Modern News

CNN sits down with Senator John Thune for a discussion about the state of the party and follows with a piece pointing to the freshmen Senators relative anonymity, the fact that he’s already a part of the GOP’s Senate Leadership heading the Senate Republican Policy Committee, and that Thune’s star may be on the rise.

He walks through Washington’s Reagan National Airport, arriving as he does nearly every Monday from a weekend home in South Dakota. He makes his way unnoticed.

But John Thune’s anonymity may not last forever.

He is a Republican on the rise: a freshman senator who is already a member of the GOP leadership.

As head of the Senate Republican Policy Committee, Thune runs the weekly strategy session where all Senate Republicans try to find consensus on the best way to challenge President Obama and the Democratic majority.

“It’s probably the most candid assessment that we have in a given week,” Thune said, riding the subway to the Tuesday lunch.

With just 40 Republicans in the Senate now, Thune insists that there is still a diversity of GOP views — but one that he argues must be expanded.

John Thune entered the Senate, for South Dakota, in 2004 after having beaten Democratic leader Tom Daschle and was sworn in with another rookie Senator, our current president, Barack Obama.