For Immediate Release
June 1, 2004

Schwartz's winning recipe included EMILY's dough

By Dave Davies Philadelphia Daily News June 1, 2004 daviesd@phillynews.com

When Democratic Congressional candidate Joe Torsella shook hands at the Bridge and Pratt transit station in April, a supporter chatted up some women who appeared nearby with signs for his opponent, state Sen. Allyson Schwartz. One was there from Florida, he discovered, another from California.

What lured them across the country to stand on a subway platform? Sisterhood, in a potent political package.

While liberals this spring sounded alarms over national conservative groups pumping money into U.S. Rep. Pat Toomey's Senate run, far less noticed was the massive infusion of outside help Schwartz got from the left.

EMILY's List, the Washington-based feminist political action committee dumped more than a half a million dollars into Schwartz's primary battle with Torsella in the 13th Congressional District in Philadelphia and Montgomery County.

Schwartz beat Torsella by just over 2,000 votes, and Torsella media consultant Neil Oxman believes EMILY's List was decisive.

"There's no doubt in my mind that if EMILY's List had been neutral in that campaign, Joe would have won," Oxman said. "It's the best job I've ever seen them do in any campaign."

Founded in 1985, EMILY's List describes itself as the nation's largest grassroots political network, devoted to "taking back our country from the radical right wing by electing pro-choice Democratic women."

(The acronym stands for Early Money Is Like Yeast - because it makes the dough rise).

Torsella, Schwartz's pro-choice opponent, was hardly from the radical right, but he learned early in the race he was up against a national effort.

"They had paid canvassers going door to door, equipped with palm pilots with complete voter lists," said Torsella's campaign manager, Tony Green.

The EMILY's List Web site confirms the observation, noting canvassers knocked on nearly 50,000 doors in the initial effort.

Some other elements of the EMILY's List assistance included:

  • Direct Mail - The group developed 13 pieces of mail targeted at Democratic voters, delivering over 280,000 in all. Federal Election Commission reports show EMILY's List spent $150,000 on Schwartz mailings.
  • Telephone calls - The group says it made 57,000 phone calls, including voter turnout calls around Election Day. Federal reports show EMILY's List spent $15,600 on a Bethesda, Md.-based phone-banking firm on the Schwartz campaign.
  • Staff and volunteers - The group detailed about a dozen staff members to the campaign for about 12 weeks and an unknown number of volunteers for the final push to the election. Costs can't be determined from the federal election reports.
  • Contributions - Perhaps most important, EMILY's List asked its 85,000 members nationwide to contribute to the Schwartz campaign. The result: at least $418,000 in contributions from EMILY'S List members from Maine to Hawaii. "It's a candidate's dream," one Democrat said. "Money coming in, and the candidate doesn't have to do anything."

The total will likely grow when final campaign reports are filed. Oxman said that money was critical in the late stages of the campaign, when Torsella was struggling to match Schwartz's TV advertising.

"Allyson's [media] buy in the last week was $417,000," Oxman said. "Ours was $120,000."

In the general election, Schwartz faces another pro-choice woman, Republican Melissa Brown. But EMILY'S list national political director Karen White said nothing has changed.

"We remain fully committed to helping her get elected," White said.

Brown said she expects plenty of national Republican help in what should be a competitive race, and she said it's too bad that EMILY's List will work to defeat another pro-choice woman.

"Is it fair, is it unfair? It's the way it is," Brown said. "I try to pay attention to the things I have some control over, and not worry about the things I don't."