HARD WORK BRINGS SUCCESS

Date: October 29, 2002

To: NARAL Supporter

From: Tom Daschle, U.S. Senate Majority Leader

Rarely has so much been at stake for a woman's right to choose in a U.S. Senate Election.... Anti-choice forces are organizing and mobilizing right now to defeat champions of reproductive rights, champions like Missouri Senator Jean Carnahan. The U.S. Senate's pro-choice leadership cannot afford to lose an ally like Senator Carnahan. So, we must succeed in getting out the pro-choice vote in this and other key states where pro-choice leadership could be lost. Because Jean Carnahan is serving as an appointed Senator in place of her late husband, Mel Carnahan, Missouri's current governor could be forced to immediately swear-in Jim Talent, a strongly anti-choice conservative. As the Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate, I've stood up for a woman's right to choose, and the pro-choice leadership of the Senate has made a difference by safeguarding women's rights from the anti-choice agenda of the Bush administration. Please give to NARAL today, so NARAL can mobilize the resources to get out the pro-choice vote on Election Day.

Gratefully,

Senator Tom Daschle

Senator Tom Daschle's e-mail fundraiser for the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League makes two important points: First, the pro-abortionists knew exactly what was at stake in the election on November 5. And second, the Democratic Party furnishes "the pro-choice leadership of the Senate," with Daschle himself, as the Majority Leader, standing up for the "right to choose"--to the point of fundraising for the nation's most radical anti-life pressure group. Given the outcome of the election, one must assume that a good number of registered Democrats were repelled by the party leadership's radical pro-abortion stand.

Elsewhere in this issue of NRL News, election results are discussed in detail. Here, let me make a few observations about pivotal U.S. Senate races.

Pro-lifers won three U.S. Senate seats in Georgia, Minnesota, and Missouri; and lost one in Arkansas. In the winning races, the "pro-life" vote increment clearly played a decisive role.

* In Georgia, the Republican pro-life challenger, Saxby Chambliss, defeated the Democratic pro-abortion incumbent, Max Cleland, 52.8% to 45.9%. The preliminary tally from the Secretary of State's office gives Senator-elect Chambliss 1,068,813 votes to 928,790 for Cleland, a margin of 140,023 votes.

The FoxNews exit poll revealed that Georgia voters ranked abortion fifth (9%) as the "ONE issue [that] mattered most"--after the economy (25%), education (20%), Social Security (18%), and the war on terrorism (13%), and even with prescription drugs (also 9%). With a (preliminary) total of 2,025,347 votes cast in the Senate race, this means that 182,281 votes were cast over the abortion issue. Of these votes, pro-life candidate Chambliss received 73% or 133,065--or most of his winning margin. Clearly, being "pro-life" was of great help to Chambliss.

* In the dramatic Minnesota race, the Republican pro-life candidate, Norm Coleman, prevailed over the Democratic pro-abortion candidate, former Vice President Walter F. Mondale, 49.53% to 47.26%. For obvious reasons, voter turnout was extremely high, with over 79% of the electorate voting. With vote totals of 1,116,336 for Senator-elect Coleman and 1,065,022 for Mondale, the winning margin was a mere 51,314 votes--or 12 to 13 votes per precinct!

In the FoxNews exit poll, Minnesota voters ranked abortion in third place (14%) as the "ONE issue [that] mattered most"--after the economy (26%) and education (18%), but before taxes (13%), Social Security and health care (8% each), and the war on terrorism (7%). With 2,251,647 citizens voting, the abortion issue was decisive for 315,230 voters, of which 255,337 (81%) voted for the pro-life senatorial candidate, Norm Coleman--providing him with five times his winning margin.

Crucial in this election success was the grassroots work of NRLC's Minnesota affiliate, Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, the state's dominant pro-life organization. Rachel Stassen-Berger of the Pioneer Press observed (www.twincities.com, 11/7/2002) that "[f]or the first time in two decades, Minnesota has an anti-abortion governor, state House and state Senate." Abortion was a core issue in this election, and pro-lifers in Minnesota delivered a victory.

* And now to the race that was so much on Tom Daschle's troubled mind: Missouri. Of a (preliminary) total of 1,874,446 votes cast, the Republican pro-life candidate, Jim Talent, received 934,104 votes (49.8%) and the pro-abortion Democratic incumbent, Jean Carnahan, garnered 911,526 (48.6%). Thus Senator-elect Talent's winning margin was 22,578 votes. And Mr. Daschle will have to return to the post of Minority Leader.

According to the FoxNews exit poll, Missouri voters ranked abortion in second place (17%) as the "ONE issue [that] mattered most"--after the economy (21%) and before education (15%), Social Security (14%), health care (11%), and the war on terrorism (7%). At 17%, abortion was decisive for 318,656 voters, of which 254,925 (80%) went for the pro-life candidate, Jim Talent--more than ten times his winning margin!

The lesson is clear: In close elections, pro-life candidates win when the pro-life voters are mobilized by effective grassroots organization. (As Senator Daschle's NARAL fundraising letter shows, the Democratic "pro-choice leadership" knows that of course, too.) If pro-life voters had insisted on "perfect" pro-life candidates in every instance and stayed at home when there was no "ideal" candidate, the pro-abortionists would have maintained or even increased their edge in the Senate and, most likely, regained the House, too. Then, appointing constitutionally sound judges would have become impossible. And any pro-life legislation would have been dead for years to come.

When your hard work at educating and organizing pays off, you are happy in spite of the exhaustion that comes with such an effort. And NRLC is both happy and grateful beyond words for what you have done. But the "exhaustion" of NRLC's treasury is severe and most troublesome. I know times are tough, but I must implore you to make a sacrificial contribution to NRLC. Now is not the time to lose the momentum we have seized.