Who Had The Worst Election Day Tuesday? It Is You, Annette Bosworth of South Dakota!

We've all been pretty busy trying to sort out the election drama in Mississippi, where we still don't know whether human stain Chris McDaniel or angry great-grandpa Thad Cochran will be the Republican standard-bearer, but we really shouldn't sleep on the Republicans in South Dakota, because stuff is getting plenty weird there. Witness poor poor Annette Bosworth, who started Wednesday by learning she'd lost her primary race from Megyn Kelly on national teevee and ended Wednesday arrested for perjury and election fraud. Heckuva day, Annette!

Bosworth, who ran in the Republican primary for Senate in South Dakota went on Fox News to find a sympathetic ear for her wah wah wahhing about how mean liberals SO MEAN to conservative ladies, but things got awkward right from the start when Kelly kicked off the segment with the breaking news that Mike Rounds, former South Dakota governor, had prevailed in the GOP primary and would go on to the general.

"That's news to me. I didn't know that. I found out on national television," she said.

"I'm sorry to break the news to you," Kelly said.

Ouch. That's gonna leave a mark, and you can already see the perma-sulk setting in on Bosworth's face as she takes in the news. But at least humiliation can fade away. Arrest records are kinda forever, and now Annette Bosworth has her very own. 

South Dakota authorities on Wednesday arrested former U.S. Senate candidate Annette Bosworth, alleging she fraudulently attested to gathering voter signatures when she was really on a Christian mission trip to the Philippines.

South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley charged Dr. Bosworth with six counts of perjury and six counts of filing false documents related to election campaign laws. [...] State Division of Criminal Investigation agent Bryan Gortmaker alleged, in an arrest affidavit, that Dr. Bosworth attested to personally gathering signatures in January when she was in fact serving on a publicized medical mission trip in the Philippines. She also attested to gathering signatures on some Hutterite colonies, but residents interviewed said the documents weren't signed in front of Dr. Bosworth[.]

Bosworth's defense/explanation is, of course, that this is all part of a nefarious plot by fellow Republican Mike Rounds and also too she didn't even need those stupid signatures, jerks, and they weren't fake because she didn't mean any harm, nuh-uh.

Dr. Bosworth called the charges "a political intimidation scheme" against her by Mr. Jackley, who was initially appointed to his position by former Gov. Mike Rounds. [...]

"We still believe this is a political persecution," Dr. Bosworth said in a prepared statement. [...]

Dr. Bosworth said she had hundreds more signatures than were needed to get on the primary ballot, and the validity of those signatures isn't in question.

"Simply put, there was no criminal intent to deceive, nor was there any reason to," she said.

Annette Bosworth may have lost her primary, but she's already a winner at mastering the non-denial denial. We see a big future in Republican politics for this little lady.

[ HuffPo / WSJ ]