Hospitality in South Dakota and the roots of bitter politics

Saturday , Aug. 3, was a busy day for the Tim Johnson campaign in eastern South Dakota. Kirk, the director of the Aberdeen campaign office, and volunteer Tim had an arduous schedule of campaign events they attended wearing their Johnson '08 T-shirts. Kirk is from California and has worked across the country as a staff member for the Hilary Clinton campaign.

As they drove back toward Aberdeen late in the afternoon, they stopped in Clark to get some bottles of water. Kirk went into the gasoline station-convenience store first. As he approached the checkout with his water, the man behind the counter noticed the T-shirt said, "A Tim Johnson fan, huh?" He took the money for the water and said, pointing to the door, "No politics here. There's the door."

When Tim, who recently moved to the Aberdeen area, came in to get water, the man repeated the same invitation to get out.

The man behind the counter was Republican State Senator Brock Greenfield.