Eleanor Clift Thinks Abortion's A Winning IssueShe and her late husband wrote one of the savviest books on politics I've ever read,
War Without Bloodshed, but her column today seems naive at best.
Clift notices that the Democrats are stepping gingerly away from the abortion issue.
The conventional wisdom in Washington right now is that choice is a loser. When the heads of several women’s groups met recently with Democratic Party chairman Howard Dean on the veranda outside his office at party headquarters, Dean exclaimed, “The debate is no longer about choice--it’s about who decides.” That wasn’t exactly a new insight, and when Dean appeared soon after on “Meet the Press” to say that he thought maybe it should be harder to get a third-trimester abortion, the women’s groups went ballistic. It’s already extremely difficult, and as a medical doctor, Dean should know that.She goes on to point out the polling on the issue which can fairly be described as 50-50. However, she completely ignores intensity. People who are pro-choice tend to have a lot of other issues that are more important to them. People who are pro-life are much more likely to put abortion at the top of their issues.
She wanders around a bit in the column as well; there's a bit in there about how Conservative Christians are going to have to decide between the guy they want (George Allen) and the guy that can win (McCain). Then there's some stuff about how Hillary's got the message that can win on the abortion issue; "Safe, legal and rare."
