EMILY’s List Creates a Firestorm in a Connecticut House Race

[xchrom]

http://www.thenation.com/blog/169118/emilys-list-creates-firestorm-connecticut-house-race

EMILY’s List, the political action committee that aims to elect pro-choice, Democratic female candidates to office, has noble goals—but has occasionally raised progressive anger for supporting moderate Democrats over far more liberal candidates. Such was the case in 2008 in Tennessee, where EMILY’s List candidate Nikki Tinker, a Blue Dog and former aide to Harold Ford Jr., ran a vaguely anti-Semitic primary campaign against Representative Steve Cohen, who had a very strong record on women’s rights. (EMILY’s List distanced itself from the attacks immediately, but did not withdraw the endorsement).

A similar fracture on the left is opening up again this summer in Connecticut, where EMILY’s List has endorsed Elizabeth Esty in the Fifth District primary against Chris Donovan—and is using some well-worn conservative attack lines against him.

Donovan is the speaker of the Connecticut House with a strong progressive record, and at times battled with Esty, a former state House member herself. For example, Donovan helped lead the fight for Connecticut’s first-in-the-nation paid sick leave law, while Esty voted against it.

This week, Donovan’s campaign put out an ad where he tells the camera, “These days, some people are afraid to be called liberal or progressive,” but “I’m proud of my record”:

[Tommy_Carcetti]

1. That's the problem when you encourage voting for candidates on a single issue.

It's inherently flawed.

[Pab Sungenis]

2. Or encourage voting not even on a single issue

but a single gender. I think Sarah Palin proves that just being a woman doesn't mean you're a better choice to govern. And Bush proves the same for being a man.