stuck in the Strait of Hormuz | Creating a digital 'sandbox' | Faking independence | Bringing home the B-21 | Oct. 24, 2026 Sen. Mike Rounds

00:02:48.860 --> 00:02:53.560 You're a lot of things, sir. I've learned a lot during my time in office. It's been great. 16 00:02:53.660 --> 00:03:00.920 I've had the opportunity coming out of business to be involved in the legislative process while I was still in business and then, um, had the opportunity to, 17 00:03:01.820 --> 00:03:11.020 to work as governor for eight years, got back out again, and two years later basically decided it was time to get back in for what I thought was gonna be a short period of time. 18 00:03:11.880 --> 00:03:19.440 Um, adult supervision is what I was hoping to provide to the Department, to the Army Corps of Engineers during right after the, the Missouri River flood and 19 00:03:20.400 --> 00:03:31.620 got into some things in Washington, DC that I think are pretty important. Um, a lot of it has to do with direct, uh, connections to South Dakota, and so appreciate the opportunity to visit with you all. 20 00:03:31.780 --> 00:03:37.680 Yeah, 'cause we, we were, uh, talking before we started talking a little bit about the B-21 and- Can we say Juno? Oh, yeah, we... If... 21 00:03:37.720 --> 00:03:46.380 You, you haven't probably been able to sleep on your Juno Sleep System mattress 'cause you were campaigning around the state, right? Yeah. [laughs] Yeah. It, it, it just feels good to be back in the state. Yeah. 22 00:03:46.460 --> 00:03:57.660 And- Well, we wanna talk about airplanes, but not the kinda airplane some people are talking about right now. Uh, Jonathan, you've been kind of in the thick of, uh, the story on the F-35. 23 00:03:57.720 --> 00:04:01.640 Let me just tell you, the only jets I've been on are United and Delta. 24 00:04:01.660 --> 00:04:12.440 [laughs] Well, let's just go to that, 'cause your campaign is getting messy, and I don't think you've had a campaign opponent come as, well, come as hard to the hoop. 25 00:04:13.000 --> 00:04:21.579 Uh, is that almost, like, refreshing that I get to, like, throw some blows? You know, like, I don't know what that would be like. Look, it's, it's all a distraction. 26 00:04:22.019 --> 00:04:30.820 The bottom line is, is you've got the Democrat Socialists of America, the DSA. Democrats run them as DSAs in liberal states. 27 00:04:30.900 --> 00:04:41.940 They run them as independents in states like South Dakota and Nebraska, Montana, Idaho, because they know the Democrat name itself is not gonna win an election. So they say that they're... 28 00:04:41.960 --> 00:04:43.820 Well, they're a fake, they're a fake independent. 29 00:04:44.480 --> 00:04:56.480 Bottom line, uh, yeah, it, it's a distraction from the differences between conservative outlook on life, whether you're talking life issues or whether you're talking Second Amendment rights. 30 00:04:57.040 --> 00:05:04.440 If you notice, they don't wanna talk about those things that people kind of measure who they're supporting in an election on, and instead they'll try distractions. 31 00:05:04.620 --> 00:05:15.700 So in this particular case, yeah, they're flat out telling stories and misinformation and- You don't dr-... the whole program is, is distraction. You don't drink whiskey on airplanes either. Uh, no. 32 00:05:15.940 --> 00:05:25.720 Look, if, if I'm gonna be in an airplane [laughs] I'm either going someplace that I gotta be working, uh, or I'm coming back in and, and, uh, to South Dakota. 33 00:05:25.800 --> 00:05:34.460 And, you know, like I say, the only jets I've been on have been Delta and United. [laughs] Yeah. Well, it's... 34 00:05:35.300 --> 00:05:45.340 I, I think, I mean, every, the Democrats and the independent, uh, Brian Bangs, they keep putting out their polls saying they're, they're, you know, they have the better... 35 00:05:45.600 --> 00:05:56.040 They have the best shot of these challenged candidates have had in a long time, and that might be true, but until Donald Trump schedules a visit to South Dakota, I think you're safe. 36 00:05:56.800 --> 00:06:09.108 Look, misinformation does not just stop at, uh, telling stories about me. It also, misinformation is always out there. Fake polls are real. The- these fake polls, he's been using the same... 37 00:06:09.168 --> 00:06:16.348 He, he used the same thing when he ran against John Thune. See, what was that spread between John Thune and the same character? Like eight, 20. I think it was... 38 00:06:16.388 --> 00:06:30.328 I, well, I think it was like a, like 34-point spread, and he claimed he was up by one or two. Look, the, the bottom line is, is we all do polls, but polls for us are used to focus on where we need to do work. 39 00:06:30.988 --> 00:06:36.528 What issues are we not addressing that we should address? What issues are we doing a good job of addressing? 40 00:06:37.128 --> 00:06:47.808 What areas, uh, of the state or o- of the demographics should we be refocusing on to make sure we get in touch with people that might not have paid attention? And what does it take to get our vote out? 41 00:06:48.228 --> 00:06:59.008 That's what polls are used for. Internal polls can be very healthy a- and, and, and, and very helpful- Mm-hmm... but it's not a matter of just the snapshot of time. I mean- Yeah... 42 00:06:59.128 --> 00:07:07.788 our most recent poll shows me up by 17 points, but the important part of that poll, it tells me where in South Dakota I should do more work. 43 00:07:07.988 --> 00:07:15.228 It tells me which groups are, have not gotten interested in the election yet- Mm-hmm... which parts of the state I need to spend more time in. 44 00:07:15.388 --> 00:07:25.648 And so those are the helpful things of a poll for a candidate, uh, that, that folks probably don't see when they just see the bottom line on a, on a, on a, on a current poll. 45 00:07:25.688 --> 00:07:35.108 And I think you'll find that there is a consistency among all the polls that will come out in the n- in the near future. They're all gonna show us up double digits. Well, there's only one

poll that really matters. 46 00:07:35.488 --> 00:07:51.248 The one on Election Day. Exactly. So, uh, I think it would be shocking if you weren't headed back for a third term. Uh, and you, you stayed out of the fray. 47 00:07:51.548 --> 00:07:55.528 I mean, we've seen, like Justin Johnson used to be the most popular politician in South Dakota. 48 00:07:55.988 --> 00:08:06.208 Things change really fast now, and I think you did the best job of any of our congressional delegation of navigating the pipeline, landowner rights things. Well, they had a really good point. Yeah. 49 00:08:06.248 --> 00:08:17.328 I mean, I mean- Yeah... th- they did. I mean, look, the, these folks that really... I- if you believe in local control, then there's nothing wrong with saying that, that local folks can make some really good decisions. 50 00:08:18.008 --> 00:08:30.208 But what we had happen on the, on, on the pipeline issue was you had some folks from out of state that came in and tried to tell these people what they were gonna do to them, and they didn't realize that in South Dakota we don't appreciate that. 51 00:08:30.228 --> 00:08:30.348 Right. 52 00:08:30.388 --> 00:08:47.328 So when, when I met with the folks that, that were really concerned about this, they, they, I mean, they, they, they cared about local control, and they cared about whether or not, uh, their concerns were gonna be expressed, and they had some real serious safety concerns that deserved to be expressed a- and to be answered. 53 00:08:48.008 --> 00:08:57.928 And so, you know, i- it... S- same thing on, on data centers is another good example. I mean, look, I think the South Dakota Legislature did a really good job last year. 54 00:08:58.328 --> 00:09:05.648 They, they addressed the issue of data centers in a really thoughtful way. Number one, they said, "You gotta make sure... 55 00:09:05.708 --> 00:09:16.048 If, if you're offering a data center or you want a data center to come in anyplace in South Dakota, first of all, you've gotta give assurances that it's not gonna change, it's not gonna hurt the rates, the cost of electricity in that area. 56 00:09:16.108 --> 00:09:22.568 Number two, you're gonna be environmentally friendly. You're not gonna be intaking water. You're not gonna impact water quality in the area. 57 00:09:22.988 --> 00:09:35.708 Number three," and this is the most important part, they also said, "Go where you are wanted," which means you gotta sell yourself to the community, and if you can't sell yourself in a community, you're not gonna go there because they said one more thing. 58 00:09:35.928 --> 00:09:47.708 They said, "The South Dakota Legislature will not override local zoning conditions or, or determinations." That to me was the best example of local control recognized by the South Dakota Legislature. 59 00:09:48.328 --> 00:09:57.608 And it did one more thing. It also said you don't need a federal bureaucrat or a federal agency determining where a data center was gonna be located. 60 00:09:58.348 --> 00:10:09.788 Now, that's a difference between m- me and my competitor on this particular program. He wants federal control on this stuff. I like it at the local level. That's where the legislature's at. That's where I'm at on it. 61 00:10:10.208 --> 00:10:20.148 So once again, this is just a case of, once again, do you want federal control over stuff or do you want, uh, do you want the- We've got some breaking news here. Oh. It is very topical. Okay. 62 00:10:20.268 --> 00:10:29.528 Because I'm sorry to butt back and interrupt you on the data centers, but I can appreciate where you're at on that. But we need to get some sound like they do, like, "Brr, brr, brr, brr. Breaking news here. 63 00:10:29.648 --> 00:10:33.828 Uh, exclusive poll shows big lead for South Dakota Republican Rounds. 64 00:10:34.388 --> 00:10:45.488 Uh, Republican Senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota leads in a Senate race by more than 20 points according to a new poll shared first with Semafor, a sign that any blue wave in November will have its limits." 65 00:10:46.108 --> 00:10:59.028 Uh, so that's 57 to 36. Which poll is that one? This is... Well, Semafor Intelligence for the New World Economy. It's a, a thing out of DC, Burgess Everett, congressional bureau chief. Yeah. So I didn't... 66 00:10:59.068 --> 00:11:05.288 I mean, this... I haven't read the whole thing, but it lends itself to what you were just saying. But anyway, so we can go back to data centers. 67 00:11:05.328 --> 00:11:15.188 Well, that would be consistent with the internal polling that we, that we've done that I think we released either yesterday or the day before yesterday. Well, you said 17. Yes. You're p- p- pretty close. 68 00:11:15.548 --> 00:11:17.468 We're pretty conservative in our stuff. Yeah. 69 00:11:17.588 --> 00:11:25.748 But, but the purpose on it, we normally don't release the polls that we do, but we just thought with all the misinformation that was out there, it was time to just call it what it is. 70 00:11:25.868 --> 00:11:35.268 A- and that is, is people in South Dakota see through a lot of the misinformation that my competitor has been putting out. Who are you using as a pollster? Uh, we use P- P-O-S. 71 00:11:35.548 --> 00:11:45.928 Um, uh, P- P-O-S is, uh, uh, it, the same guys that I used when I was governor, same guys that I've used- That was Zogby and- Yeah, it's, they're, they're a professional polling operation. Yeah. 72 00:11:45.948 --> 00:11:53.688 And, and normally you have pollsters that do internal. They don't do a lot of, of public stuff- Right... for media, but they'll do them... They're professionals. 73 00:11:53.808 --> 00:12:01.768 Uh, their, th- their whole program is to provide you with basically the crosstabs- Yeah... as we call them, to, so that you can make improvements in your campaign. 74 00:12:01.828 --> 00:12:09.328 In my experience, those are the best polls, the internal polls that are used, as you were explaining, for,

for those purposes, and they are, they're not broadcast. 75 00:12:09.728 --> 00:12:17.448 Um, so but going, going back to data centers, um, I, I think I was saying this kind of on the program at one, one point. 76 00:12:17.528 --> 00:12:27.160 I, I mean, I think it is, it should be up to local, lo- the locals to kind of figure out whether, um- They wanna have one. And to your point, like, yeah, they've gotta sell it to the community. 77 00:12:27.340 --> 00:12:36.440 I, I, and I, I, I don't think it's a federal issue Shouldn't they just buy the land and build, build whatever they want there? No. Nope? No. No, no, no, no, no. That sounds libertarian of me. Excuse me. 78 00:12:36.680 --> 00:12:46.440 No, yeah, here, h- here's the deal be- because it's not just the land that it goes on, it's the fact that they draw power if they're coming in, and that could change the rates for power in an area. 79 00:12:47.500 --> 00:12:56.740 On the other hand, what President Trump has said, and what I agree with, is is you need to provide your own power or share how you're gonna get it. Now, you know, we've got data centers in South Dakota already. Yep. 80 00:12:57.460 --> 00:13:03.880 But when they were set up, they were set up next to some substations where you only use the power for part of the year, irrigation locations. 81 00:13:04.500 --> 00:13:12.520 And these data centers came into the local community, into the counties, and said, "Would you mind if we set up a data center? We'll use the power when you're not using it. 82 00:13:12.580 --> 00:13:21.060 You're already paying to have the load already delivered, so this will actually help your rates in the local area," number one. Yeah. Number two, you're not even gonna know we're there. 83 00:13:21.260 --> 00:13:31.640 And by the way, you can drive right by it and it looks like it's part of the substation. But it provides, in this particular case, about $780,000 to the local school district. [laughs] Yeah. 84 00:13:31.640 --> 00:13:38.560 They'd kinda like to have another one there. Yeah. This is the one down the road from your place, right? Yeah, well, yeah, th- this is the one that's, that's up north of Pierre. Yeah, they want another one. 85 00:13:38.920 --> 00:13:48.760 They'd kinda like to have one. Yeah. Yeah. And, and you can see why. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I think that's the story that those data center developers need to tell, uh, and they're trying to. 86 00:13:48.800 --> 00:13:58.760 But, you know, until we see more examples of that, people are skeptical that that's actually the case, right? Yeah, they, they've... Look, they, they've gotta prove themselves, but it's not a promise. 87 00:13:59.060 --> 00:14:13.680 It's a case of where you want it in writing. Mm. And, and I, I think, uh, the bottom line also on this is, look, AI is not going away. It's here. And China is working it really hard. Other countries are as well. 88 00:14:13.940 --> 00:14:16.180 In fact, uh, y- we know... 89 00:14:16.360 --> 00:14:32.160 O- OpenAI actually put out and prod- or, uh, released to the public some of the social media outputs coming from Iran attacking AI and attacking AI data centers in hopes of slowing down the development of AI in the United States. 90 00:14:32.160 --> 00:14:40.220 Like the post the other day? Yeah. Yeah. Like sowing discord around that? Correct. It's, it's 100%. Yeah. Propaganda from- Yeah, and I, I, I've seen more of it because I'm on the intel committee. 91 00:14:40.380 --> 00:14:49.920 I can't talk about the other stuff I've seen. I've actually asked the Department of the Treasury to release some of the stuff that they've got. Um, and they... To check OpenAI, they opened that up. 92 00:14:49.980 --> 00:15:00.740 So until such time as we're feeling comfortable opening it up more, look at OpenAI. They've got some really good stuff out there on what Iran is doing to try to hinder the development of AI in the United States. 93 00:15:00.920 --> 00:15:10.780 Do you think the world, like, is gonna kill us all, like, the, kind of the b- the hubbub about a month ago, I think, that came out? [laughs] No. Look, h- h- here's what. You've got the big guys in AI. 94 00:15:11.280 --> 00:15:21.600 And, and, and the big guys, the, the, the mega guys. The Anthropic, yeah. The an- the, the big boys, yeah. And look, these folks, uh, I, I meet with them. But I meet with them, I also meet with the little guys. 95 00:15:22.320 --> 00:15:33.200 You need the little guys to also be competitive. The guys at the top of the heap right now would love to have everybody else slowing down because they're at the top of the heap. That's the regulatory, yeah. 96 00:15:33.220 --> 00:15:38.700 And, and so, yeah. I mean, so, so, so number one, i- if you're, if you're gonna just be... 97 00:15:38.760 --> 00:15:45.680 If you're the king of the hill already, and you're sharing it in terms of two or three of you, you really don't want all the other guys coming in. Yeah. 98 00:15:45.780 --> 00:15:53.740 And so what, what we're trying to say, and we've said this now for two years, we can't do anything that stops the little guys from trying to become big guys as well. 99 00:15:53.920 --> 00:16:02.480 And that's, uh, that's the thing that the Anthropic types were, sort, were trying to play, right? "We need regulation." Yeah. Yeah. As, as, as long as you're- Yourself. 100 00:16:02.640 --> 00:16:08.820 [laughs] Well, and, and, and- Well, that was, uh, was it Damon Sacks who said, "You figure it out yourself"? Yeah. [laughs] I mean, if you don't, you know, this is- Yeah. 101 00:16:09.320 --> 00:16:24.720 I, I, I do think, um, in NIST, the National Institute of Science... Uh, let's see. Of, of Scien- no, uh, National Institute of, um, uh, Science and Testing- Mm-hmm... I believe. The... 102 00:16:24.800 --> 00:16:34.520 We, we do right now, like, if, if you buy pipes, if you buy electrical wire, if you buy circuitry, they're all coded, and everybody in that particular manufacturing

industry knows what the codes mean in terms of what the specs are. 103 00:16:35.360 --> 00:16:36.480 We need to nest 104 00:16:37.720 --> 00:16:51.340 I- or AI in NIST, and we've gotta bring in the best and brightest minds from the organizations, the big guys and the little guys, to come in and actually monitor and lay out the guidelines for how you test these, these frontier models. 105 00:16:52.640 --> 00:17:03.920 Today, part of the marketing is when you have a new AI model, part of the announcement is, "Oh, it got out of the sandbox." Right. You know, now, boy, that must be a powerful model. 106 00:17:04.460 --> 00:17:11.860 The reality is, is that you need to be able to lay out with guidelines at the federal level what that sandbox should look like. 107 00:17:12.620 --> 00:17:31.820 But the other piece of it is not just for regulating or testing an AI model, but you're gonna have to have regulators within the federal government who also need to test their ability to lay out the guidelines and to monitor and make sure that you're not, you're not missing the guidelines or, uh, you know, going past the guidelines. 108 00:17:32.380 --> 00:17:38.260 And so you've got to allow the regulators to also participate in that sandbox on a regular basis. 109 00:17:38.980 --> 00:17:48.980 Um, y- w- I've got legislation in, and we had it in, um, the most recent legislation that the Senate tried to pass, uh, on, on financial services. And, uh, that... 110 00:17:49.040 --> 00:18:02.260 We s- set up a sandbox, set it up so that the regulators and the businesses that wanna use AI products can work on it together. Does, is there the, a comparable... Like, AI, so it's a new frontier. 111 00:18:02.560 --> 00:18:11.360 You know, is there something else, um, that the federal government monitors and regulates in that same way? Nuclear energy. Nuclear energy. Yeah. 112 00:18:11.360 --> 00:18:25.060 I was gonna say maybe, like, uh, weapons, wartime weapons or something like that probably. Yeah. Yeah. It, it, it's gotten to the point where, um, it, it, it really is a, a product that makes everything else faster. 113 00:18:26.096 --> 00:18:32.956 Um, you can, b-biomedical research Yeah G-really good example. Biomedical- We've been talking about that for a long time. Yeah. I mean, I mean, look, h-here's a chance. 114 00:18:33.156 --> 00:18:41.496 W-we know right now that even with, uh, o-over a year ago, with the AI products we had a year ago, um, we had 115 00:18:42.456 --> 00:18:55.976 experts in the field, in the biomedical field, telling us that we could, it, what would normally take a regular laboratory 200 years to do in terms of a series of experiments could be done in less than a second, 116 00:18:57.096 --> 00:19:06.496 less than a second using AI to do the same medical research. That's over a year ago. A-and, and we've got newer models now. Yeah. 117 00:19:06.576 --> 00:19:21.556 So t- w-what's on the agenda, uh, when it comes to quality of life for Americans and, and really mankind, if we do this correctly, uh, I-I think Type 2 diabetes is months away from being literally curable, 118 00:19:22.556 --> 00:19:30.416 uh, or, or where people could live their daily lives without the, the threats that Type 2 diabetes provides today. 119 00:19:31.276 --> 00:19:45.516 Type 1 is gonna take longer, but, and it's gonna take more work, but I think that's the ultimate goal as a secondary part. Looking to recognize patterns so fast that it would take us forever- Yeah... to do that. 120 00:19:45.736 --> 00:19:55.836 M-more than a lifetime. It helped me do my, uh, expense reports for my taxes a lot. Like, what would've taken me 12 hours, got it done in a half hour. Really? It's amazing. Really? 121 00:19:56.056 --> 00:20:01.656 So- Now I hear, I notice you're seeing AI. You got, you're on, so you have to switch to SI. Nope. [laughs] Where is that at? 122 00:20:02.176 --> 00:20:12.536 Oh, I think the president was trying to get it to- The politically correct approach Oh, he always to change names to everything, right? Yeah. So he was trying to change to super intelligence, right? Yeah. Yeah. It's... 123 00:20:13.336 --> 00:20:19.576 Look, l-let, let's be honest. Uh, this thing is not going away. It's already ingrained in our- Yeah... in our memory and our discussion. 124 00:20:20.456 --> 00:20:31.976 Um, yeah, I-I think the more important part on this is, is to let people know, number one, this is not something that, that should, that should be ignored, but it's also not something that you can shut out. 125 00:20:32.196 --> 00:20:40.936 Because if you do, you'd better be planning on having your kids learning Mandarin, because China is moving at a really, really fast pace. 126 00:20:41.836 --> 00:20:56.836 Um, we, we ta- we've talked about this before, but o-on, on the national defense side, w-we talk about air, land, sea, and now space and cyberspace all being domains that we've gotta be able to defend our country in. 127 00:20:58.116 --> 00:21:12.416 AI is a major part of the command and control structure in all of those areas. But what we do with it is probably best exampled by what happened in Venezuela. Literally, they didn't see us coming, 128 00:21:13.456 --> 00:21:28.576 and once they did see us coming, they didn't know what was true and what was not true. W-we're able to, using AI, manipulate, change, um, uh, promote, um, rapidly change other systems 129 00:21:29.576 --> 00:21:37.476 that, um, we've never been able to do before. They shut down their power supplies for, for a moment- Yeah, well, that's-... to get in there... that was probably the easy part. 130 00:21:37.496 --> 00:21:48.636 [laughs] You know a lot of things that you can't talk about. No, that's right. But, and, and, and a-as it should be, because what it- Can you tell Dez? Nope. [laughs] My gosh, what do you think? 131 00:21:48.676 --> 00:21:55.176 [laughs] But here's the deal. We, what we did, uh, what we- There you go. He- Yeah. 132

00:21:55.756 --> 00:22:09.716 What we did on that with Venezuela, um, probably, a high, high probability, probably delayed the, the Chinese aggressive acts on Taiwan for an extended period of time. 133 00:22:10.276 --> 00:22:27.556 Because what we do know is that, um, both, um, both Putin and, uh, Xi Jinping really wondered, um- Oh... can they do the same thing to us that they did to Venezuela? Oh. 134 00:22:28.736 --> 00:22:41.796 And the answer might be yes. Yeah. So- I like that. That's a flex. Yep. That's a real flex. It, it was a flex. But look, here's the, the, the deal. It, it was done without a significant loss in human life. 135 00:22:41.815 --> 00:22:55.336 And I mean, anytime you lose anybody, anytime you have, uh, somebody get really hurt bad, and we had some guys get hurt pretty bad on that, it's not something that you ignore, and you've gotta acknowledge the sacrifice that goes into it. 136 00:22:56.436 --> 00:22:56.436 Yeah. 137 00:22:56.456 --> 00:23:11.956 But for that type of an operation to get pulled off as efficiently as it did says huge things about the integration of artificial intelligence into our weapons systems and into our cybersecurity and in, and, and into our command and control. 138 00:23:12.256 --> 00:23:22.476 Well, why aren't the Iranians afraid of that? Oh, w- You know?... well, they're dead. [laughs] Well, we're, we're still fighting that war, though. How long is that gonna go on, you think? Good question. 139 00:23:22.516 --> 00:23:29.856 How are you, have your thoughts on that evolved? Uh, it's not a popular war, but once you start one, you gotta, you gotta finish, right? 140 00:23:29.896 --> 00:23:41.596 So- Well, look, this may, this, this may not be popular with some folks, but here's the, the, the hard reality of what's gonna happen there. I-I saw the information that the president saw. 141 00:23:42.376 --> 00:23:56.896 He, he made the right decision when he said we have to address the issue of the nuclear weapons in Iran. Um, they had about 1,100 pounds of 60% grade uranium. 142 00:23:57.096 --> 00:24:09.936 Um, you need in excess of 80% to be weapons grade. The time period to go from 60% to weapons grade, uh, uh, 143 00:24:11.616 --> 00:24:26.416 uh, levels of, of uranium was three to four weeks for the first bomb. Now, they had enough there for about 11 bombs. In the past, we've also said, "Well, you gotta do something with it. 144 00:24:26.476 --> 00:24:32.476 Just because you've got a, a nuclear device doesn't mean that you have the ability to get it to where it could do a lot of damage." 145 00:24:33.412 --> 00:24:43.492 But what we also knew, and that the rest of the world found out about, was that they didn't have just short-range ballistic missiles. They also had intermediate-range ballistic missiles that they had developed. 146 00:24:44.392 --> 00:24:57.572 And in fact, the evidence of that was that they shot two of them at our bases, or our, our aircraft that were based at Diego Garcia in the

middle of the Indian Ocean, about 2,500 miles south of Iran. With that range... 147 00:24:57.592 --> 00:25:01.372 And by the way, we shot down both of those missiles. But, uh, 148 00:25:02.812 --> 00:25:12.192 i- if they would've had a nuclear tip on a weapon like that, they could've reached any one of our bases any place in Europe, and every single capital in Europe. 149 00:25:12.772 --> 00:25:25.552 They would've held not just the Middle East hostage, they would've held Europe hostage and a lot more of our capabilities hostage, and it would've made it a lot more difficult to deal with. Well, does Europe know this? 150 00:25:25.992 --> 00:25:35.232 They know it. Yeah. They, they know it. They'd never come and help. Well, here's the other piece. Well, we didn't ask them to until after we were in. Here's the other piece of this, though, that's important. 151 00:25:35.972 --> 00:25:51.212 Uh, once you decide you're gonna do that, you need to know how the game is gonna end. And our Pentagon does a really good job of planning, but those plans have to be accepted, uh, and you have to know the risk going in. 152 00:25:51.732 --> 00:25:56.992 The president, I believe, thought that after taking out the top leaders, 153 00:25:57.952 --> 00:26:09.192 uh, and showing that we could take out most of their weapons systems, I, I, I truly believe that he thought at that point he wouldn't have to go any farther and that they would capitulate or make a deal. 154 00:26:09.392 --> 00:26:15.932 You assume they're rational. Yeah, but they're crazy. I mean, they're, they're, they're crazy. And, and they just, they're not gonna do that. 155 00:26:16.372 --> 00:26:24.812 And, uh, the, I think the Pentagon knew that, and I think the Pentagon's next recommendations were, number one, you take Kharg Island. 156 00:26:25.212 --> 00:26:30.432 Kharg Island is where all of their petroleum products are distributed from out into the rest of the world. 157 00:26:30.792 --> 00:26:41.532 It's about 11 miles out in the Gulf, and it's where it's a deepwater port, so you can bring in the big, the, the big, uh, tankers, load up the Iranian oil right there, and then head out down through the Strait of Hormuz. 158 00:26:42.352 --> 00:26:55.172 Um, we probably, probably would've had to have put boots on the ground to take that over or else destroy it. If we would've destroyed it, then you wouldn't have had oil coming out literally for years from, from Iran. 159 00:26:55.752 --> 00:27:02.872 And I think the choice there was is do you put boots on the ground or not? And the president really doesn't wanna do that. The second piece is the Strait of Hormuz. 160 00:27:03.532 --> 00:27:10.312 We knew that that was their Achilles, or that that was our Achilles heel, similar to what, to what Kharg Island was their Achilles heel. 161 00:27:11.292 --> 00:27:23.812 And we also knew that we would have to focus a significant amount of our military might on cleaning up in that area to take out the direct

attackers for those, those, um, uh, ships that would kind of pass through the strait. 162 00:27:24.032 --> 00:27:27.492 Very complicated thing to do. It would've taken more time. 163 00:27:27.772 --> 00:27:35.832 It would've meant, uh, y- our young men and women at risk, and it might have even meant some boots on the ground to get in and clean out some of the deeper facilities they've got. 164 00:27:36.492 --> 00:27:48.612 I think the president just decided he wasn't gonna do that, and in doing so, um, didn't have a clean way to get out after the crazies just said, "No, we're just gonna suffer through." Yeah. The, uh, they didn't take his 165 00:27:49.912 --> 00:27:58.212 bait on the, "We're gonna annihilate you or wipe you off the face of the earth." I figure that would've got me to go, I'd give, I think. But, uh, I do give. 166 00:27:58.252 --> 00:28:10.972 Let's take a break and, uh, hear about Beal Distributing Products, June Sleep System, and First Bank Trust. I think you might even have an ad from you in there. Come on alone, head for the mountains of Busch Beer. 167 00:28:11.472 --> 00:28:25.192 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. Head for the mountains of Busch. 168 00:28:25.812 --> 00:28:36.692 Head for the mountains of Busch Light Beer. Enjoy responsibly. Copyright 2022. Anheuser-Busch, Busch, and Busch Light Beer. St. Louis, Missouri. Beal Distributing, Sioux Falls, South Dakota. 169 00:28:36.932 --> 00:28:50.372 I think he got into politics because he really wanted to do good things for South Dakota. For Mike, it's always been God, family, community. He's one of the most straightforward and honest people that I've ever known. 170 00:28:50.492 --> 00:29:02.292 He's not a show horse. He's a blue jeans guy, and he gets things done. South Dakota's as much a part of him as he is of South Dakota. I don't think anybody would be a better voice for South Dakota than Mike Rounds. 171 00:29:02.752 --> 00:29:19.532 I'm Mike Rounds, and I approve this message. Paid for by Rounds for Senate. One, two, three, four. [yawns] Most Juna Mattress owners don't need more than 10 to 12 sheep before they're off to Juna dreamland. 172 00:29:19.772 --> 00:29:30.652 Hi, I'm Justin, the mattress nerd at Juna Sleep Systems. What makes a Juna Mattress so special? It's because after tearing apart and building thousands of mattresses, we found the right mattress recipe. 173 00:29:30.792 --> 00:29:40.812 It has everything to do with support, comfort, and longevity. If your bed has too much gel foam, you sink and keep on sinking. We incorporated something called Energex. 174 00:29:41.052 --> 00:29:51.492 It's a next generation foam where you don't keep sinking. It's better than anything you'll find in the market today, and it's just one part of the Juna Mattress recipe that gives you the best rest of your life. 175 00:29:51.892 --> 00:30:01.432 With Juna, you'll count fewer sheep and

you'll get a dreamier, more restful night's sleep. Come feel for yourself at Juna Sleep Systems and get the last mattress you'll ever have to buy. 176 00:30:01.732 --> 00:30:15.632 41st and Grange in Sioux Falls and online at junasleep.com. What's your big picture? To fix my fixer-upper. To be done renting. To make more room. 177 00:30:15.792 --> 00:30:28.352 [laughs] If a great home is in your big picture, First Bank and Trust can help you navigate buying, building, or remodeling with local mortgage experts who make it easy. To give Hazel a big backyard. 178 00:30:28.372 --> 00:30:40.932 [dog barks] Find out how First Bank and Trust makes home buying easier at bankeasy.com. Member FDIC, Equal Housing Lender, NMLS 409296. Thanks again to First Bank and Trust 179 00:30:41.920 --> 00:30:54.580 Juna Sleep Systems and Beal Distributing Thank you too. You know- Appreciate it... I, I know y'all are gonna let you take this part. [laughs] You know, you, I think when we started this, 180 00:30:56.280 --> 00:31:08.260 uh, I guess it was, was it, it was Banks Thune when we started the Scout. But you had, you guys have supported us in certain ways throughout the year, like Christmas ads, things like that. 181 00:31:08.340 --> 00:31:20.460 So we appreciate your, and your access. You gave access to a couple unemployed journalists early on there, so. [laughs] Look, a, a, a, a free press is very important. Yeah. Thank you- Very important... remembering that. 182 00:31:21.060 --> 00:31:34.140 Uh, but a free and fair pr- a free press must be fair. And sometimes I think- Yeah... our industry deserves a little bit of the shit it gets. Yep And, uh, hence the Dakota Scouts existence. 183 00:31:34.180 --> 00:31:45.780 Hence, hence, hence their existence. Um, hey, well, I wanted to ask you because you were involved e- as governor, I mean, s- basically helping with the whole te- saving Ellsworth from being shuttered. 184 00:31:45.780 --> 00:31:57.960 [laughs] Um, to now going from that to we're gonna have some new bombers showing up here soon, right? And h- what's the kinda timeframe on the B-21s? Yeah. Look, y- I remember that. It was 2005. Yeah. 185 00:31:57.980 --> 00:32:07.440 This was a bipartisan effort. R- uh, this was Tim Johnson, John Thune, Steph Herseth- Mm-hmm... um, and, a- and myself as governor. 186 00:32:07.760 --> 00:32:14.220 And, um, we just said w- we're, politics aside, this is, this is critical to our state to, to save Ellsworth. 187 00:32:14.260 --> 00:32:23.880 And we were successful because the people in West River in particular, man, went way out of their way to show that commission just how serious they were about Ellsworth. 188 00:32:23.940 --> 00:32:34.880 And I mean, uh, talk about a marvelous example out there about support for a base. Mm. That's what really made that happen. And, um, now here we are with the B-21 coming in. 189 00:32:35.060 --> 00:32:44.580 This will be probably one of the most important air bases in the United States. It's in the middle of America. It's protected. We can see stuff coming in. We're gonna have to protect them against drones- Right... 190 00:32:44.600 --> 00:32:50.740 that's for sure. Right. But we're talking about that right now in terms of how we harden the facilities- Right... out there against that. 191 00:32:51.500 --> 00:33:01.360 But yeah, the B-21, uh, the, the first one will show up, and then it'll leave again for a while, and then they'll start coming back in in two and three at a time until the first training squadron is complete. 192 00:33:02.540 --> 00:33:10.460 Take a couple years to get that all set up. And the B-1s will still be there. The B-1s are gonna be there for probably, you know, four or five years maybe. 193 00:33:11.960 --> 00:33:23.700 And then they're gonna move to another base, and they'll be maintaining the numbers there until we exceed the number of B- B-1s with B-21s. And the, the B-1s will probably be the... 194 00:33:23.920 --> 00:33:34.640 I mean, the, the B-2s, I don't know if the B-20- the B-1s or the B-2s will go first, I don't know which, but they'll retire one of those sets, uh, as the B-21s come online. 195 00:33:34.920 --> 00:33:42.540 The B-21s will, the first training squadron will be at Ellsworth, the first operational squadron will be at Ellsworth. That's been pretty well decided now. 196 00:33:43.180 --> 00:33:53.920 All the facilities, we got about $1.6 uh, um, billion in, um, in, uh, facilities out there already completed or under construction right now. 197 00:33:53.960 --> 00:34:03.840 We've got another 400 million that should be completed in the next year to year and a half. Um, then the, the B-21s will start to show up in larger numbers. 198 00:34:04.380 --> 00:34:10.300 The, uh, um, the, the, the question then is, is when will the ninth one be put in? 199 00:34:10.440 --> 00:34:19.960 Because they're, w- we'll have the ninth squadron as well, and they'll try to put in two squadrons apiece at other locations and then start the third round coming in. 200 00:34:20.920 --> 00:34:32.060 Uh, we've actually lobbied them a little bit to say, "What's the possibility of just, since we're gonna have all the facilities done already, what about having the first training squadron and the first operational squadron stay at Ellsworth?" 201 00:34:32.100 --> 00:34:38.500 [laughs] And they're saying, "Well, let us think about that, uh, the pros and the cons," because then you've got all your eggs in one basket, and maybe that's not the best thing. 202 00:34:38.560 --> 00:34:48.500 But anyways, it's a thought-provoking idea for us. Yeah. It- Well, you mentioned the, you mentioned the retirement of either the B-1 or B-2. At least there's, uh, B-52s flying. I mean, those- Yeah... 203 00:34:48.520 --> 00:34:56.400 those things have been in the air forever. They're like kinda like hand-me-down clothes, like when you got a family, right? Like- I, I know what that is... they, um... 204 00:34:56.600 --> 00:35:06.140

Well, I mean, you get these new technology, we don't wanna just throw away. I mean, it's, your shoes don't fit anymore, but your, your little brother can wear them and they're still good. So- Yeah... 205 00:35:06.200 --> 00:35:17.180 is it, I mean, that's the analogy or the metaphor I- Yeah... kind of strikes me when you guys are talking about this. Is the, the, the B-52 will be here, could be for another 30, 40 years. 206 00:35:17.380 --> 00:35:26.500 That'll be, uh, 100 years that that model had been in- Yeah... yeah. Now, most of it's been replaced. Sure. Uh, I mean, uh, all, all, I mean, brand-new engines are coming on board. 207 00:35:27.140 --> 00:35:39.180 The electro- I mean, it's such a big open architecture inside, they can just take stuff out and put new stuff in. So you've got the basic frame itself, but other than that, everything is maintained or replaced. 208 00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:46.460 But the, the, one of the reasons why the B-52 is gonna be here for a longer period of time is because it's a big bomb truck. 209 00:35:47.140 --> 00:35:57.340 But in that bomb truck, you can load it up with standoff weapons, so you don't have to get in harm's way with it necessarily if you can release weapons a long, long ways off. 210 00:35:57.720 --> 00:36:02.540 Cruise missiles and- Cruise missiles and so forth. And so in doing that, you can haul a whole lot of, 211 00:36:03.480 --> 00:36:16.200 of, of weapons into an area, into a general area, and still be able to release them and not put it directly in harm's way based on what the anticipated weapons systems are gonna be at that time to try to take them out. 212 00:36:16.380 --> 00:36:28.300 Hmm. Well, I just remember, uh, Jimmy Carter didn't like the B-1. Uh, but you mentioned drones, and we've learned a lot about, uh, drone warfare thanks to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 213 00:36:28.960 --> 00:36:38.376 And there have been some complaints that I've, I've seen of tech people in the tech industry saying this has exposed, uh, the United States, our defense procurement-... 214 00:36:38.416 --> 00:36:46.776 problems because we rely on too, we, we want, like, the best of everything, and the Ukrainians have showed us, no, you s- you just want a drone that goes out and kills people, okay? 215 00:36:47.436 --> 00:36:56.816 And so has, has this changed in, in your mind the, th- this war and, you know what? The Ukrainians are able to produce hundreds of thousands of drones, and we're, we, we can't, right? 216 00:36:57.256 --> 00:37:07.256 Ha- has this changed the mentality, you think, at all in the Pentagon of how, of weapons systems and how you procure things and ramping up in order to be able to do what we did during World War II? Finally. Finally? 217 00:37:07.316 --> 00:37:17.876 Yeah, finally. Um, the, I mean, we have a rapid acquisitions office in the Pentagon because the acquisitions office doesn't work. [clears throat] So rather than- Rapid... 218 00:37:18.016 --> 00:37:27.556 eliminating

the acquisitions office and going to just rapid acquisitions, they created two of them, and, and I mean, that's the kind of stupid stuff you put up with. The government? Yeah, yeah. 219 00:37:28.176 --> 00:37:34.536 And so o- one of the, one of the things that we've tried to do is just to say, "Okay, what's it gonna take?" And, and I do give this administration credit. 220 00:37:35.316 --> 00:37:46.936 They have cut through a whole lot of this stuff, and, uh, yeah, the, the, the guys i- in the under secretary positions have really moved a number of these items along very, very quickly. 221 00:37:47.616 --> 00:37:58.836 And in our, our AI area, we've moved extremely fast in incorporating it into the command and control at the Pentagon level. I mean, that stuff has really... They've done a very good job on that. 222 00:37:59.456 --> 00:38:02.696 The, the, the challenge for us is, is what do you do on the day-to-day stuff? 223 00:38:02.996 --> 00:38:14.576 How do you, uh, how do you establish supply chains that aren't, uh, using the old concept of, "If we need it today, or if we need it tomorrow, we'll order it today, and it'll be here tomorrow"? 224 00:38:14.796 --> 00:38:22.556 And so you never have a supply of stuff. And then when you do have a shortage someplace, you don't know where you're gonna go to get your, your, your other supply of something. 225 00:38:23.236 --> 00:38:40.096 So we've gotta go back to literally having contracts that last for more than one year, and we've gotta have contracts that expect that our supplies will be purchased in quantities enough to where if you do have a shortage or a disruption, you don't have to shut down an entire weapons system. 226 00:38:40.556 --> 00:38:50.356 Those are the types of things that we've gotta do a better job on now. Well, we were at the, uh, was it MMS? Yep. Uh, you know, I d- You're right... 227 00:38:50.496 --> 00:38:59.936 so much shelf space up here, and a lot pushes it off, but that's, I think it's the, the Department of War is kind of being, uh, deliberate about that, right? 228 00:38:59.996 --> 00:39:07.996 Get smaller contracts, uh, so they could have more players in the game. Is that- Yeah, and p- precisely. 229 00:39:08.076 --> 00:39:16.736 Smaller contractors, but with that also comes the, the need to be able to help them with their cybersecurity and with their general security requirements. 230 00:39:16.956 --> 00:39:25.036 That's an important part of this because if you go to a small contractor and say, "Oh, by the way, our cybersecurity, our requirements are such that it's gonna cost you an arm and a leg. 231 00:39:25.096 --> 00:39:29.716 It's gonna be more than your contract," you're probably not gonna get the small guys to be able to survive that. 232 00:39:30.196 --> 00:39:39.856 So you've gotta be able to say, "And, and, and oh, we'll help you with your cybersecurity as a part of the deal that we make with you." And, uh, y- you know, you, you m- you mentioned it. 233 00:39:40.256 --> 00:39:54.136 We've got businesses here in South Dakota, in Sioux Falls as a matter of fact, that are directly responsible for or are a part of that new delivery system of, like, universal products that can connect to a drone- Yeah... 234 00:39:54.216 --> 00:40:04.816 to carry a weapon. Any, any aircraft, essentially, these munition systems can attach to. Yeah. Interesting. And, and that's right here in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and they're growing rapidly. 235 00:40:05.096 --> 00:40:10.476 They held that under their vest for a little while. Yeah. 'Cause, uh, people... There's a lot of nimbyism out there, so I don't know. 236 00:40:10.516 --> 00:40:25.436 If you build a munition system, I think the neighbors might have got a little upset at first. But, uh, that, the... Governor Noem has, has sort of planted a flag, uh, on the defense, uh- Yeah, no, L- L- Larry's right. 237 00:40:25.576 --> 00:40:39.016 ... agenda. Yeah. A- and it's part of what we talked about. I said, "Look, can you imagine how important it is to have, um, Northrop Grumman- Yeah... coming into Rapid City? Major contractor. 238 00:40:39.556 --> 00:40:45.996 They're gonna be there for a number of years because the B-21 is gonna be basically vetted right there. Yeah. They're gonna have a, an office there. 239 00:40:46.796 --> 00:40:56.156 We've got, we've got School of Mines out there right now, Mines and Technology right there right now. We've got an AI system out there right now. We've got a materials facility out there right now. 240 00:40:56.856 --> 00:41:08.756 Can you imagine what happens if you can get Northrop to set up an office there and start maybe hiring some people there and actually looking at some of the capabilities that come from people that are graduating from the School of Mines? 241 00:41:09.456 --> 00:41:18.076 And then think about everything else that goes with it because every one of those, those subcontractors, the B-21 isn't just built by Northrop. 242 00:41:18.676 --> 00:41:29.036 It's built by a whole bunch of different organizations that do landing gears, that do propulsion systems, that do the materials of the electronics inside, all of that stuff. They're all subcontractors. 243 00:41:29.896 --> 00:41:38.716 They're gonna want an office there. Right. So isn't this a perfect opportunity to establish where a defense, uh, facility might set up? 244 00:41:38.816 --> 00:41:46.656 And then by the way, Northrop Grumman has signed a lease out there on a building, has a, an anchor tenant, and now others will come out there as well. 245 00:41:46.716 --> 00:41:57.296 But it's a place where young people can actually see a chance, uh, for a future in South Dakota that might give them a chance to use their engineering degree, their advanced technology degree. 246 00:41:57.936 --> 00:42:08.176 Um, we're, we're gonna need people that work with their hands in terms of, uh, coming from the, from the different, uh, um, technical schools across the state.

It's just one more opportunity to keep kids here. 247 00:42:08.376 --> 00:42:11.896 Yeah, the, the brain drain, right? This addresses that a bit. 248 00:42:12.336 --> 00:42:29.996 And it just occurred to me that you had involvement in SURF, and we just wrote yesterday about how the Mines, uh, researchers have, have a stake in this Nobel Peace Pri- or Nobel, uh, Prize in Physics that was just awarded to a Wisconsin professor, uh, for work they're doing at the South Pole. 249 00:42:30.916 --> 00:42:41.968 Uh, when they figure out how to, like, really send neutrinos through the Earth, you know, Putin will be really shaking in his boots then. So- I mean, that, does that play into it too? It does. 250 00:42:42.808 --> 00:42:49.228 You're, you're, you're sitting at a place where right now we've got about $1.4 billion in investment in that laboratory out there. 251 00:42:50.148 --> 00:43:05.528 Um, a significant part of it is coming from CERN in Europe, because they recognize that this location, there aren't very other places, very many places in the world that you can study for dark matter and dark energy, uh, without being deep underground. 252 00:43:06.208 --> 00:43:14.348 Look, we're 4,850 feet underground for our main laboratory facilities. We've got three of the facilities out there right now that are bigger than football fields, that deep underground. 253 00:43:14.928 --> 00:43:23.908 So you've got Fermilab getting ready to shoot a beam, a particle beam underground, the 800 miles from- Here to Chicago... 254 00:43:23.928 --> 00:43:30.048 Chicago, all the way in, aimed right at this facility, and the idea is to catch neutrinos, identify neutrinos. 255 00:43:31.408 --> 00:43:41.448 We think that that may very well be part of the, the, uh, the, the, the learning curve for finding out what dark matter really is. 'Cause the, uh... 256 00:43:41.868 --> 00:43:44.788 You ever worry that we're all just gonna go get sucked into a black hole? 257 00:43:44.788 --> 00:44:01.708 [laughs] No, but, but I, I, I'll tell you, I, I do think, uh, talking about, you know, the, the next steps that we need to be aware of here in, in, uh, South Dakota a- and around the world, you've got, you've got, um, uh... 258 00:44:02.128 --> 00:44:13.868 W- we talk about the different domains, air, land, sea, space, and cyberspace. Mm-hmm. And then we talk about how you incorporate artificial intelligence- Quantum... into it. The next step is quantum. 259 00:44:14.388 --> 00:44:29.868 And, and it's, it's not just quantum in terms of quantum computing. It's quantum for other things as well. Qu- quantum is the study of really subatomic particles, the, the, the, the very basic building blocks. 260 00:44:31.188 --> 00:44:38.648 W- we've got that happening in South Dakota right now, and people say, "Oh man, that's a long ways off." It's not. I'll give you one example. 261 00:44:39.428 --> 00:44:50.228 Both Boeing and Airbus, in a Boeing 737 and in an Airbus 321, used a commercially available quantum product 262 00:44:51.168 --> 00:44:57.808 to measure the magnetic properties of the Earth, because it varies from where you're at on the Earth. 263 00:44:58.628 --> 00:45:04.448 And they were able to fly their aircraft around, not necessarily around the world, but from point A to point B on the map, 264 00:45:05.508 --> 00:45:15.028 and to do it without GPS, and to do it without radio s- other radio signals, just measuring where they were based on measurements of the- Yeah... 265 00:45:15.128 --> 00:45:27.528 the magnetic, uh, properties of the Earth below them, and they used a quantum box to do that, and that was a commercially available product. It's coming more rapidly than a lot of people realize, 266 00:45:28.448 --> 00:45:41.528 and the thing that catches my attention is in a, in a, in a quantum world, there's a thing called entanglement, where you can have two separate, um, um, particles of matter, two electrons let's just say. 267 00:45:42.328 --> 00:45:49.008 And if they're entangled, even though that they're not connected to one another, if you change the properties of one of them, 268 00:45:50.188 --> 00:46:03.108 it automatically and instantaneously changes the property of the entangled product as or the other piece of matter as well. 800 miles away. 800 miles away, but faster than the speed of light. It is instantaneous. 269 00:46:03.408 --> 00:46:17.468 That's why they call it the God particle sometimes. Uh, I can't even get my antenna TV to come in. [laughs] So someday I'll be able to get, uh, all three channels in. Good. Well, Senator, um, 270 00:46:18.728 --> 00:46:30.248 I wish you luck in these final days of this campaign. Uh, will you be in Sioux Falls that night? No, I'll, I'll, I'll be in Pierre. Um, I've already told my team. 271 00:46:30.328 --> 00:46:35.988 I said, "We're gonna do the same thing in the general as we did in the primary," and that's small group, um, at my home. 272 00:46:36.368 --> 00:46:45.428 And, uh, we're gonna have a group there to, to, you know, say thank you to the team that's been working with us all the way along and, uh, let them know we appreciate all their help during this time period. 273 00:46:45.568 --> 00:46:55.507 And we'll do a small group just to kinda together and, and, uh, see the, the returns come in, and then get back to work the next day. Yeah. Well, uh, wish you luck. 274 00:46:55.848 --> 00:47:10.928 Uh, probably don't need it, but g- based on the polls that, that just came out in that news story. So, uh- H- h- here's the deal. Um, if you want the job, you work for the job. And so we take every single race seriously. 275 00:47:11.668 --> 00:47:21.848 You don't take anything for granted. You work it hard until the very end, and, um, then you, you know... I, I have confidence in, in the people in South Dakota. They've been very good to me in the past. 276 00:47:22.468 --> 00:47:34.528 Hopefully, you know, the day-to-day work that we do is what they wanted to see. Uh, and sometimes you just need to be the workhorse, and hopefully that's what they've seen me as. Well, thanks again. 277 00:47:34.668 --> 00:47:47.368 I will definitely have you back. Thanks to our sponsors, Beal Distributing, Juda Sleep Systems, First Bank and Trust. Support them, because they support local, independent South Dakota journalism. News tips welcome. 278 00:47:47.628 --> 00:47:48.088 Thanks. 279 00:47:48.088 --> 00:48:05.768 [upbeat rock music]