POLL FINDS 1990s TO BE DECADE OF WOMAN CANDIDATE
WASHINGTON
EMILY'S List, the National Women's Political Caucus PAC, and the Women's Campaign Fund say signs look good for women to win major elections in the 1990s.On Tuesday, they released findings of a major poll, which included: * With the president focusing on foreign policy, voters are looking for candidates for Congress and statewide offices who have a strong commitment to domestic issues. Women have strong advantages on health care, education, and meeting the needs of the middle class. * Voters see women as populist outsiders who can affect change and who support making government work for ordinary people. * Democratic women candidates enhance their party's strength on the domestic agenda. Republican women candidates often neutralize their party's disadvantages on domestic issues and without losing traditional Republican advantages. The three groups are launching a campaign to get more women into major elective office by the year 2000. Group leaders say that within the next 10 years, women will double their membership in the United States House of Representatives. By the year 2000, it is likely that women will also make up at least 10 percent of the US Senate. Reapportionment, redistricting, and retirements have created 100 new congressional seats, three times the usual number. "We've identified the political opportunities and found qualified, savvy candidates to run in them," says Ellen Malcolm, president of EMILY'S List. "And we have the financial resources to turn those campaigns into victories in 1992." EMILY is an acronym for "Early Money Is Like Yeast."