Representative of truth?

My wife and I were watching some old episodes of The West Wing tonight. In one episode, three of the main characters meet with several Congressional representatives who can put the White House over the top on a crucial vote. One of the representatives, the show would have us believe, was the spouse of the actual representative, who had died while in office. Supposedly an old tradition in American politics.

My wife asked me whether this was based in fact. Did some digging on Google. It is.

I found a bio of Mae Nolan, who was evidently the first person to take on her spouse's role after his death while in office.

According to another source I found, though, she didn't take to it. "Politics," she is reputed to have said, "is entirely too masculine to have any attraction for feminine responsibilities."

Aaron Sorkin's clever twist: the surviving spouse was a man.