D R A M A_ Q U E E N

This won't hurt a bit! Ever been brought to tears while lying on your back with your legs open in front of a strange doctor? Share your tales of gynecological woe in Drama Queen for a Day contest.

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T A B L E_ T A L K

How do you tell your kids not to do all the things you did when you were their age? Parents with a past discuss fairness in Table Talk's Mothers area

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R E C E N T L Y

Circumcision in America, Part 2
By Debra S. Ollivier
Despite medical and religious debunking, long-standing cultural biases keep the practice of circumcision alive
(10/27/98)

Circumcision in America
By Debra S. Ollivier
How did a medically pointless procedure become a routine practice performed on a majority of American males?
(10/26/98)

Citizens of the world, turn on your televisions!
By Sallie Tisdale
TV opened up my world. Really
(10/22/98)

Mommy's little accessory
By Dayna Macy
Jo Copeland designed glamorous couture clothes for the rich and famous. But while she was an extraordinary designer, she was a disaster as a mother
(10/21/98)

The worst trip ever
By Susan McCarthy
A sweaty cross-country trek in a 1937 Plymouth with two cranky siblings, a kangaroo rat in a box and a pogo stick turns into family legend
(10/20/98)

BROWSE THE MOTHERS WHO THINK FEATURE ARCHIVES

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Mamafesto
By Camille Peri
Why it's time
for Mothers Who Think

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THE MOTHER OF ALL ELECTIONS | PAGE 1, 2
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On the stump, both candidates refer to themselves as moms, invoke their children and claim to be the true candidate for working families. "Nothing is more important to me than my six grandkids, except maybe my two kids," Smith is fond of saying. But the family-values mantra, so resonant just six years ago in campaigns across the country, is barely uttered. Abortion hasn't been much of an issue, even though Murray, one of the staunchest supporters of choice, received a 100 percent approval rating from the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League.

"I haven't heard a peep about abortion," says author Burkett. "People think women of the right are concerned with the same women's issues that liberal women are concerned with. But Smith is the queen of campaign finance reform. She's a right-wing populist. We want to put women politicians in the woman box, but Smith belongs in the right-wing populist box. She's suspicious of government."

Yet at a press conference last week, Smith brought family values in through the back door and railed against her opponent for "raiding Social Security" in order to balance the budget, shortchanging children and seniors. Then she reached into a large glass jar, grabbed a wad of cash, and in a photo-opportunity flourish, crumpled it in her hand to represent the vanishing funds.

"It's these kids you see here today who are going to be in trouble," she said, pointing to two rosy, redheaded toddlers. "I will not violate kids or senior citizens. The only special interests I have are the families of this state."

Murray fought back at an event of her own last Thursday, standing before a podium draped in red, white and blue bunting, with the Sister Sledge song "We Are Family" blaring in the background. She told a group of supporters at Seattle's Planet Hollywood restaurant that on the same day she helped hire 100,000 new teachers, her opponent had accepted $100,000 from the very special interest groups she deplored. The message was clear: Linda Smith is a hypocrite.

Murray's attack was prompted by Smith's acceptance of a much-needed $100,000 infusion from the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee. Smith, who religiously refuses PAC money, saying it would make her beholden to special interests, contends it's kosher to accept funds from the national party, since she doesn't know where the money came from, and thus can't favor donors.

"We don't think that will pass the smell test with voters," says Rex Carney, spokesman for the Murray campaign. "She has made campaign finance reform her No. 1 issue. How can she justify taking this money from the party when it comes from the very interests she has complained about?" But the $100,000 sum is less than half of what the Republicans had allocated for Washington this election season. Because Smith so angered Republican leaders -- including the head of the committee, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky -- by supporting campaign finance reform, the national purse strings were drawn tight.

Nationally, feminist analysts are watching the race to see whether the gains women achieved in the so-called Year of the Woman are enduring. Earlier this year some worried that they weren't, when Murray, Boxer and Moseley-Braun were pronounced in trouble by many Washington pundits. Now, with Murray and Boxer leading in their races -- only Moseley-Braun remains in trouble, largely because of problems of her own making -- advocates for female candidates are a little less tense about Nov. 3.

The candidates themselves say this race has little to do with feminism, or motherhood, but instead reflects two women with different ideologies drawn to public office for their own reasons.

Asked by a reporter how being a mother influenced her politics, Murray laughed. She said she couldn't separate being a mother from growing up in a family that had relied on government help to get through tough times. "When I was 13 my dad was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis," she said. "My mom had never worked and she had to go on welfare while she went back to school. Without that safety net I wouldn't have been educated. My government was there for me and I want to make sure that continues for other families."

Smith, not surprisingly, insists being a woman has little to do with her politics, or her political success.

"I am [in Washington, D.C.] based on my own ability," she said emphatically. "I've been a competitive, aggressive businesswoman, and then a competitive, aggressive political woman. It's not fair to women as a whole to raise up any woman to a position based on the fact that they marketed their tennis shoes."

But a week before Election Day, polls say the familiar "mom in tennis shoes" has the edge with voters over the "competitive, aggressive" Smith.

At a campaign forum at the Primera Blue Cross/Blue Shield in suburban Seattle last week, Dena Jordan, a research analyst and mother in her 40s, came out to hear both women on the issues. But it was Murray she connected with.

"She presents her views in a way that I understand," Jordan said of Murray's plain talk on education and health care. "I like the fact that she is a mom in tennis shoes."
SALON | Oct. 28, 1998

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E L E C T I O N S _.' 9 8

Power play A California ballot drive tries to short-circuit a utility industry bailout.
By Harvey Wasserman
Oct. 27, 1998

Favorite Son Can Asian-American voters boost Republican Matt Fong's sagging Senate campaign?
By William Wong
Oct. 27, 1998

Backlash '98? After dreading November's elections, some Democrats now believe they will benefit from an anti-impeachment voter rebellion.
By Joan Walsh
Oct. 22, 1998

The canary The fate of New York Sen. Alfonse D'Amato might hinge on how strong the toxic blowback is from Capitol Hill's impeachment stink.
By Joe Conason
Oct. 20, 1998