Back during the “homeless crisis” of the ’80s, liberal advocates once famously sought out a homeless “typical family” to testify at a congressional hearing on the issue. Now, it appears, Team Obama has been on the hunt for its own emblematic victim:

Barack Obama’s campaign earlier this month sought to find a rape victim to appear in a campaign commercial, according to an email obtained by Politico.
Kiersten Steward, director of public policy at the Family Violence Prevention Fund, served as a conduit between the campaign and victims and women’s advocates.
“Obviously, this is a big ask and I haven’t seen a script but presumably it will be a brief this is what happened to me, we need someone who will fight for women like me, these are the guys to do it,” Steward wrote in a September 15th email. “Again, that’s just my assumption given how these things usually go.”
Steward, a former top aide to Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), said the Obama campaign would have a crew in Washington and was hoping to film that week.

Hmmmm. Exploiting rape in a presidential campaign. It’s so … 1988, don’t you think?