Women Candidates Struggle For Primary Air

Despite near records in the number of women running this year, a closer examination shows that many female politicians are struggling this cycle, dealing with an establishment not accustomed to women candidates to usual struggles with primary contests, as reported in this week's National Journal.

Indeed, Erin Cutraro, the VP and political director of the Women's Campaign Forum, said, "Over and over again we see exceptional female candidates of both political parties sandbagged by Washington's out-dated and backward-thinking good ole' boys network."

"The results of the last few months have been staggering: In the NY-23 special election last November, moderate Republican Dede Scozzafava was viciously pushed out of the race by her own party. Last month in a special winner-take-all election in Hawaii's 1st District, we saw the DCCC suspiciously lurking behind the scenes as they considered supporting the male Democratic candidate over State Senator Colleen Hanabusa. Most recently, Connie Saltonstall was forced out of the Congressional race for Michigan's 1st District after not receiving support from her state Democratic party," Cutraro wrote in an email.

In spite of the Dem establishment's tacit support for ex-Rep. Ed Case (D) in the 3-way special election last month, Hanabusa nevertheless outperformed him. Case dropped out of the primary to run for a full term later this year, while Hanabusa remains in the race.

Still, there are ongoing efforts to improve the overall situation for women contenders.

OH Sec/State Jennifer Brunner (D) sent a solicitation to her supporters on Friday for donations to pay off debts from her unsuccessful primary last month and announced that she will transition her political activity into the new, CouragePAC.

"We're forming an organization to help candidates, especially those outside of the special interests that have dominated campaign funding for years," the e-mail reads. "We know that women and people of color and differing national origins, sexual orientation and gender identity have not typically been afforded easy access to the mainstream of campaign funding, even though they are increasingly moving into the mainstream of our communities."

Jumping on the anti-establishment theme of the cycle, it continues, "We call it CouragePAC, because candidates who are willing to push through the trappings of big money and the naysaying of established machine politics will need a little courage. We want to help them."

After the midterms are over, Brunner will team with OH state Rep. Jennifer Garrison (D), who is pro-life and who was pushed out of the primary to replace Brunner as Sec/State.

Garrison said there's a vacuum for this kind of activity at the local level, and that there should be more organizations outside of EMILY's List, particularly given her differing views on abortion. "Women and men campaign differently and they are received differently," Garrison said.

Already in OH, GOP activist and former state House speaker Jo Ann Davidson runs the Ohio Leadership Institute for GOP women in the Buckeye State, although Garrison pointed that the number of Dem women in the state legislature still outpaces the GOP's.

At the federal level, Brunner used her gender as an asset, noting that the state had never elected a woman senator or governor. But OH GOP committeeman Bob Bennett told OnCall recently that he expects OH Aud. Mary Taylor (currently ex-Rep. John Kasich's running mate in his GOV campaign) will be the leading candidate to take on Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) in '12.

Also in the GOP, NRCC recruitment chair Kevin McCarthy told Hotline OnCall last week that while primary losses are to be expected by a handful of Young Guns this year, there are some primary races where the GOP might get involved -- those featuring women. He explained that in most cases, female GOPers may make better candidates for general elections but have a tougher time getting through primaries, and that's where he would want the party to involve itself. Of course, it didn't work when the NRCC did that on behalf of Scozzafava.