Gotta hand it to Stephanie. She knows what got her there. She knows what will keep her there.
From The Hill, we discover that Stephanie is taking every opportunity to court this heavily Democratic part of her base in South Dakota, and the Republicans are starting to attack her for it.
Newly elected Rep. Stephanie Herseth (D-S.D.) is doing everything possible to convince her state's American Indian voters -- who played a critical role in sending her to Congress -- that she cares about them.
She campaigned hard on Indian reservations across South Dakota and is joining the Native American Caucus. Yesterday, she met with leaders of the Lower Brule, Crow Creek and other tribes. She even issued a press release last week attaching her name to new funding for the Indian Health Service (IHS) and other Indian-related spending items.
Yes, Yes, Yes...all good ideas. Serve and represent those who voted for you. Campaign for their votes again by showing that she is working for them. All very smart politics. Especially considering that her reelection campaign is already underway. But the Republicans are also campaigning, and they believe they have caught our dear Stephanie in a gaffe:
"Stephanie Herseth announced that the House Appropriations Committee has approved a significant increase in funding," Herseth's June 9 release stated.
The only catch is that Herseth, who won her seat in a special election June 1, had nothing to do with the funding measure, part of the Interior Department's appropriations bill for 2005. While House Appropriations Committee Chairman Bill Young (R-Fla.) and other members were hammering out the bill in Washington, Herseth was stumping for votes in South Dakota.
In fact, the Herseth news release happened to come on the heels of one issued the same day by John Scofield, the Republican press secretary for the Appropriations Committee. And the Herseth release happened to tout the same figures as in the Scofield release. It noted, for example, that the IHS had received $3 billion and Indian trust reform had received $238 million.
Ok. They are attacking for making an announcement? They are implying that she is taking credit for something she has nothing to do with. In essence, they are calling Stephanie a liar. But as I read her statement again, all she is saying is that the Appropriations Committee has approved a significant increase in the funding of the Indian trust. In other words, she is passing on this good bit of news to her constituents who might not otherwise know of the development. She is not taking credit for it because she obviously can't since she was not in Congress when the decisions were made.
"She's making this announcement about important funding that she's pleased with," Herseth spokesman Russ Levsen explained. "She was pleased that it got done."
But as usual the Republicans are being crybabies.
Scofield: "She took my press release."
The reason for the crying is that the Republicans are desparate right now. The June 1 election was very close. The Indian reservation vote provided Herseth with the margin of victory. She is now courting that base. The Republicans obviously want to deny her that by embarrassing her.
But they also want to distract attention from their candidate's health problems.
Yesterday, Diedrich's campaign manager, Mark Berg, said Diedrich needed emergency surgery to replace a heart valve. The surgery will be performed in Sioux Falls today and should keep the Republican off the campaign trail for one to two weeks, Berg said.
That sounds very serious to me. Open heart surgery. Should the candidate not withdraw? How can he be expected to campaign in the midst of a recovery?