Replies

KEENAN IS ALSO A LIAR...

January 19, 2005

Abortion issue roils DNC race

Keenan snubs Roemer as rivals worry about Gov. Howard Dean’s momentum

By Hans Nichols

Nancy Keenan, incoming president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, snubbed former Rep. Tim Roemer (D-Ind.), a candidate to head the Democratic National Committee last week, fueling concern that the abortion debate has become a distraction and an impediment to stopping the Dean juggernaut.

Keenan skipped a phone appointment to discuss Roemer’s opposition to abortion in conjuction with his campaign to become the next DNC chairman.

snip

Keenan is mobilizing NARAL’s 27 state and local affiliates to contact the 447 DNC delegates and persuade them to oppose Roemer, the only anti-abortion candidate in the field of seven announced DNC aspirants.

snip

Keenan’s apparent lack of interest in meeting with Roemer stands in marked contrast to the open communication between him and Keenan’s predecessor, Kate Michelman, who introduced Keenan as the new president at NARAL’s annual Roe v. Wade commemorative dinner last night at the Omni Shoreham.

Michelman is also contacting DNC members to oppose Roemer. However, she agreed to talk with the Sept. 11 commission member and said that they had “a thoughtful discussion” about his opposition to abortion and his insistence that it not become a litmus test for a party desperate to appeal to more voters.

“I think we should always talk,” she said. “We make a mistake if we don’t keep the lines of communication open.”

Michelman added that she did not know the precise details on why Keenan did not take Roemer’s scheduled phone call, saying that she didn’t “want to speculate.”

Keenan blamed her failure to connect with Roemer last Friday on a scheduling snafu, but the Roemer camp clearly took Keenan’s absence from a preset phone conversation as a calculated snub fraught with political implications.

“It was one of those days when things just kept happening. No slight was intended,” Keenan said.

But a Roemer aide said, “She didn’t want to meet with us because they’re out there calling everyone they can to oppose us. She didn’t want to own up to that.”

“They haven’t even called us back,” the aide added.

Neither side seemed eager to reschedule a conversation to discuss their differences.

“People are going to be very passionate on this issue,” said Ruben Pulido, a Roemer spokesman. “What we can do is reach out and have an honest conversation on this issue. That’s what we can do, and we have done that.”

The perceived NARAL snub led to Roemer’s accusation at last weekend’s DNC regional meeting in St. Louis that pro-abortion-rights groups were “phone-banking” DNC delegates with negative and inaccurate portrayals of his voting record.

“We have our phone banks as well,” Pulido said.

Keenan denied that NARAL was phone-banking and that it was actively campaigning against a specific candidate. “Phone-banking to me is an orchestrated, automated, long and expensive endeavor, and we’re not doing that,” she said.

Instead, NARAL’s 27 affiliates are contacting DNC delegates, as well as elected officials, to urge Democrats to select a party chairman who shares their views on abortion.

“We’re not aiming against any one candidate, but the leader of a party should respect a woman’s right to choose,” Keenan said.

But Michelman said, “NARAL is focusing on Roemer.” She said she has called 75-100 delegates, asking them to oppose Roemer.

“The congressman said there should not be a litmus test on abortion, but I told him it’s a values test. He makes that mistake,” Michelman said. “Abortion is part of a much broader set of values.”

To demonstrate his campaign’s support among pro-abortion-rights Democrats, Roemer plans to announce the endorsements of Reps. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) and Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.) today, along with those of a handful of other members, Pulido said.

Former Sen. John Breaux (D-La.), generally considered an opponent of abortion rights, is expected to endorse Roemer today.

“This is a healthy debate,” Pulido added. “We need to convert more voters to vote for Democrats.”

Meanwhile, the other campaigns continued to reel from the announcement by Florida’s 27 delegates that they would support Dean for party chairman.

“People shouldn’t underestimate how hard he is working and shouldn’t underestimate his candidacy,” an operative for a rival campaign said, adding, “This fight over Roemer on abortion has distracted people from Dean and any potential controversy there.”