Clinton: Midterms key for women

Hillary Clinton painted the 2014 midterm election as a watershed moment for women’s issues, calling in a Friday speech for Democrats to make sure their female candidates are elected this fall.

“Voters have a choice this November,” she said at a Democratic National Committee event in Washington. “A choice between those who blocked paycheck fairness, who applauded Hobby Lobby, who tried to stop the renewal of the Violence Against Women Act, or leaders who will fight for women and girls to have the same opportunities and rights that they deserve.”

{mosads}Speaking at the DNC’s Women’s Leadership Forum, a committee initiative that she helped start in 1993 as first lady, Clinton made her case for doubling down on efforts to bring women to the table. She also called for raising the minimum wage, fighting pay discrimination and expanding access to birth control.

The way to achieve those goals, she said, is through a win for Democrats in the midterm elections.

“More than 100 Democratic women [are] running for the House this year, and I cant think of a better way to make Congress start working for American families again than electing every last one of our women candidates come November,” Clinton said.

She also praised the coalition of women senators who helped forge a bipartisan compromise to end 2013’s government shutdown and the role played by Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) in a compromise with Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) to pass a budget later that year.

“When women participate in politics, the effects ripple out far and wide,” she said.

Her comments came against the backdrop of the question that’s dogged her for months: Will the former secretary of State, senator and first lady run for president in 2016? Clinton is the front-runner for the nomination after a failed bid in 2008.

She joked that the audience of largely female Democratic donors should not discount the midterm elections, even though she knows “they may not be as glamorous as presidential elections.”

While Clinton enjoyed high favorability ratings while she was secretary of State, her numbers have fallen since leaving that post.  A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll released Sept. 9 shows her favorable/unfavorable ratings at 43 percent/41 percent among registered voters, down from a high of 59 percent/22 percent in February 2009.

Clinton, like President Obama and other speakers at the event, also used her address to praise DNC Chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla._ after a story by Politico Wednesday reported she’s lost support from the White House and Democrats.

“Her courage in beating breast cancer and going onto pass groundbreaking legislation that is helping other women beat it too, is an example for us all,” Clinton said, referring to Wasserman Schultz’s efforts to help pass the Affordable Care Act.