It appears Rep. Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin, South Dakota Democrat, wants to have it both ways:
Max Sandlin threw some punches this month on behalf of his wife, Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin. Last week, we examined whether Max Sandlin’s job as a lobbyist would be something that Republicans try to exploit, like they did in the 2004 Daschle/Thune contest. Herseth Sandlin emphatically said that her husband should not be attacked in the campaign.
I didn’t know it at the time, but Max Sandlin already had jumped into the battle by sending out a fundraising letter on behalf of his wife. The letter, dated June 1, was sent before Kristi Noem had secured the Republican nomination by beating out two others in the June 8 primary. In the letter, Sandlin, a former congressman from Texas, said he knows what it’s like “to be targeted by the far right.” His wife, he added, puts “policy ahead of partisan politics” and the interests of South Dakota first.
The letter describes Blake Curd as the “darling of the Tea Party circuit,” Chris Nelson as a “birther” — one of those curious persons who thinks Barack Obama was born on Neptune, thus disqualifying him to serve as president and maybe making him an illegal immigrant to boot — and Kristi Noem as “South Dakota’s Sarah Palin.”
I concur with the perspective that spouses with no campaign role (other than, say, smiling and waving at events) ought to be off-limits, but once you bring a husband or wife into the campaign to play the role of an attack dog, you really can’t play the victim card.
Well, I suppose you can, but the electorate ought to dismiss your whining.