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NWPC CONCERNED WITH DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES
Tuesday, January 27, 2004
(Washington, D.C.) The National Women’s Political Caucus (NWPC) announced their extreme concern Tuesday at the failure of most the Democratic Presidential candidates to appear at the Lifetime Political Debate held Sunday, January 25, 2004, at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH. The Lifetime Debate was slated to be a forum for women’s issues. Only three of the seven candidates, Senator Lieberman, Representative Kucinich and Governor Dean, made it a priority.
“We applaud Lieberman, Kucinich and Dean for their apparent understanding of the impact that female voters have on electing candidates to office,” said Roselyn O’Connell, NWPC president. “But we are disheartened by the fact that not all the candidates realize the importance of women to their campaigns. The theme of the Lifetime Television debate was “Every Women Counts”, but it seems as though a majority of the Democratic candidates don’t believe they do.”
The debate was an opportunity for the candidates to reach out to women, who make up the majority of registered voters, and spotlight the issues that are of particular interest to the female population; issues such as reproductive rights, childcare, domestic violence, the wage gap as well as healthcare, the economy, and the war on terror.
“Although we recognize the candidates have many commitments, the significance of addressing issues of importance for women and families should be paramount. We will be looking forward to the way in which the candidates will address these issues in the days ahead,” O’Connell said.
“We also put some of the blame on the media for their lack of coverage of these debates,” O’Connell continued. “Women want to know where the candidates stand on the issues that affect their daily lives and are not interested in the clothing choices of Judith Steinberg-Dean. The media and the candidates need to pay more attention to the substance of these kinds of events. That is what women of this country want to hear.”