Pro-choice Riordan looks to GOP women, Support could be key in governor's race

Most Republicans haven't been eager to make abortion an issue in the coming 2002 gubernatorial primary election. But Richard Riordan, the former Los Angeles mayor and GOP gubernatorial candidate, is already doing it.

Not only has Riordan made clear his support for abortion rights and public funding of abortions, but he is also appealing to an influential group of voters who have been increasingly disillusioned: GOP women who support abortion rights.

"I don't think choice is the only issue -- but where a candidate stands on abortion reflects their whole policy and whole perspective," said Bay Area literary agent Jillian Manus-Salzman, a GOP activist.

Riordan is scheduled to appear at a fund-raiser today in Atherton that is expected to generate $100,000 for the leading pro-choice GOP women's lobby, the WISH List. Already, so many women want tickets to the event, at Manus- Salzman's home, that the local police department had to be consulted about crowd control, she said.

"Bring them on," Manus-Salzman said. "I'm so sick of (conservatives) stealing our party, and our candidates. . . . We're going to create our own march, our own soldiers." Riordan's stand on abortion -- and his ability to appeal to California's increasingly pro-choice female electorate -- may prove critical in the March Republican gubernatorial primary election.

Riordan has described himself as personally "anti-abortion," but in a recent interview with The Chronicle, he underscored his strong support for abortion rights. His stance contrasts sharply with that of his two GOP primary challengers, Secretary of State Bill Jones, and businessman Bill Simon, both strongly anti-abortion rights.

"I'm in favor of the right for women to make their own moral choice," Riordan said. "I believe economically disadvantaged women should have access to medical funds, so they have the same right to make the choice as any other woman. You're not really giving the choice to somebody unless they have the wherewithal (to pay for an abortion)."

And Riordan noted that abortion is among the issues that have cost the GOP dearly in recent elections, as when 1998 gubernatorial candidate Dan Lungren went down to a landslide defeat against Democrat Gray Davis. "Look at the vast majority of Republican women -- they're pro-choice," Riordan said. "We've lost most of them in the last couple of elections."

But some Republicans say Riordan's position will be a challenge with more conservative primary voters.

"GOP primary voters are probably the most pro-life subset of the whole electorate you can find, . . . and married GOP women are probably the most pro- life group of all," said strategist Jeff Flint, who is working with the Simon campaign. "I don't think the evidence supports the suggestion that a lot of (Republican) women have walked away."

Flint argues that Simon, although pro-life, simply doesn't fit the stereotype of an intolerant hard-liner.

"He has a clear record of being compassionate to people in need. He runs Covenant House, which has turned around the lives of teenagers in need. . . . He can't be portrayed as a heartless guy who wants to tell women what to do with their lives."

And Jones, also strongly against abortion rights, has eschewed the hard- line stance, expressing compassion and concern for women on the issue -- and noting that Roe vs. Wade is still the law of the land.

Candy Straight, president of the Washington-based WISH List, says Riordan's views are resonating with women in California.

"Dick Riordan has had a record of doing well with women voters -- 59 percent of women voters supported him in his last election," Straight said.

Straight said a September WISH List poll of 800 likely GOP primary voters showed that 41 percent of voters who described themselves as pro-life agreed that they would not meddle with a woman's right to make her own choice on the issue. It signals that Riordan's stance mirrors that of most GOP voters, and "the Republican Party, if it wants to win, has to get somebody from the center, " Straight argued.

Judy Buchanan, a Republican who heads the Bay Area-based nonprofit Bring Me a Book Foundation, said Riordan's appeal to women on the issue could help revive a party that has fallen on hard times.

"He has a great opportunity, as a centrist, to bring back women to the Republican Party," she said. "If you're pro-choice, you're more pro- environment, pro-education, and anti-guns. It's not just a single issue. It tells a lot about a candidate."

Manus-Salzman said Riordan has, at least, revived something of a fighting spirit among more moderate female GOP voters. "I was embarrassed to be a Republican," she said. "But my grandfather, a Jewish Republican, said, 'You don't leave something you love, . . . you stay and fight.'

"My goal is to bring women back through the same door they left," she said. "And he's handing us the opportunity." E-mail Carla Marinucci at cmarinucci@sfchronicle.com.

You better believe it. I DON'T want Riordan. I am not pro choice. My friends DON'T want Riordan. They are not pro choice. We all belong to the National Federation of Republican Women and we work d-m hard to get our Republican candidates elected and we work even harder for good conservative candidates like Tom McClintock (Controller) and Bill Simon (Governor).

"I guess the Chron thinks most GOP women support abortion."

The San Francisco Chronicle is after all a liberal paper in the liberal Bay area. Thus is not shocking the like Dick Riordan and see him for what he really is a liberal. Don't bet though he'll get their endorsement in the general election if he should be the GOP nominee. No good liberal is going to be caught dead supporting a RINO UNLESS the Dems are running a conservative Democrat in which case its a whole different ball game. Riordan offers liberals nothing they can't get from Gray Davis. And when was the last time you heard the Bay Area go for a Republican? I rest my case.

Thanks! The RWF rule, they have been such great supporters og my own campaigns and of our local Republican candiates all the way up the ticket. And they're good conservatives.

I can't believe the number of idiots around who think because we're in Cali that we'er all a bunch of left wing RINO's just waiting to unleash Governor Riordan on them!

ARGGGGH!! Just making my headache worse, I'm going to bed...

"Say all you want, but the Republicans are pro-life only in theory."

The only way to change the Republican Party, (or to keep it from becoming too much like the Dems), is from the inside.
Why the heck do you think people like Alan Keyes and Gary Baeur stay?
If we let the Rep. Party slip left w/out a fight, where the heck do we go for political change?
(And don't even bring up the Liberaltarian Party).

You are absolutely correct. It is a pleasure to read such thoughtful moral reasoning. For all the thousands of people who hold to such a dissonant philosophy ("I'm personally pro-life, but won't stand in the way of a woman's choice") thousands would be forced to re-think it if one Presidential candidate would say what you said in a nationally televised debate.

God bless.

What annoys me to know end are these people who call themselves "personally pro-life", but would "never stand in the way of a woman's choice." What moral relativistic cowardly garbage.

I read somewhere that a candidate for office who says that he is personally opposed to abortion but thinks it's a "woman's right" is either fooling himself or trying to fool you. A person who carries out an evil action -- such as voting for abortion -- performs an immoral act, and his statement of personal opposition to the moral evil of abortion is either self-delusion or a lie. If you vote for such a candidate, you would be an accomplice in advancing the moral evil of abortion.

Listen up Riordan supporters! If you are prolife, think about this! It is so important pro-lifers are united AGAINST people who stand up for the evil of abortion and FOR people who oppose the evil of abortion.

We have a good pro-life candidate. And he can win. He has a lot of money, not just his own money but he's raising a lot of money for other people who support him. His name is Bill Simon. He OPPOSES abortion. And he is a really good speaker. A friend of mine heard him speak (I couldn't because of my kids) who said she was really really impressed that he was so smart and spoke well. We have a good candidate here folks! We have a candidate who can win! We can't throw away our vote by either not voting or voting for Riordan because we think he might be able to beat Davis. Because I don't think he can because he's too liberal.

So let's stand united!

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