Clinton Plans Major Appeal to Women
By PATRICK HEALY
nytimes.com
( women are more than 50% of America's voters..)
WASHINGTON, March 5 — Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton will begin an ambitious effort on Tuesday to enlist thousands of women to play roles in her presidential campaign, hoping to build on the enthusiasm her candidacy has stirred among female voters at early campaign events.
Mrs. Clinton will announce the drive, which will unfold through March to coincide with Women’s History Month, in a speech at the annual luncheon held by Emily’s List, a political group favoring Democratic female candidates who support abortion rights that has already endorsed her.
The campaign intends to use social networking tools and other Web technology to develop a thousands-strong Women’s Leadership Network, which would promote Mrs. Clinton’s candidacy nationwide and, by this fall, hold campaign events and take part in fund-raising.
“When a woman has an important question, like who’s a good doctor, they’re more likely to talk to another woman,” said Ann Lewis, a senior adviser to Mrs. Clinton. “If we can get a discussion going among women about the campaign, and Hillary as a candidate, it would be hugely important.”
Clinton advisers are also devising campaign roles for prominent female supporters who made breakthroughs in their own fields, including the tennis champion Billie Jean King; Geraldine Ferraro, the vice-presidential nominee in 1984; and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
Ms. Albright, for instance, recently joined former President Bill Clinton to help raise $1 million in a week for Mrs. Clinton, while Ms. Ferraro, a contributor on Fox News, recently told people there that she or another Clinton surrogate should appear whenever someone known to hold strong views against Mrs. Clinton is invited on air to talk politics.
Another component of the plan would provide a Web platform and networking tool to mothers and daughters to share stories that relate to the theme “I Can Be President.” A children’s poster contest on the theme is also being planned.
Clinton advisers said their outreach plan had been in the works since Mrs. Clinton’s first trip to Iowa in January.
The advisers estimate that 60 percent of voters in the 2008 Democratic primary will be women, and their goal is to win at least twice as many female votes as any of Mrs. Clinton’s rivals.
“I’ve joked that we should put up a big sign on the door that says ‘54 percent,’ since women are 54 percent of the electorate,” Ms. Lewis said.
Advisers to Mrs. Clinton say she does particularly well with young women, single women and mothers. At the same time, in interviews, some women in the Democratic Party have expressed concerns about Mrs. Clinton, like her ability to win a general election, her early support for the Iraq war and her proposed legislation to ban flag burning.
Ms. Ferraro said she believed that many women, including Clinton skeptics, would ultimately be impressed with Mrs. Clinton’s gutsiness in enduring the scrutiny and attacks that could come along with being a “first.”
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