EMILY's List Warns Hillary Dems Off McCain

[Triana]

Run Date: 06/12/08
By Alison Bowen
WeNews correspondent

After a bruising Democratic primary some Hillary Clinton supporters are mulling voting for John McCain. One of Clinton's staunchest supporters, EMILY's List, argued against that yesterday, calling a vote for the GOP candidate a vote against women.

Ellen Malcolm

(WOMENSENEWS)--EMILY'S List, the political action committee that churned out money and support for New York Sen. Hillary Clinton until the last gasp of the Democratic primary campaign, urged disgruntled supporters on Wednesday away from the GOP candidate.

A vote for Arizona Sen. John McCain would be "unthinkable," Ellen Malcolm, EMILY'S List president, said in conference calls with reporters yesterday to counter the McCain campaign's efforts to woo disappointed Clinton supporters. EMILY's List supports only Democratic, pro-choice female candidates. McCain has consistently voted against pro-choice and anti-discrimination legislation in the U.S. Senate.

In her concession speech on Saturday Clinton urged her supporters to join her in backing Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and she has continued to press that message this week. But a June 10 CNN poll found 17 percent of Clinton supporters weighing a vote for McCain. The poll's margin of error was plus or minus 7.5 points.

McCain advisers said this week that the campaign will try to target "disaffected Democrats" who supported Clinton and may be hesitant to support Obama.

"I think that idea is a pipe dream, because Sen. McCain is really out of touch with the lives that these women are leading, and he's against many of the policy positions that they hold," said Malcolm, a staunch Clinton ally who decried the pressures on her to bow out of the race in a recent op-ed for the Washington Post.

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