The LuLac Edition #245, June 13th, 2007

CAMPAIGN GIVERS: WOMEN?

Women control 51 percent of the nation's wealth, but account for just 27 percent of federal political donations, according to a report released yesterday by the Women's Campaign Forum Foundation.
And the percentage of campaign money from women hasn't changed in a decade, even as women have begun to achieve economic parity with men, the study found.
One longtime Republican fund-raiser said women don't give as much as men because they don't see politics as a big business the way men do.
"Because politics is a business and women are not participating in that business of politics as much as men, they're not going to invest as much," said Candy Straight, an investment banker.
And women tend to be late deciders in elections. "If you're a late decider on who you're voting for, why are going going to give money?" Straight asked.
Straight established Wish List, a national political fund-raising committee for Republican women who support abortion rights, because "I was so disappointed that the Republican Party - especially nationally - did not support the [1990 Christie Whitman U.S. Senate] campaign to the extent they should have, because she had an opportunity to win."
Democratic fund-raiser Blair MacInnes said female fund-raisers don't like asking for money.
While organizing a fund-raiser for the 2004 John Kerry presidential campaign, MacInnes said she was stunned when it was time to talk about ticket prices and her committee - composed of women - suggested $100.
"These were reasonably affluent women," said MacInnes, of Morris Township, N.J. "At $100, we would have to have 700 people to make the kind of money men are used to making."
While MacInnes said she believes campaigns should be publicly financed to reduce the influence of money on public policy, "this is the system we have. . . . Women have to become comfortable with the rules."
The nonprofit Women's Campaign Forum Foundation is trying to encourage women to give more money to candidates, enticing them with the thought that they could have a sweeping effect on the 2008 electoral cycle, which includes races for president and Congress as well as numerous state and local elections.
And the report suggests that candidates looking for money from women should look at those who give to charities - an area where female giving is rising at a rate faster than male giving.
As part of the study, the foundation ran focus groups across the country. Instead of finding the typical lack of faith in the political system among women, they found "it was truly the idea that women who wanted to see social change were giving dollars to charity," said Ilana Goldman, the foundation's executive director.
The Washington-based foundation's affiliated group, the Women's Campaign Forum, endorsed U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D., N.Y.) for president.
Always thirsting for new money, other presidential campaigns also are trying to tap into that reservoir of female donors.
Clinton sponsored a concert in New York and luncheon in Los Angeles to make her appeal to female donors. The Washington Post reported last month that Clinton took in 36 percent of her contributions from women, leading all candidates, with U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D., Ill.) coming in a close second.
U.S. Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.) announced a "Women for McCain Leadership Team" yesterday in the closely watched early-primary state of New Hampshire.
One of this area's most prolific fund-raisers, U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz, (D., Pa.), held a fund-raiser for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee at the Warwick Hotel in Philadelphia yesterday with U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.).
The event was to kick off the DCCC's effort to "make sure that women understand how important it is for women to be in the mix and not just let the boys be the ones who write the checks," said Daniel McElhatton, who is Schwartz's chief of staff.
Locally, you'll see a roster of male campaign contributors with a few female names interspered. Many women belong to PACs (educators come to mind) and therefore it is tougher to track them statistically.
(Combined reports Philly.com and LuLac. )

DATES OF NOTE

June 12th: George H.W. Bush turned 83.

June 13th: O.J. Nicole and Ron.