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RAPID CITY | Nearly four decades ago, Ted Muenster was in the vanguard of a Democratic revolution in South Dakota.

So successful were Democrats that, for one general election in 1978, their voter registration numbers surpassed Republicans.

That has never happened again. In fact, Democrats today have about 17,000 fewer registered voters than they did all those 36 years ago.

The party hit a historic low point in last months election. Democrats won only 20 of the 105 seats in the Legislature, failed to win any of the 13 offices elected by South Dakota voters as a whole, and suffered the biggest percentage-point margin of defeat in any gubernatorial race in state history.

During the 1970s, Muenster was chief of staff for Democratic Gov. Dick Kneip. Muenster has seen some bad elections for Democrats since then, but perhaps none worse than Nov 4.

The Democratic Party in South Dakota is always on the ragged edge of catastrophe, Muenster said. But its now at its lowest point in 50 years.

Muenster made the comment while participating in a panel discussion last month at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion. The discussion was part of a launch event for the second volume of The Plains Political Tradition, a book of essays published by the South Dakota Historical Society Press.

In the book and at the conference, three people offered theories to explain why South Dakota Democrats have fallen so far since their heyday in the late 70s.

In the panel discussion, Muenster said the Roe v. Wade abortion decision and also the failure of the Oahe Irrigation Project, both in the 1970s, divided Democrats.

In essays written for the book, author Tony Venhuizen pinpointed the 1980s farm crisis as a turning point in the declining political influence of Democratic agricultural movements. Author Mark Lempke said the social turmoil of the 1970s undercut Democratic leader George McGovern and his support from mainline Protestant churches.

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South Dakota Democrats adjust after stinging losses