Thune has assumed "ownership" of Daschle's longtime Rapid City office. In fact, he took down Daschle's sign and put up his own on New Year's Eve, ABC-TV affiliate KOTA is reporting.

Sharing office space – in a sense – is an irony because during a hard-fought political campaign, Thune and Daschle shared very little, especially in terms of politics.

Republicans drafted Thune, a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives, to run against South Dakota's other liberal senator, Democrat Tim Johnson, in 2002. Thune lost in heartbreaking fashion – by just 500 votes.

He came back in 2004 to challenge the obstructionist Daschle for his seat.

So riveting was the match-up – conservatives were hoping beyond hope that the main obstacle to President Bush's agenda in the Senate would be ousted – that Roll Call, Capitol Hill's newspaper of record, ran an Oct. 4, 2004 story headlined "After Bush-Kerry, Thune-Daschle is the Main Event."

As Senate minority leader, Daschle became synonymous with spearheading Democrat-led filibusters of many nominees he believed were not liberal enough to sit on the federal bench.

Polls showed a tight race all the way up to Election Day, though a few weeks out Daschle was still holding a narrow lead. Thune won by only 4,500 votes.

One point of satisfaction for Thune: His mentor and personal hero, former Republican U.S. Sen. Jim Abdnor from South Dakota, who lost a re-election bid to Daschle in 1986, was in Thune's headquarters the evening of Nov. 2 to witness Daschle's demise.

As for the office space, the ABC-TV affiliate says a Thune staffer claims the site was chosen because it is conveniently located. But we think maybe Thune, like the majority of South Dakota voters in his district, just couldn't wait to see Daschle go.

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