WomenCount PAC Shifts Focus from Clinton to Issues

By Emily Cadei, CQ Staff Thu Jul 10, 1:54 PM ET

The primary elections may be over, but for one independent group formed to support the presidential bid of Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton, it also marks a new beginning.

WomenCount Executive Director Stacy Mason said the group's activities in the primary, which included running newspaper ads encouraging Clinton to stay in the race when others were calling for her to drop out, helped them identify a void among liberal groups.

"There's not one that is for and by women," Mason said.

Rather than folding up shop along with the Clinton campaign, the organizers of WomenCount PAC have opted to shift the focus of their group from a single candidate to advocating more broadly for women's issues. And this week, they opened a 527 organization, which -- unlike their current political action committee -- can raise unregulated funds to help launch a Web-based, grassroots operation similar to MoveOn.org or Swift Boat Veterans for Truth from the 2004 campaign.

The group, made up of prominent female Clinton backers and donors like ESPRIT co-founder Susie Tompkins Buell and former "Rock the Vote" President Jehmu Green, formed in May in response to what its founders believed was disrespectful treatment of the New York senator's candidacy. According to Federal Election Commission reports, the group had raised $352,000 and spent $285,000 by the end of May on independent efforts in Clinton's behalf. And new reports due out later this month are expected to show nearly a half million dollars raised through June.

The PAC is turning to its members to help chart its next steps. On the group's home page, visitors can vote for the campaign the group will launch to coincide with the general election season. One addresses gender bias in the election, another focuses on discrimination in the nominating process, and a third promotes efforts to elect more women to public office. They do not describe what they mean by "gender bias in the election" and how it differs from "discrimination in the nominating process." The gender bias initiative has received the most votes so far.

Mason said WomenCount's new 527 operation will provide the financial backbone for its issue campaigns and online presence, while the PAC will continue to raise money to contribute to candidates for congressional campaigns.

Anger over perceived gender bias in the primary campaign, particularly in the media, is one of the reasons female Clinton backers have been slow to join forces with presumed Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama. Obama, however, is making a concerted effort to overcome this resistance, wooing the women voters who made up Clinton's primary base.

In his latest overture, Obama appeared with Clinton at Women for Obama fundraiser Thursday morning in New York. In his speech, Obama lauded Clinton's leadership as a candidate and a woman and spoke extensively about issues of importance to women, including equal pay, childcare and reproductive rights.

"I want my daughters -- - and all our daughters-- to have no limits on their dreams, no obstacles to their achievement, no opportunities beyond their reach," he said, adding that, thanks to Clinton, the country has "come so much closer to fulfilling that goal."

While Clinton is now backing Obama, WomenCount has decided to withhold its support for any presidential candidate for now.

"We are staying out of talking about the candidates for November," Mason said, citing the "huge range of emotions and viewpoints" that still linger in the wake of the primary elections.