Emily's List launches voter education drive targeting female independents

By Alexandra Jaffe - 09/19/12 03:50 PM ET

Emily's List, the Democratic group working to elect pro-choice women to Congress, and its independent expenditure arm, Women Vote!, announced on Wednesday the launch of an initiative to educate female voters in three competitive Senate races and four competitive House races nationwide.

The advertisements and mailings running in each race are the product of a nationwide survey of independent women in battleground states conducted by the organization, the groundwork for the highly targeted messaging effort they launched today. Messaging in some races will focus on the Republican candidate's position on women's issues, while in others, the messaging will take a wider frame to highlight the candidate's past record.

Women Vote! is engaging in the Senate races of Democrats Shelley Berkley, running against Sen. Dean Heller (R) in Nevada; Tammy Baldwin, running against Tommy Thompson (R) in Wisconsin; and Mazie Hirono, running against Linda Lingle (R) in Hawaii.

They'll be targeting 48,000 independent female voters in Nevada with mailers and online advertising focusing on Heller's support for the Blunt Amendment, which would exempt employers from covering birth control for their employees, and his support to defund Planned Parenthood. In the other two races, however, Women Vote! more generally highlights Thompson and Lingle's past policy records and how they hurt women and working families.

Women Vote! is also launching advertising and direct mail campaigns in Arizona's 1st District, against Republican Jonathan Paton; Florida's 10th District, against Republican Daniel Webster; Illinois's 7th District, against Republican Bobby Schilling; and the group will engage along with SEIU in Washington's 1st District, against Republican John Koster.

And in New Hampshire, where Emily's List says "the single most effective message in New Hampshire is the Republicans’ positions on women’s health and reproductive freedom," Women Vote! will dig into the race for governor, highlighting Republican Ovide Lamontagne's position on women's issues.