James Abdnor, Former South Dakota Senator, Dies at 89 James Abdnor, a South Dakota Republican farmer who liked to say that he got off his tractor and went to Washington, where he served four terms in Congress and one in the Senate after defeating the liberal Democrat George S. McGovern in 1980, died on Wednesday in Sioux Falls, S.D. He was 89. His death was announced by his family. It was not quite true that Mr. Abdnor got off his tractor and went to Washington. He went first to South Dakota's capital, Pierre, in the 1950s and was a state senator for 12 years and lieutenant governor for two more before winning a seat in the House and being re-elected three times in the 1970s. But his campaign line, evoking Jimmy Stewart's aw-shucks Senate appointee in Frank Capra's 1939 film classic "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," played well with the state's conservative voters when he challenged Mr. McGovern, a three-term incumbent. Mr. McGovern had opposed American involvement in the war in Vietnam and, as the 1972 Democratic presidential nominee, had lost in a landslide to Richard M. Nixon. The 1980 South Dakota Senate race offered stark contrasts: Mr. McGovern had national stature, a liberal voting record, many legislative achievements and eloquence as a campaigner. Mr. Abdnor was all but unknown outside his state, had a conservative voting record but few legislative accomplishments, and was as plain-spoken as politicians come, with the added distraction of a word-slurring speech impediment. He said Mr. McGovern was out of touch with the state, but Mr. Abdnor refused to debate. The two agreed almost word-for-word on state farming issues. But on national issues, they disagreed on almost everything. Mr. McGovern favored the Equal Rights Amendment, abortion rights, even federal loan guarantees for New York City, while Mr. Abdnor opposed them all. Mr. Abdnor supported the B-1 bomber, the MX missile system and deregulation of oil prices, all of which Mr. McGovern opposed. In addition, Mr. McGovern had been married for 37 years and had five children. Mr. Abdnor was a lifelong bachelor. His survivors include four nieces and two nephews. Mr. Abdnor won easily, 58 percent to 39 percent. Analysts said the outcome had less to do with issues than with a negative campaign by the National Conservative Political Action Committee, which portrayed Mr. McGovern as a friend of Fidel Castro because he had visited Cuba, and as "antifamily" or a "baby killer" because he opposed a constitutional amendment to ban abortion. But Mr. Abdnor had another advantage. He was widely seen as a nice guy, a rare quality in politics that found expression that year in Ronald Reagan's presidential victory. It carried many Republicans, including Mr. Abdnor, on its coattails in a sweep that moved America to the right politically. In the Senate, Mr. Abdnor supported rural electrification, water development, agriculture and the Reagan agenda of tax cuts and strong national defense. Mr. Reagan, in turn, campaigned for Mr. Abdnor in 1986 when he ran for re-election against a Democratic representative, Thomas A. Daschle. Mr. Abdnor tried to link his opponent to Jane Fonda and the other "Hollywood liberals" who had contributed to his campaign. Mr. Abdnor, a stocky, rough-hewed man who looked uncomfortable and sometimes unprepared before crowds, also tried to turn his speaking difficulties and dirt-farmer manner into assets. In one television commercial produced by a New York media consultant, he wore jeans, sat on the steps of a farmhouse and portrayed himself as an earnest farmer toiling for his state in Washington. "God didn't make me a flashy speaker, that's for sure," he said. But we got a lot of flashy speakers in Congress. And if speeches solved problems, we wouldn't have any problems. But it was the Reagan administration's failure to improve the troubled farm economies of the Dakotas that weighed heavily with voters, and Mr. Abdnor narrowly lost to Mr. Daschle. Mr. Reagan named him to head the Small Business Administration, and he remained in Washington for another two years. Ellis James Abdnor, who almost never used his first name, was born on Feb. 13, 1923, in Kennebec, S.D., to Samuel J. and Mary Wehby Abdnor. His father, a Lebanese immigrant, was an itinerant peddler and later a merchant in Kennebec. James attended local schools and enrolled at the University of Nebraska. His studies were interrupted by World War II Army service, but he graduated with a business administration degree in 1945. He became, and always considered himself, a wheat farmer and cattle rancher. Aside from his years in Pierre and Washington, and some retirement years in Sioux Falls and Rapid City, S.D., he lived all his life in the home where he was raised in Kennebec (population 280), in south-central South Dakota. He died in hospice care in Sioux Falls. Mr. Abdnor was a teacher and coach in nearby Presho from 1946 to 1948, chief clerk of the State Legislature in the early 1950s and chairman of the state's Young Republicans from 1953 to 1955. Mr. Abdnor served in the State Senate from 1957 to 1968, and was lieutenant governor under Gov. Frank L. Farrar from 1969 to 1971. He ran unsuccessfully for a seat in Congress in 1970, but two years later, went to Washington as a freshman representative. In 1995, he was inducted into the South Dakota Hall of Fame.