SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — As South Dakota’s lone House member, Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D) wants each of her votes to reflect the wholesome, conservative values of this rural rectangle of a state. So she has artfully tailored her record: no on the health-care overhaul; no on the Wall Street bailouts; no on the cap-and-trade energy bill. She’s a proud Democrat, she says, but a prouder South Dakotan.
Still, there is that one vote Herseth Sandlin cast, the aye for California Democrat Nancy Pelosi as speaker, that her opponent has hammered her on.
“I believe the U.S. House of Representatives is the people’s house. It is not Nancy Pelosi’s house,” Herseth Sandlin’s Republican challenger, state Rep. Kristi Noem, told an applauding crowd at the fairgrounds recently during their first debate of the campaign.
A big Republican wave may be coming in November. And despite distancing herself from her party’s policies, despite touting her independence and moderation, Herseth Sandlin could be washed away by the simple fact that she has a “D” after her name. Throughout the Midwest and South, dozens of her fellow centrists are also imperiled by the backlash of voters threatening to take out their disdain for President Obama and the direction he has taken the country on anyone who is a Democrat.
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