The Fives: The 'Stephanie Herseth Sandlin is expecting' edition

By Todd Williams, Journal staff | Thursday, July 24, 2008

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Not expected, but not unexpected, the news that Stephanie Herseth Sandlin is, well, expecting, sent a ripple across the South Dakota political scene Wednesday that left pundit's guessing and virtually all offering up congratulations.

We South Dakotans do love the babies, you know.

Here's just a few early takes on the big news.

Good news travels fast

No need to wait 40 weeks to see the impact Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin's baby has had in the blogosphere.

The Herseth-Sandlin pregnancy managed to make an immediate impact, finding a home first on Anne Shroeder Mullin's "Shenanigans" and then moving closer to home in South Dakota.

The Journal's Kevin Woster was among the first to offer a bit of prognostication and speculation on Mount Blogmore to the good news and the congresswoman's political future, and former Journal staffer Denise Ross followed with an expanded prediction on her blog.

Meanwhile, Todd Epp on S.D. Watch shared the actual e-mail announcement sent out by newly expectant couple, as did Pat Powers at the South Dakota War College.

The latter, however, also brought in the every volatile political twist in South Dakota -- will having a child move Herseth-Sandlin's political stance on the abortion issue.

Powers even brings up another woman candidate who has spent plenty of time in the Rapid City limelight, Eli Schwiesow, and her movement on the issue after the birth of her first child.

Needles to say, the announcement is certain to remain on the political scope right up to Election Day and likely beyond.

And the baby's name is ...

When it comes time to name their newborn sometime this December, the odds are that Max Sandlin and Stephane Herseth Sandlin will name it Jacob if he's a boy or Emily if it's a girl.

No special insight or inside sources here. I'm just going by the Social Security Administration's Web site that lists the to 10 baby names of the past year for both boys and girls.

In fact, you can trace the popularity of almost any name back to the World War II era with a search function on the site. One can spend quite a bit of time looking up the most popular names and finding out what year your own name was the most popular and what year it was less popular.

For being a relatively staid subject, the government hits a homerun with this site.

How much am I bid for the photo of Baby Sandlin?

The blogger on the Frame Crawler blog on babble.com has it right: Why didn't I have a celebrity baby?

That being said, there's a big difference between the type of celebrity that pulls down a cool million or two for the first baby photos and South Dakota type celebrities.

First of all, the latter is nearly an oxymoron. For those who enjoy a popularity uncommon among their fellow South Dakota residents, the likelihood that they will be treated with the star struck awe given many of the Hollywood A-listers is near nil.  And they likely won't be pulling down any additional income with photos of their newborn the way Brad and Angelina, J.Lo or Nicole Richie did.

But then again, they also don't face the fear of being chased down by the paparazzi.

As for Stephanie and Max, let's just say that the Journal and the Argus Leader aren't likely to engage in a bidding war over the first images of little one, no matter how cute he or she is.

The politics of motherhood and office

You would think by this time in history (it is the 21st century, after all), the topic of a pregnant woman in public office or campaigning for public office would no longer be an issue.

And to a large extent, it isn't. With more than 70 percent of mothers in the work force, society in general has become much more comfortable with the idea that having a baby need not give up her career to have children.

That certainly hasn't been the case with Herseth Sandlin, although it has raised some speculation of WHERE she might work in the future.

But on a much broader context, women still face persistent pressure men never face -- the argument of children over career.

And let's face it: Working women, especially women who work in politics, will still face a potshot or two by the ever vocal but decreasing in ranks of the traditional "male chauvinists."  If you don't believe it still exists, check out this letter to the editor published about New York state Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand and her re-election bid while expecting child.

Professional baby kissers and their babies

So the question is, how much preference do politician's own babies get over the masses? One would hope, quite a bit.

Perhaps more interesting though is the roots of the practice of kissing babies by those seeking political office.

Jim Boren gives us a quick history lesson and a few do's and don'ts that politicians should follow when kissing the babies. And I'm guessing that those are the babies that aren't their own.