Debating the impact of Herseth Sandlin's 'no' vote on the House health-care bill

GOP U.S. House candidate Blake Curd, of Sioux Falls, issued a news release Sunday about U.S. Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, D-S.D. Curd took issue with the timing of Herseth Sandlin's announcement that she planned to vote "no"on the House health-care bill.

"... In the same manner that Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin failed to take an early stand and advocate from her position within her caucus to defeat cap and trade legislation, she has played politics with her party leadership on health care. Instead of taking a strong stance early, informing South Dakotans of her position, and convincing her colleagues of the pitfalls of this health care bill, she waited until the outcome was all but assured. ..."

Herseth Sandlin explained her vote in a news release, which you can read by clicking here. The release said, in part, that the bill could "unintentionally threaten existing access to health care in our state, and it does not include sufficient cost-containment and deficit reduction measures."

Meanwhile, over at Dakota War College and Mount Blogmore, there's talk of fallout within Herseth Sandlin's own party because of her "no" vote.

The Associated Press' Chet Brokaw also wrote an update on the House race, which was published today in The Daily Republic. He mentioned health care briefly.

Personally, I think average voters are so confused by the health-care reform effort right now (me included) that they don't know how to feel about Herseth Sandlin's position on it. Also, there's a lot that could change between now and the general election. If some kind of health-care reform bill passes during the next year with Herseth Sandlin's support, the vote she cast last weekend will be forgotten.

Posted by: Seth Tupper on 11/09/2009 at 2:00 PM | Comments (12) | Permalink

Tags: congress, election 2010, health care, national, news, politics, stephanie herseth sandlin