Is Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kans.) getting cold feet about supporting the nomination of Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D-Kans.) to lead the Department of Health and Human Services? According to CQ, Brownback has said it’s “getting harder and harder” to support Sebelius. The impetus was her veto of House Sub for SB 218 in Kansas, a bill that would have ended the “mental health” exception for partial birth abortion, and which Sebelius opponents had seen coming ever since the bill moved on April 5.

Pro-life groups have been going after Sebelius for weeks, arguing that her past financial donations from George Tiller — a partial-birth abortion provider who has been acquitted of criminal charges — make her, in the words of Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, “one of the worst Cabinet choices in U.S. history.” But Sebelius’s nomination hasn’t been seen as troubled because of the support of Brownback. And Brownback has taken no small amount of heat for this as he runs for governor back home.