A handful of Independent candidates have filed for Legislative races. The one I find most interesting so far (and Pastor Hickey will, too!) is Kathy Miles, who wants to take back the District 15 Senate seat that Angie Buhl took from her in 2010.

Miles served three terms in the State House and one term in the Senate as a Democrat before voters turned her out in 2010. Part of Buhl's success came from the fact that Miles backed Referred Law 6 in 2006 and other anti-abortion legislation. District 15 rejected the 2006 abortion ban 61% to 39%. Miles also served on the 2005 Legislative task force on abortion, which generated much of the propaganda on which our Legislature has based subsequent assaults on women's reproductive rights. Buhl has vocally advocated for women's equality and bodily autonomy. But interestingly, Miles's SD Right to Life pal Jenna Haggar won her seat in the District 15 House as an Independent in the 2010 general election.

Perhaps we can compare the Miles challenge to Rep. Lora Hubbel's assault on sanity in District 9. Rep. Hubbel's remarkably close finish behind Senator Deb Peters in the District 9 GOP Senate primary may have had much to do with abortion-obsessed voters ignoring the broader interests of their district and the sheer nuttiness of much of what the challenger says, much to the detriment of their own party.

I don't think Kathy Miles suffers from anything like Hubbel's craziness. And, like Mark Vargo, I like to think that giving the voters a choice is a good thing. I just hope that Miles has evolved to recognize the value in giving women a choice, too.