2016 has a possible pretty cool woman to be Democratic president...Stephanie Herseth

[zulchzulu]

Granted, she was part of the some C-SPAN Democratic Blue Dog group, but I was pretty impressed with what Stephanie Herseth was saying...



Although not my complete cup of tea, she has a Hillary Clinton-like political angle:

Stephanie Herseth Sandlin is part of a South Dakota political dynasty. Her grandfather was a popular governor, her grandmother secretary of state, her father a longtime legislator. Stephanie grew up on the family farm in north-central South Dakota before leaving for Georgetown, where she received both her undergraduate and law degrees. She initially ran for the seat in 2002, and against a popular figure, Bill Janklow, in a strong Republican year, she surprised many by giving Janklow a tough race all the way to November. She received around 45% of the vote.

After Janklow was forced to resign his seat, Herseth immediately became the frontrunner. Leery of back-to-back Democratic success stories following Ben Chandler's February 2004 victory, the Republicans dumped many millions of dollars in GOTV, attack ads, Republican superstar guest appearances, and mind games.

Herseth is a relatively controversial figure in the party and the state, as she is pro-choice but also has a strong NRA rating and supports the Iraq war and the Federal Marriage Amendment. But the blogosphere rallied around her, even as the numbers tightened, and were crucial in her eking out a victory of a few thousand votes in a June 1, 2004 special election.

For now, Herseth is the first woman since 1938 to represent South Dakota in Congress, and also makes South Dakota's Congressional delegation all-Democrat for the first time since 1937. She was re-elected in November, 2004, and won easily in 2006.

In 2007, Herseth married former U.S. Representative Max Sandlin. Sandlin is a former Congressman from Texas.

http://www.dkosopedia.com/wiki/Stephanie_Herseth

Issues:

http://www.ontheissues.org/House/Stephanie_Herseth.htm

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/22/Stephanie_Herseth_Sandlin,_official_photo_portrait,_2007.jpg/200px-Stephanie_Herseth_Sandlin,_official_photo_portrait,_2007.jpg

[hulklogan]

1. Never. If she supports the federal marriage amendment, she will never have my support.

We might as well whisper about Virginia Foxx (R-NC) as the next Democratic President.

[DrToast]

2. Blue dogs will be their own party by 2016

She can run against Hillary.

[TwilightZone]

3. She's relatively conservative, similar in that regard to Ben Nelson.

However, that's the only way she would have been elected in SD in their current political climate.

I like her personally, but her record is all over the place.

Pro-choice.

Very shaky on gay rights (she supported the Constitutional Amendment banning gay marriage).

Supported extending the Patriot Act.

Supported the border fence.

She's a Blue Dog Dem and a member of the DLC.

Supported privatizing SS.

Pro-health care improvements, including more fed funds for Medicare, etc.

[960]

4. No. Hopefully we will move left not right.

[fujiyama]

5. She's young

Maybe she can be a senator down the road.

President? Well what was that joke that Jennifer Granholm made about Palin ruining it for all hot female politicians? Or maybe that was just governors. Herseth is cute though.

Not that any of that matters. She's way to the right of me and many others in the party. I hope her positions evolve.

[avaistheone1]

6. Blue dogs are sucking the life out of the Democratic party.

I have worked successfully to defeat blue dogs over the last year and will continue to do so.

Blue dogs are just a bunch of republicans masquerading as democrats. They are a group of shills for corporations. They will never get my vote.

[JVS]

7. Is she a friend of labor?

[avaistheone1]

12. I don't think the chances are very good if she is a blue dog.

[Uzybone]

8. Supports the Iraq war and the Federal Marriage Amendment? No thanks

Not as a national leader.

[NancyG]

9. Privatize social security? Uh-uh. No fucking way. nt

[tkmorris]

10. What exactly would you like about her?

To me she sounds like the quintessential DINO, possibly the best we could expect out of South Dakota but FAR too rightward to be on the ticket nationally. Am I missing something?

[DrToast]

13. She's kind of cute?

Okay, probably not a good reason to vote for her.

[wisteria]

11. I would prefer to have the first woman president be someone who does not

style herself after someone else, but is her own woman running on her own merit.