Week of August 31, 2005
Dianne Feinstein to question Roberts on choice: "The American people are entitled to know what this man's views are."
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) delivered a major speech on the Supreme Court nomination of Judge John Roberts to the Los Angeles County Bar Association Aug. 24.
The only woman on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Feinstein said she intends to query Roberts on "abortion and congressional authority to set social policy" at his confirmation hearings, set to begin Sept. 6.
"The American people are entitled to know what this man's views are," Feinstein said. If Roberts insists on evading their questions, Democrats will be more likely to "assume the worst" and oppose him.
Feinstein also clarified the Senate's role in the process: "the President proposes and the Senate disposes," she said. "From the beginning the Senate has exercised its prerogative with vigor and has not merely served as a rubberstamp."
Elected in a special election in 1992, Feinstein came to the Senate in the wake of the Senate Judiciary Committee's confirmation hearings for now-Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas. Feinstein said she would "never forget watching the hearings" and recalled the sight of 18 male senators grilling Anita Hill about her sexual harassment charges against Clarence Thomas. She views her role on the committee as no less substantive for its obvious symbolism. "As the only woman on the committee, I have an additional role to play in representing the views and concerns of 145 million American women during this hearing process," she said.
"I'm one who remembers when abortion was illegal," Feinstein said at an earlier speech in San Jose. "I saw a terrible, terrible situation back in the 1950s...I don't want to go back there. It would be very difficult for me to vote yes on a nominee who I thought would overturn Roe v. Wade."
Seven of Feinstein's pro-choice Democratic women colleagues in the Senate set up a website at http://democrats.senate.gov/askroberts/ to solicit questions for Roberts from ordinary citizens.
"We believe it shouldn't only be senators that get to ask the questions this time around," the women say on their home page. "We want the American people to have a voice."
A new question appears on the site every day to provoke thought on a variety of topics that will be reviewed in the hearings, including the Geneva Conventions, abortion rights, Title IX, eminent domain, and assisted suicide. The site has generated over 20,000 responses since it went up at the end of July.
Kansas attorney general tries to overturn Roe single-handedly
Kansas state Attorney General Phill Kline is trying to outlaw abortion under all circumstances in Kansas. On Aug. 18, Kline filed a lawsuit against Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius for using Medicaid funds to pay for abortions for low-income women in cases of rape, incest, and when the woman's life is at risk.
The governor's office noted that Kansas is required by federal law to provide poor women with Medicaid funds under any of these three exceptional circumstances. But even rape, incest, or death don't meet Kline's more stringent views of abortion. His lawsuit would essentially abolish the reproductive freedoms guaranteed to every American in Kansas. Kline asks the court to determine whether life begins at fertilization, when (according to Kline's brief) "a new, unique and genetically distinct human being is formed, distinct from its host while dependent upon her." "Host" is Kline's generic and utterly impersonal euphemism for women.
Kline grabbed headlines in April when he sought to open the private medical records of women and girls who had received late-term abortions. Among other things, Kline was searching for instances when doctors had provided abortions to protect a woman's mental health -- hoping to challenge the health exception in Roe v. Wade. Kline hopes to gather evidence from the records that would allow him to press criminal charges against legitimate and law-abiding doctors. Abortion clinics in Kansas have appealed to the courts to rebuff Kline's demands.
Sebelius's office criticized Kline for trying to skirt federal law and potentially jeopardizing the federal funds Kansas receives annually from Medicaid ($1.2 billion last year), funds which provide all manner of health care services to tens of thousands of low-income, working Kansans.
Pennsylvania's sixth congressional district: a bellwether for 2006?
More than one year before election day 2006, the race for Pennsylvania's sixth congressional district is already engaged -- a situation that has Cook Political Report congressional analyst Amy Walter calling the district "a bellwether" for the 2006 election.
Incumbent GOP Rep. Jim Gerlach, who narrowly edged out Democratic attorney Lois Murphy by 7,000 votes in 2004, is already hitting the campaign trail, signaling very serious concern about his ability to withstand another race against Murphy, who is running again.
"Republicans need to keep this seat; Democrats need to take it," reported the Christian Science Monitor, which characterizes the sixth district "deep purple," for its tendency to split the ticket. John Kerry and Al Gore got more votes than George W. Bush in the last two presidential elections, with Gerlach winning by a nose against Murphy in a congressional district that was drawn with him in mind.
Voters quoted in the article reflect some of the same dissatisfaction with the GOP agenda expressed in recent national polls, including the EMILY's List Women's Monitor.
"Voters here just aren't comfortable with the direction of the Republican party," Murphy told the Christian Science Monitor. Like Gerlach, Murphy is campaigning hard, getting a much earlier start on the 2006 campaign to boost her chances against the incumbent. The GOP is clearly worried about the rematch: First Lady Laura Bush and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove have already headlined fundraisers for the vulnerable Gerlach.
Murphy, who received strong support from EMILY's List members in 2004, can count on similar backing this time around.
McCaskill to challenge Talent in Missouri Senate race
Missouri Auditor Claire McCaskill is stepping up to the plate to challenge right-wing GOP Sen. Jim Talent in 2006.
Talent defeated EMILY's List candidate Jean Carnahan in the 2002 election that determined who would serve the remainder of the seat won by Carnahan's late husband, Mel Carnahan, in 2000.
The enormously popular McCaskill ran a strong race for governor in 2004, defeating Democratic incumbent Gov. Bob Holden in the primary and narrowly losing to Republican Matt Blunt in the general. Blunt, the son of Cong. Roy Blunt, is earning extremely low approval ratings from voters in this swing state.
McCaskill made an official announcement Tuesday, Aug. 30.
EMILY's List wraps up its first-ever combined candidate-manager campaign training
On Thursday, August 25, 18 potential pro-choice Democratic women candidates seeking federal and statewide office, along with their campaign managers, gathered in Washington, D.C., for three days of intense schooling on how to run a winning campaign. Some came to Washington hoping to learn from top Democratic fundraisers how to ask for money. Others came to hone their messaging and media skills with some of the nation's most experienced communications strategists. Some even came simply to decide whether or not they want to run for office at all. Regardless of their reason, the women walked away prepared and energized to make a difference in politics.
On Saturday, the women candidates and their managers were joined by 16 additional political operatives recruited by EMILY's List to spend a week learning the ins and outs of campaign management. EMILY's List has offered training for campaign managers, fundraisers, press secretaries, and researchers since 1993, but this joint campaign management-candidate training is the first of its kind.
Campaign management training is EMILY's List's most intense staff training program. The week-long seminar is tailored for experienced campaign workers who want to move to the next level. Participants work around the clock, absorbing information during the day and running a simulated campaign at night. Sleep is a precious commodity.
Some participants came with a solid grasp of the policy side of politics -- one served as a chief of staff for New York Rep. Louise Slaughter before joining Pennsylvania attorney Lois Murphy's House campaign -- but wanting to prepare for the more rough-and-tumble atmosphere of a targeted, competitive political race. Others have worked on campaigns before and come hoping to refine their skills -- for example, one participant managed a close campaign last cycle and wanted to learn how to harness and professionalize all the progressive energy in his district to turn volunteers into skilled activists.
All the campaign managers EMILY's List trained this week are either currently running a federal or statewide campaign for a pro-choice Democratic woman or have agreed to relocate to do so.
Trainers and speakers included former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Kerry Edwards 2004 campaign manager (and former EMILY's List executive director) Mary Beth Cahill, Gore Lieberman 2000 campaign manager Donna Brazile, Clinton media consultant Mandy Grunwald, U.S. Reps. Allyson Schwartz (D-Penn.) and Susan Davis (D-Calif.), and Ellen Malcolm, president of EMILY's List.
For the women participating in the candidate training, the seminar had some immediate and tangible effects. "Have you heard of that song, 'The Wind Beneath My Wings'?" asked one woman. "Well, with EMILY's List behind me, I feel like I have a cyclone under my wings. And you can expect to hear my announcement next week."
Titus prepares hard-charging bid to be Nevada's first woman governor
The state will be a top priority for POP in 2006
Nevada Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus is ramping up her campaign for governor. According to a Strategic Surveys poll conducted in July and released August 18, Titus is the strongest Democrat to nominate against U.S. Rep. Jim Gibbons, the likely Republican nominee.
The Democratic field thus far includes Titus, Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson, and Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins. Additional candidates are likely to join the battle for this open seat (Republican Gov. Kenny Guinn is retiring due to term limits).
Raised in rural Georgia, Titus's connection with non-urban voters complements her strong support among the urbanites in her state Senate district.
The outcome of the governor's race will have profound and lasting consequences on the state's political landscape. Nevada is a battleground state that went for Bush in 2004. Having a strong Democratic governor will boost the Democratic presidential nominee in 2008.
In addition to Titus, EMILY's List is tracking the campaigns of Kate Marshall for state treasurer and Katherine Cortez Masto for attorney general, state Assemblywoman Susan Gerhardt, and other state candidates through our Political Opportunity Program (POP).
Cristina Uribe, POP regional director for western states, noted that Nevada, like Colorado and Washington, has a good history of electing women. "In Washington state, women hold both U.S. Senate seats, the governorship, and leadership posts in the state House and Senate," said Uribe. "And Democratic women in Colorado achieved extraordinary victories in 2004 with support from POP: 13 of 13 POP candidates won, Democrats regained control of both state legislative chambers, and women were named leaders of the House and Senate for the first time in state history."
Nevada is already showing signs of promise: Perkins's expected decision to leave the state Assembly to run for governor puts House Majority Leader Barbara Buckley in line to become the state's first woman speaker in 2007. According to Uribe, Buckley is one of POP's fastest-rising stars.