After Big Win in West Va. Hillary Vows to Press On

[niyad]

Please note that there is more at stake here than just the presidential race:





After Big Win in West Va. Hillary Vows to Press On

By Allison Stevens
Washington Bureau Chief

As West Virginia gave Hillary Clinton another chance to display political grit, her female supporters are battling back bow-out pressures. Lower-ticket female politicians, meanwhile, have been benefiting from the high-voltage race.



WASHINGTON (WOMENSENEWS)--After a walloping victory in Tuesday's presidential primary in West Virginia, Hillary Clinton vowed to press on for at least a few more weeks.
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Among women's rights activists the bow-out pressure on women is a major bone of contention.

"Here we are in the fourth quarter of the nominating process and the game is too close to call," Ellen Malcolm, president of EMILY's List, a political action committee that backs pro-choice Democratic female candidates, wrote in a May 10 article in the Washington Post. "Once again, the opponents and the media are calling for Hillary to quit. The first woman ever to win a presidential primary is supposed to stop competing, to curtsy and exit stage right. Why on earth should one candidate quit before the contest is finished?"

From beyond the Democratic primary battle lines comes Linda Pilkington, a Republican who owns City Castles, an online greeting card business in suburban Denver. She wrote Democratic organizations to urge them to support Clinton's continued candidacy.

"I've never been a fan of hers, but I have really admired her fight and her grit, and it's something women have shown for centuries," she said in a telephone interview. "Every woman in America, whether Democrat or Republican, should be incensed, and e-mail Democrat leaders, to complain that Democrats are encouraging Hillary Clinton to drop from the primary race."
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Whatever her decision, political observers say female Democratic candidates this primary season have benefited from the high-voltage election year energy that Clinton has helped stir up, which has drawn record numbers of voters to the polls.


Women in particular have cast ballots in high numbers, which has helped female political hopefuls up and down the ticket, said R. Scott Crichlow, a professor of political science at West Virginia University in Morgantown.

Recent examples include gubernatorial candidates Jill Long Thompson in Indiana, a former Democratic member of Congress, and Beverly Perdue, North Carolina's Democratic lieutenant governor. Both prevailed in Democratic primaries last Tuesday, when women made up more than 55 percent of the electorate.
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Remaining Democratic female political hopefuls could benefit from Clinton's continued candidacy.

These include Democrat Heather Ryan, who is running for Congress in Kentucky's May 20 primary. On May 20, Oregon Democrats Sabrina Shrake and Nancy Moran are running for Congress, and two women--Kate Brown and Vicki Walker--are battling each other for secretary of state.

And on June 3, the final day of the presidential primaries, South Dakota Democrat Stephanie Herseth is running for re-election to her House seat and a handful of Democratic women are running for statewide office in Montana.

http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/3600

[Evecie]

1. I wish she withdrew, but many people don't think so

I respect other people's decisions, and it wouldn't be a huge deal if she stayed in the race till the end.

[cap]

2. the party wants her to continue

she is energizing women... this will help Obama alot. She is doing more good than she is harm right now. She has become conciliatory towards Obama and this helps him. She needs to cool her supporters down so that way they will be more receptive to Obama -- that's all.