Rep. Stephanie Herseth (D-SD AL) said on 10/27 that she would vote for Pres. Bush if the presidential election ended up being decided in the House.
Herseth made the comment during a televised debate with ex-state Sen. Larry Diedrich (R). She was asked by a reporter how she would vote if neither Bush nor John Kerry won the election outright and it ended up being decided in the House.
Herseth said she would be guided by SD voters, who are projected to vote for Bush by a wide margin: "I represent South Dakota. And I'm going to put South Dakota first."
Diedrich also said he would vote for Bush but questioned whether Herseth had "dodged a direct answer" by saying she would be "guided" by SD voters. Herseth said that her meaning was clear: "I guess Larry is going to keep parsing my words. ... I would vote for George Bush for president."
The exchange was typical of others during the hour-long debate, during which the candidates "minced specifics" on such issues as prescription drugs and energy policy and diverged slightly on whether to support a request by the Bush admin. for $70B or more for the war in Iraq (Woster, Rapid City Journal, 10/28).
There were a few of us on these boards that acknowledged how much I wanted Stephanie to win her race, but also stated that we could NOT donate money to her. Mostly it was because of her stance on the Federal Marriage Amendment and because there are plenty of other candidates in important swing districts who are progressives themselves, and in my belief deserve progressive dollars.
So, Stephanie would save her own ass in South Dakota over saving the Nation/World from George W. Bush if it came down to it?
I know the odds are very low that this would happen - but, what if? It says a lot about Ms. Herseth.
What do you think?