Editor’s Note:  This editorial was written before Sen. Kelly Ayotte announced Saturday that she was withdrawing her previous support of Donald Trump because of his videotaped comments about groping women.

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U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte’s problem is not that she “misspoke” in a debate last Monday when she declared that Donald Trump was “absolutely” a suitable role model for children; nor is it that she tried lamely to walk back the remark shortly thereafter.

Ayotte’s difficulty is that she made a fundamental miscalculation from the beginning: that she could embrace Trump at arm’s length while walking a tightrope until Election Day. That particular circus act would challenge even performers with considerably more political gifts than Ayotte, so it’s not surprising that she finds herself in danger of falling in her re-election race against New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan, a Democrat.

For those who missed what could be a signature moment in the 2016 campaign, Ayotte was pressed by the debate moderator about whether she regarded Trump as a role model for New Hampshire children. Eventually she answered: “There are many role models we have, and I believe he can serve as president and so, absolutely.” Apparently, the realization soon dawned on Ayotte that, despite her Second Amendment bona fides, she had shot herself in the foot. After the debate concluded, she issued a statement claiming that, “I misspoke tonight. While I would hope all of our children would aspire to be president, neither Donald Trump nor Hillary Clinton have set a good example, and I wouldn’t hold up either of them as role models for my kids.”

A better evasion might have been simply to “clarify” that she meant Trump could indeed be a role model for kids — a horrible one.

Of course, Ayotte has been trying for a couple of months to appeal to independents while not alienating Trump supporters by saying that she is supporting the party’s nominee and planning to vote for him, but not endorsing him. If this sounds like a tortured formulation, she is far from the only Republican Senate incumbent being similarly tortured during their re-election campaigns. The New York Times notes that Sens. Mark Kirk of Illinois, Richard Burr of North Carolina and John McCain of Arizona have all grappled in varying ways with how to come to terms with Trump’s repellent views and comments. But Ayotte may become the poster child for the political awkwardness of trying to have it both ways.

It may be that Ayotte will survive and continue her political career. New Hampshire voters are an independent-minded lot, after all, which is why the state’s official hue is purple. But she, like House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and many other prominent Republicans, are putting themselves in an odd position by temporizing about Trump instead of repudiating him outright. All signs point in the direction that Trump is motivated by nothing so much as the opportunity to revenge a slight, real or imagined, and his supporters approve that message. Should he win, do these Republicans suppose for a moment that “forgive and forget” will be at the top of the agenda for the first 100 days of a Trump administration?

But aside from that, we wonder how these supposedly serious and sober lawmakers will explain to their own children in coming years why they put crass political calculation above the nation’s well-being in 2016. Maybe they’re just not good role models.