[Marxism] Abortion rights leader may run independent campaign for Pa. Senate

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

If a Michelman pro-abortion campaign for Senate actually happens in
Pennsylvania, where the two parties have nominated abortion-hating
candidates, it will be a good development.  Anything that says that
supporters of abortion rights are now ready to GO TO WAR on the issue,
and not subordinate it to defeating the Republican Christian right as
the Democrats are demanding that they do, will help at this point.

Although it will disappoint the people at
American Prospect who chortle that the Democrats have deprived Santorum
of the abortion issue by adopting his position. I see signs that Hilary
Clinton is edging her way to a version of this maneuver.

Unless the support for abortion rights starts hitting the streets in a
major way, big blows are going to be struck against abortion rights in
the next few months, even if the shell of Roe v Wade is allowed to hang
around a bit longer in the holy name of stare decisis.  An independent
campaign focused on the issue -- and,yes, I am sure Michelman has other
issues on which she is not so hot (I am not even saying that I would
advocate voting for her at this point) -- may help provide some momentum
toward the needed mobilization.

It seems right to me that liberal feminists and abortion rights
activists should seek to force the issue back into the political debate
in Pennsylvania, from which has been  been forced out by the imperialist
parties fielding two antiwoman candidates for senate from Pennsylvania
(a liberal Santorum against the the Republican right Santorum).
Fred Feldman



www.thenation.com
The Online Beat by John Nichols
BLOG | Posted 03/04/2006 @ 09:53am
Kate Michelman for Senate?

After Robert Casey, the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination to
challenge vulnerable Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, joined Santorum
in backing the Supreme Court nomination of conservative judicial
activist Samuel Alito, Kate Michelman was not happy.

After saying she was "sorely disappointed by the lack of commitment to
women and fundamental rights by the United State Senate," the former
president of NARAL Pro-Choice America ripped into Casey and local and
national party leaders who back the socially-conservative Pennsylvania
Democrat who is an ardent critic of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that
guaranteed women the right to choose.

"As a Pennsylvanian, I am particularly appalled that local and national
Democrats would hand our Senate nomination to someone who openly
supports giving Roe an Alito-induced death," said Michelman. "Those
whose political successes have depended on the ballots and contributions
of pro-choice voters but now facilitate the career of someone who would
repeal those rights deserve special enmity."

How angry was Michelman?

The veteran activist who has lived for almost three decades in
Pennsylvania might just jump into the Senate race herself.

"After Casey announced his support for Alito, I got calls from around
the country," says Michelman in a Legal Times article on the fallout
from the Alito fight. She tells Legal Times that she has been urged by
Democratic donors and feminist groups to run this fall as a pro-choice
independent challenger to anti-choice Republican Santorum and
anti-choice Democrat Casey.

If she does, it will be a blow not just to Casey but to liberal college
professor Chuck Pennacchio, who has had worked hard -- in the face of
opposition from most prominent Democrats in Pennsylvania and Washington
-- to mount a Democratic primary challenge to Casey.

The filing deadline to enter the May 16 Democratic primary passes on
Tuesday. But the filing deadline to run as a third party or independent
candidate remains open until August 1. Theoretically, Michelman could
wait until Democrats make their choice and then run if Casey is
nominated. In reality, however, the prospect of a Michelman run will
divert energy -- and potentially resources -- from Pennacchio's already
uphill campaign.

Says Pennacchio, "A third party pro-choice candidacy would also divide
Pennsylvania Democrats. Since 2000, Al Gore, Ed Rendell, John Kerry, and
Arlen Specter have proven that Pennsylvania is a pro-choice state. The
best way to defeat Rick Santorum in 2006 is for Democrats to nominate a
pro-choice candidate who can and will unite Pennsylvania?s pro-choice
majority and make a third party pro-choice candidacy unnecessary. My
campaign has established county organizations around the state, and is
already uniting Pennsylvanians by fighting for what they want: choice,
universal health care, an end to the Iraq War, and other widely held
majoritarian views."

But, with expectations high that Casey will be the nominee, the argument
for getting started now on an independent candidacy cannot be
disregarded altogether. Nor can the prospect that, with sufficient
funding and the right breaks, Michelman could be a serious contender.

The classic case of a three-way race for a Senate seat was seen in 1970
in New York State. Both the Republican incumbent, Charles Goodell, and
the Democratic challenger, Richard Ottinger, were strong critics of the
Vietnam War who embraced generally liberal positions on domestic
matters. William F. Buckley's brother, Jim, running on the Conservative
Party line, backed the war and steered to the right on social issues.
Buckley, whose campaign drew substantial financial support from
conservatives around the country and support from many renegade
Republicans at the state and national levels, did not win a majority of
the vote. But with the major party candidates dividing up the liberal
base -- Goodell got 24 percent of the vote, Ottinger 37 percent and
Buckley 39 percent -- the outsider who wasn't supposed to stand a chance
won the seat.





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