PBS' "TO THE CONTRARY"
HOST:
BONNIE ERBE
GUESTS:
ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON (D-DC)
KELLYANNE CONWAY
PATRICIA SOSA
LESLIE SANCHEZ
SUNDAY, AUGUST 1, 2004
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MS. ERBE: Now that the Democrats have wrapped up their Bean Town Bonanza and are taking their message to the heartland, will single women respond?
DELEGATE NORTON: Teresa helped solidify our lead with single women. Kerry's strength will help bring married women home, too.
MS. CONWAY: With so much talk of war, wives, and family values, the Democrats offer little to unmarried women that would engage them to vote.
MS. SOSA: Reporting for duty, reporting for duty to work on issues that women care education, healthcare, Iraq, the Democratic Party made a strong case for women to follow.
MS. SANCHEZ: Kerry and the Democrats spent four days showing the cake but not the calories. Now it's time for the truth.
(Musical break.)
MS. ERBE: Hello, I'm Bonnie Erbe. Welcome to To The Contrary, a discussion of news and social trends from a variety of women's perspectives. This week prominent female Democrats hit the campaign trail for the Kerry-Edwards presidential ticket. Then, the Republican response. To The Contrary takes a closer look at how the Republican Party is working to attract women voters. But, first, the Democrats move forward.
A united Democratic Party led by John Kerry and John Edwards is delivering its message nationwide following the conclusion of the Democratic Convention in Boston. Also, fanning out to the battleground states are the 42 Democratic women of the U.S. House of Representatives. Their mission, to convince women particularly, and single women, to come out and vote for John Kerry.
REP. MILLENDER McDONALD: It's women, 22 million, who did not vote in the last election. We're coming after them. We have 18 to 30 year olds who are joining us on the campaign trail. What we're trying to convey here is that women have power now like never before in this historic election to put the president of the United States in, and so with that we will be heading for those battleground states to make sure we make a difference.
MS. ERBE: And what will they tell women about the Kerry-Edwards ticket?
REP. JACKSON LEE: Their record shows they're sensitive to childcare and Social Security, small businesses. Now we have to convince those women who have more than enough to do keeping their daily lives in order, being widows, being divorcees, or being single parents, that a vote for this ticket, but a vote for themselves, is really going to make a better life for them and their children.
SEN. LANDRIEU: Well, it's the right ticket for all of Americans, but particularly for women who care about security. I mean, not just security aboard, but security at home, and economic security. He was a great prosecutor from Massachusetts. He prosecuted domestic violence cases. He prosecuted child abuse cases. I mean, he understands where the rubber hits the road in terms of having law enforcement protect everyone, and be there for everyone, including women and children.
MS. ERBE: All week, women took to the podium with special salutes to the women Senators and U.S. House Members. Women's rights groups sponsored back-to-back rallies, fundraisers, and strategy sessions with the goal of defeating President Bush in November. Their message: W may stand for war or wealth, but not for women.
FORMER GOV. RICHARDS: This Bush administration, this Ashcroft administration has slammed the door on women's forward movement in this country. And I think the women know it, I think they understand it.
SEN. FEINSTEIN: I think the values of John Kerry are much closer to women. I think that will make a huge difference, whether it's assault weapons or nuclear weapons, whether it's fiscal stability or fiscal irresponsibility, whether it's working to keep jobs in the country or letting them be outsourced, these are issues that women care about very deeply.
GOV. GRANHOLM: I think it's pocketbook issues. There are 43 million Americans without healthcare. Often these are single women. The most growth rate in jobs has been in waitresses, janitorial, temp services, and we've lost all these high-paying jobs. They know very well that sometimes they've had to work two jobs to make ends meet for the single job that they lost.
MS. ERBE: The five female Democratic Governors are united in their push for a president that they see as friendly to their issues.
GOV. NAPOLITANO: Where I sit as a governor, we're dealing every day with balancing a budget, paying for education, paying for childcare, we're trying to find ways to invest in our future. I think we'll find a better team and a better partner in Washington with Kerry and Edwards in the White House.
GOV. BLANCO: So many women are hampered by the lack of health insurance, and education opportunities, and I think those two issues should ring very strongly with single women. Job opportunities are critical, and we've seen such a strong downturn in the last few years, and there's no special emphasis in helping women in any direction coming from the federal government.
GOV. MINNER: We've seen some changes in Washington that's frightening, reduced funding for education, and a lot of other things. Kerry-Edwards will put that money back and make sure that not only our children get a good education, but that they protect our environment, they make sure there are good jobs there waiting for those children when they get out of school.
MS. ERBE: And one important weapon in the Democrats' arsenal to target the women's vote is Senator John Kerry's wife Teresa Heinz Kerry. But recent polls show she is not as well known as First Lady Laura Bush, nor is she as well liked by the American public. A Washington Post-ABC News poll found Heinz Kerry's favorable ratings, 27 percent; and unfavorable ratings at 26 percent; with 47 percent having no opinion. First Lady Laura Bush has a 66 percent favorable rating. Heinz Kerry has been both praised and criticized for speaking her mind.
MS. HEINZ KERRY (From video): And my only hope is that one day soon women who have all earned the right to their opinions instead of being called opinionated will be called smart and well-informed, just like men.
REP. WATSON: She is unique. She is authentic. She is her own person. She has her own opinions. I found her to be very substantive.
REP. SOLIS: She came out to my district and spoke to our children in East Los Angeles and stole their hearts, and she stole mine a long time ago just because of her work for so many years on environment, and on healthcare.
REP. DeGETTE: Both Teresa and Elizabeth Edwards are enormous positives because women will see them as real women, not just as adjuncts to their husbands.
REP. HERSETH: Teresa Heinz Kerry as well as Elizabeth Edwards are going to do a great job of appealing to women voters of all ages. I think that she's a tremendous asset given her life experience, her world perspectives.
MS. ERBE: I noticed, Congressman Norton, at this convention it seemed like the Democrats, I must say, were more on message than I've seen them in a long time or possibly ever seen them, including when I would ask the question of several members of Congress, Teresa Heinz Kerry is she a draw for women voters, they would say Elizabeth and Teresa. Responding not to the question that I asked, but to something that obviously people had talked about and decided was a theme. So, are the Democrats more on message this time, and how is that going to work with women voters?
DELEGATE NORTON: Well, I'm off message when you have to put Elizabeth with Teresa in order to have Teresa's appeal, because I think she has tremendous appeal, albeit perhaps to some women more than others. For that matter, Laura Bush, you know, will have more appeal to homemakers than to single women. I mean, that's the way the world is. The message, though, from this ticket is, look, we've got both of these are women of substance. Edwards' wife was a lawyer. People admire the fact that she went back home, had two children after she lost a son. Teresa Heinz has essentially run a mammoth foundation. She will appeal to younger women, to single women looking for a very different kind of role model. And it is certainly true that Elizabeth Edwards is more likely to have a more Laura Bush appeal. I don't see that we're anything but ahead of the game to have them both.
MS. CONWAY: It's nearly impossible to find one thing that Teresa Heinz Kerry has in common with the average American. She's a woman who was born in Mozambique, not Missoula, Montana; she hangs out at the Waldorf, not Wal-Mart. I mean, this is not a woman whose days look like the average woman's. I don't think anybody can deny that. And it is quite remarkable that the Democratic Party has
MS. ERBE: But, in fairness, Kellyanne, I mean, you can say exactly the same about Laura Bush, and for that matter Barbara Bush.
MS. CONWAY: They weren't raised that way.
MS. ERBE: Growing up wealthy.
MS. CONWAY: Laura Welsh was not raised wealthy.
MS. ERBE: Not Bush level wealthy, but certainly not a Wal-Mart woman either.
MS. CONWAY: In any event, I think there's a reason that the polls show that the First Lady has a 66 percent approval rating. That would include men and women, that includes homemakers and women who work out of the home, that includes single, unmarried, divorced, widowed women. That includes just about everyone who likes this person and look at her as an asset because she has a very public role, but she has private viewpoints. Teresa Heinz Kerry mentioned her husband twice, ladies, twice, and for her to use her time in any way other than to speak about the man that we all would like to know more about to be our elected official I thought was a real shame, because she mentioned him twice, but she's talking about how she hopes women will be liberated to express their opinions. This show is 13 years old for a reason, women have been liberated to express their opinions for quite a while.
MS. SOSA: Kellyanne, I think the Democratic base, she was appealing really to the base, obviously to the swing voters, too, but to the base, she appealed tremendously. And when we talk about comparing Teresa Heinz Kerry with Laura Bush in terms of approval, I mean, Laura Bush is the First Lady, of course more people are going to know about Laura and are going to have an opinion about Laura Bush.
MS. CONWAY: But here's the thing, they like her.
MS. ERBE: Here's the question I have asked over and over again, certainly when Hillary Clinton was First Lady, do Americans want an independent first lady, or do they want a traditional, I would say, Ozzie and Harriet, 1950s style full-time homemaker first lady?
MS. SOSA: Bonnie, let me tell you this. I think it's so funny when they compare Teresa, and they say, oh, Teresa, she has the negatives that Eleanor Roosevelt and Hillary Clinton had. Well, they were first ladies of consequence, and women of consequence. I want to be on that list. Barbara Bush, very nice, Laura, very nice, but are they women of consequence the way Eleanor Roosevelt and Hillary Clinton are? I don't think so.
MS. SANCHEZ: The biggest issue, I think we know women don't want a co-presidency. I think we saw that with Hillary Clinton. We were reminded by the failed Hillary care, her universal health plan, trying to get the government which has the compassion of the IRS to run people's healthcare system. I think we saw repeats of that, by the way, in the tones of Kerry talking about healthcare, and the Democratic proposal for helping families that want low cost, low hassle healthcare. But, in talking about that, when you look at somebody like Laura Bush who has such a strong record on education, who appeals to an average mom, I think very much what Kellyanne was saying, that is something that people identify with. And that's what the issue is, it's not a
MS. ERBE: So, will this convention help? The Republican's goal is to get evangelical voters to the polls, Karl Rove has said as much. The Democrats goal is to get women, particularly single women. Will this convention help or hurt in that regard?
MS. SANCHEZ: I think it's a great bump for them to go out and talk about women, and appeal to women, but in reality when they take that basket of goods to middle class, swing women voters, there is nothing there to sell on the Democrat
DELEGATE NORTON: A single woman who looks at Teresa Heinz and sees that this unorthodox first lady is drawn to know more about her, and to feel connected to her in a way she won't feel connected to some mom first lady who isn't like her at all.
MS. CONWAY: Unless she writes them a check, Eleanor, she's going to have no connection to those women. And, by the way, aren't you all concerned that two years ago she was a Republican?
MS. ERBE: We are a nation of idol worshipers. Do single women voters have a whole lot in common with Britney Spears or Madonna?
MS. CONWAY: No.
MS. ERBE: And yet they worship them.
MS. CONWAY: I think they're way too busy just making ends meet and worried about a lot of different things. And let's be clear who single women are these days. We've done a ton of research on this. Single women today are not just girls who are 21 or 22, and they're not just people who are destitute. These are women who are single by choice, not through circumstances. Someone didn't leave them behind. They're saying, you know what, I may defer or I may deny altogether marriage and motherhood. These are women, in some cases, making six figure salaries, buying their own homes, putting investments in portfolios, and so there's a lot that the Republican Party can do to reach out to them. I think they're up for grabs in many ways.
But I want to say this about Elizabeth Edwards, she in my view is clearly the greatest asset the Democratic Party has in reaching the largest swath of women. There is so much about her that is real and accessible, not just her story and her background, but her here and now presence just seems so honorable, and so understatedly dignified. I would stick her out there as far as the eye can see, and as far as she'd go for the Democratic Party. She's got the greatest connection, I think, with the Democrats.
MS. SOSA: Bonnie, going back to the position of the Democratic Party in terms of the women's vote. We know the polls. You look at the polls, women leaning Democrat. Swing voters, particularly female swing voters, you know, it's a tie, but they're really not feeling very strongly about Bush, so they're up for grabs. And then we have all these wonderful elected officials who are Democratic, many more than Republicans, both in the Senate and in the House and the governors, and they're going to get out there and they're going to campaign. They're going to appeal to the base, and they're going to get people out there.
MS. SANCHEZ: But what are they selling? That's the issue, what are they selling?
MS. SOSA: A wonderful program on healthcare, job creation, restoring the integrity of the United States in the world. People take those things very seriously.
MS. SANCHEZ: Well, let's talk about
DELEGATE NORTON: What's the product of George W. Bush for Women? Name the product.
MS. ERBE: Let's talk about, in the next segment, because we're got to move on. Behind the headlines, the president's campaign slogan, W is for Women in 2000 earned him an unprecedented 43 percent of the women's vote. To The Contrary asked Ann Wagner of the Republican National Committee what the president has been doing to woo even more women in 2004.