[263] in peace2
Million Mom's March
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (F. AuYeung)
Fri May 12 12:24:47 2000
Message-Id: <200005121624.MAA10304@m12-182-25.mit.edu>
To: peace-women@MIT.EDU, peace-list@MIT.EDU
Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 12:24:40 -0400
From: "F. AuYeung" <auyeung@MIT.EDU>
Women's march could carry over into campaigns
By Mary Leonard, Globe Staff, 5/12/2000
WASHINGTON - Sunday's Million Mom March on the Mall has the potential to be
something much larger than either its one-day turnout, emotional appeal, or
hype suggests. If it succeeds in pushing gun control up high on the national
agenda, it could help Al Gore's bid for president and endanger congressional
Republicans in swing districts.
Gun control has emerged as a major concern of women in this election year,
so potent that some predict the march could generate a new women's political
movement around the issue and put political candidates who don't support a
host of gun-safety measures on the spot.
''The gun-control issue is something that will really cut across party
lines,'' said GOP pollster Linda DiVall, noting that as a single issue, gun
control now is about twice as likely as abortion to influence women voters.
And, she noted, Republicans have ''a lot more conflict'' over the issue than
Democrats.
GOP presidential candidate George W. Bush has been trying to woo women
because they have provided the margin of victory for the Democrats in the
past two presidential races. So far, he has had success, polls show, but gun
control could be a problem for him, particularly if it takes off this
election season. While Bush supports mandatory trigger locks and raising the
age of legal handgun possession from 18 to 21, the Texas governor signed a
measure last year that makes it legal in the state to carry concealed
handguns.
His position is anathema to the gun-control lobby, and Handgun Control Inc.,
an advocacy group, recently began running a 30-second ad in seven cities
that highlights Bush's record on guns. The ad also quotes an official of the
National Rifle Association saying, ''If we win, we'll have a president...
where we work out of their office.''
Gore, who favors several new gun regulations and has proposed stiffer
penalties for gun-related crimes, lately has been hammering Bush on his ties
to the NRA and the concealed-gun law. ''Will he fight for the gun industry,
or for America's families?'' the vice president asked in a recent newspaper
interview.
''I think gun control could become a campaign issue, for the mere reason
that there is a big gender gap, and if Al Gore has learned anything from
Bill Clinton, it's that he needs to do something to appeal to women voters,''
said Dianne Bystrom, director of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and
Politics at Iowa State University. ''This could be the issue, and it's one
where he can really draw distinctions with George Bush.''
Bystrom said that in the mid-1990s, pollsters started detecting a gender
split on crime. Men wanted harsher punishment for perpetrators. Women,
concerned that they or their families would be crime victims, sought more
protection. Since the massacre at Columbine High School last year and other
incidents of school violence, fear has moved gun safety to the top of the
women's agenda, she said.
Polling firms say they have been stunned by the huge and widening gender gap
on gun control. A survey released yesterday by the Pew Research Center found
that 67 percent of women and 46 percent of men said gun control was more
important than gun-owner's rights, while 49 percent of men and 28 percent of
women favored owner's rights.
''Women are angry, and they want action,'' said Democratic pollster Celinda
Lake, who specializes in women's voting behavior.
Many people tell poll takers they aren't sure more gun laws will really make
much of a difference, and they question how effectively laws on the books
are enforced. But that doesn't take into account the emotional nature of the
gun debate, particularly for women.
''It can be a very dangerous issue, especially for suburban Republicans,
because it's very symbolic in defining a candidate,'' said Tony Fabrizio, a
Republican political consultant. ''You might be for trigger locks, or smart-
gun technology, but if you won't say you'll take guns away from people, then
you get painted as an extremist and pushed out of the mainstream.''
What happens here on Mother's Day, at a march billed as a mainstream event,
is important.
Powerful images of a crowd as large as 150,000 - mostly women, some pushing
baby strollers, many from the inner city, a few victims of violence, many
described, or describing themselves, as soccer moms - aim to vex Capitol
Hill's GOP leaders, who for a year have stalled a bill that would provide
background checks on buyers at gun shows.
But the ambition of march founder Donna Dees-Thomases, a Short Hills, N.J.,
mother and professional publicist, goes beyond calling attention to pending
legislation. She wants Sunday's speeches and show of solidarity to stir up
grass-roots activism when the women go home, and to influence voting in
presidential, congressional, and local contests in November.
''I'm not sure the march will move the bill [in Congress] next week, but
the Martin Luther King march didn't move the civil rights bill the next week
either,'' said David Rosenbloom, director of Join Together, a team at the
Boston University School of Public Health that works on preventing gun
violence and substance abuse.
''It's very infrequent that you get so many people from around the country
mobilized on one issue, and the idea hit a wellspring of emotion and
activism that has been missing in American politics for quite some time.
This is more than a walk in the sun. It has the capacity to be a very big
moment.''
Organizers are estimating a crowd of 150,000, which will feature women
victims of gun violence, celebrities like Rosie O'Donnell and Susan
Sarandon, and politicians, including first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and
Maryland Lieutenant Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. As many as 5,000
marchers are expected to travel from Massachusetts, said Greta Hardina, a
march organizer in Cambridge.
Near the Lincoln Memorial, a group called the Second Amendment Sisters is
expecting as many as 10,000 women to march Sunday on behalf of the rights
of Americans to bear arms. Debra Collins of Aurora, Colo., a march
coordinator, says she shares the same concern as the Million Mom Marchers -
protecting herself and her loved ones.
The NRA this week launched a ''Safe Kids'' advertising campaign and
committed $1 million to put a gun-safety program in every American classroom.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the NRA has donated
$577,129 to congressional candidates and made $664,650 in soft-money
contributions to the Republican Party so far this election cycle. The
figures are higher than two years ago, and reflect, some analysts say, the
group's attempts to strengthen an eroding position.
''If Columbine and other events of the past year can't persuade lawmakers on
the fence to vote for gun legislation, I'm not sure that having a million
moms at their door will do it, either,'' said James Alan Fox, the Lipman
professor of criminal justice at Northeastern University. ''The fundamental
issue is, are they willing to stand up against the gun lobby?''
This story ran on page A01 of the Boston Globe on 5/12/2000.
© Copyright 2000 Globe Newspaper Company.
***
***
*** of course i can't help but put in a comment:
*** "republican political consultant"? what the hell?
