The military base closure process can be a hairy process for some -- just ask those Senators and Represenatives who have been burned by the loss of a base in their state or district. When bases are saved, however, the rewards can be extremely positive. Such is the case for two Senators, John Thune (R-SD) and Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), as bases in their respective states were spared today. The AP's Liz Sidoti reports.

Struggling to finish a politically thorny task, the base-closing commission tackled a shake-up of the Air National Guard on Friday after — in a setback for the Pentagon — it voted to keep open Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota.

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The decision to spare Ellsworth Air Force Base was a blessing for South Dakotans, who feared losing some 4,000 jobs, and a victory for Sen. John Thune and the state's other politicians, who lobbied vigorously against closure. Thune, a freshman Republican, unseated then-Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle partly on the strength of his claim that he would be better positioned to help save the base.

"This fight was not about me," Thune said just after the vote. "This whole decision was about the merits. It had nothing to do with the politics."

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Rejecting another Pentagon proposal, the panel also decided to keep open Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico. However, the base would lose all of its aircraft and face the possibility of closure in 2010. By that date, the panel said the Pentagon must find other missions for the facility or Cannon will shut down.

The vote was a compromise among commissioners who struggled to balance national security interests with fear that closing the base entirely would devastate the economy around tiny Clovis, N.M. Some commissioners said the fate of Cannon was the most difficult decision to make so far.

Gov. Bill Richardson, D-N.M., portrayed the outcome as a "partial victory

For Thune, this was a make-or-break issue, even though he is not up for reelection for another five years. The decision also helped Bingaman; though he does not at yet face strong competition, next year he nonetheless faces voters of a state that went for George Bush in 2004.