Representative Herseth proves again that she's really a Republican. In the wee hours this morning, she voted Aye with 33 other "Democrats" to support the GOP's cynical effort to slash the estate tax for its wealthy constituents. The GOP threw in a minimum-wage increase as political cover, and Rep. Herseth went along with them.
So instead of putting its hopes on its own candidate for the House, why doesn't the GOP court Stephanie? She's voted with them on the estate tax, gay marriage, and other issues; why not get her to switch to the party that her voting record better reflects?
Bruce Whalen is just the poor fellow that's getting thrown under the bus. Apparently, he just received his first lesson on the internet this month, too.
ReplyDeleteSend your thoughts to Phil Assmus, he's on Herseth's staff and I'm sure has an explanation for you.
Indeed, the GOP seems to have thrown in the towel on this race, which makes no sense to me. Why not fight for the House seat? The Republicans aren't lacking money. If they were strong enough to defeat Majority Leader Daschle in 2004, they ought to be able to gear up for battle against a mere 1.2-term Congresswoman with much less national prominence. They could certainly find ambitious Republicans in this state with more savvy and class than Whalen's team has demonstrated.
ReplyDeleteI think their rationale is that even if they have money, it's a waste to spend it on a candidate who has a very high probability of losing. They don't have any high profile John-Thune-esq figures who are willing to take the fight (Rounds prefers governor, and probably gets a lot more done for the state than he would in Washington...). South Dakotans have a knack for keeping one Democrat employed, and accoring to Phil, being on the minority side of the US House is practically a waste of time... Herseth has no say in the agenda, and can't even pull any sneaky strategies (like a Senate filibuster).
ReplyDeleteSo for South Dakotans that feel like they need to have an elected Democrat to make us look like a fair-and-balanced state, but don't want her to actually have an effect on our lives, keeping Herseth in the House is best thing for them.
Even being the one South Dakotan on the majority side of the House doesn't mean much unless you're in the ranks of Speaker or Whip. So Republicans probably don't see enough bang for the buck. It's mostly a grooming barn for future Senate candidates...
Say, I was thinking more about this last night... has there ever been a South Dakota House race where the parties put big bucks behind a candidate? Even when Daschle was in the House, I seem to remember that he pretty much won the race on shoestring door-to-door campaign...
ReplyDelete