“In this situation, the person who filed the police report admitted that they overreacted, that they were responsible, that he was responsible, and that the couple ended their relationship on an amicable note and remain friends to this day,” said Brad Dayspring, communications director for the NRSC. “The insinuation that a respected professional woman who has performed over 7,000 surgeries on children is somehow less of a professional or a candidate because of this kind of petty tabloid story is ridiculous.”

Dayspring also called the stalking story “a shining example of why talented, intelligent women often are reluctant to run for public office.”

But as salacious as the stalking angle to the story is, no national women’s groups have come to Wehby’s defense to call the story sexist or even unfair, including the National Organization for Women, which once criticized Newsweek for running an extreme close-up photo of Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) on its cover. The Women’s Campaign Fund and Name It. Change It., a group founded to highlight examples of sexism in campaigns and campaign coverage, did not respond to a request for comment.