Dear MoveOn member,

Health care is an issue that is really close to my heart. And I know it matters to a lot of Americans, particularly mothers. But time and again, Republicans have blocked progress on expanding health care—most recently the expansion of the children's health insurance program—and on so many other important issues.

That's why we need to elect more progressive women in Congress in 2008, to stand with President Obama on healthcare and other key issues.

MoveOn is working with EMILY's List to highlight some great candidates like Kay Hagan, a legislator in my home state of North Carolina who is running for U.S. Senate. It is a race that the pundits and politicos had previously ignored, but no longer: Last week the Washington Post rated it as one of the most winnable Senate races for Democrats in the country.1

With a critical deadline for candidate fund-raising next Monday, can you help support Kay Hagan and other strong Democratic women like Jeanne Shaheen and Rep. Carol Shea-Porter from New Hampshire? All three women are running in key battleground states, and the voters they bring to the polls will also help us take the White House. Click here to chip in $25 to their campaigns today:

https://pol.moveon.org/give/3greatwomen.html?id=12976-1209316-6qfIwSx&t=5

EMILY's List supports pro-choice Democratic women for office. The organization is a great ally and is supporting these and other strong progressive candidates.

Here's more detail on each of these spectacular women:

After five terms in the North Carolina State Senate, Kay Hagan is ready to move on to the US Senate. But first, she has to beat Sen. Elizabeth Dole this fall. Hagan has led the fight for children's healthcare in our home state. In the US Senate, Kay wants to tackle climate change and high gas prices. Her opponent, Elizabeth Dole, has a $3 million war chest, and Hagan is going to need every penny she can raise in order to beat her and change this seat from one that consistently votes conservatively to one that consistently votes progressively.


When Kay wins, we will be that much closer to building a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. And the odds are in our favor: Republicans are defending 23 seats in competitive races—almost two-thirds of the races up for grabs—which means we'll have an edge as we attempt to build a progressive majority.

We need Jeanne Shaheen to represent New Hampshire—and all of us—in the United States Senate too. Jeanne is the former Governor of New Hampshire; in fact she was the first woman ever elected to that office. Now she wants to blaze the trail again and become the first-ever woman elected senator from the state. The only thing standing in her way is incumbent Republican senator, John Sununu. Jeanne will be a fantastic senator, but we have to get her elected first.

Finally, there is the incredible Representative Carol Shea-Porter of New Hampshire, the best example I know of the kind of women we can elect if we work together from the grassroots. When she was still in high school a counselor told Carol she should forget about trying to make it to college and enroll in secretarial school.2


Instead, she became the first woman ever elected to Congress from New Hampshire in 2006, handily beating a Republican incumbent who was seen as invincible. During her short time in Congress, Shea-Porter has been a vocal opponent to the war in Iraq. This is her first reelection campaign, and she's in a tough race. But Carol Shea-Porter has more than earned our support—we need to keep her in Congress.

Not only can you help make sure each of these women wins in her race, but you will also be helping to turn out more votes in important presidential battleground states. Can you chip in $25 to help elect these three women, each of whom can help us lead the House and Senate in a progressive direction? Click here to donate:

https://pol.moveon.org/give/3greatwomen.html?id=12976-1209316-6qfIwSx&t=6

Today, out of 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, there are only seventy-one women. And only sixteen out of one hundred members of the Senate are women. 3 When will our voices be heard? They will be heard when we act together to get progressive women elected. With your help we can make sure that these progressive women's voices are heard in Washington this fall, voices that will speak out against the war and for health care and other progressive priorities.

Thank you.

–Elizabeth Edwards

P.S. You can learn more about EMILY's List and the great work they're doing for progressive women candidates at www.emilyslist.org

Sources:

1."The Line: When a Small Loss Is Your 'Best Case Scenario," The Fix: Washington Post Political blog, June 13th, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=3837&id=12976-1209316-6qfIwSx&t=7

2."Carol Shea-Porter's unusual journey to U.S. Congress," Associated Press, November 8, 2006
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=3838&id=12976-1209316-6qfIwSx&t=8

3."Women Serving in the 110th Congress 2007-09," Center for American Women and Politics,
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=3839&id=12976-1209316-6qfIwSx&t=9



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