Calling single women

    Today's Star reported that Claire McCaskill owes her Senate victory to lopsided support she garnered from unmarried voters, especially women.

    It didn't happen by chance, as the Greater Kansas City Women's Political Caucus -- which endorsed McCaskill -- now weighs in with some insights on how single women locally were urged to get out and vote.

     Start with a list of some 32,000 single women ages 18 to 45 in Jackson, Platte and Clay counties. These happen to be "drop off voters," those inclined to cast their ballots for president but not in midterm elections.

   (The list itself is political gold. Research from the 2004 elections showed that single women were more apt than married women to favor "progressive" change and Democratic candidates -- but far less apt to vote at all.)

    Commit $30,000 just for postage. Find a couple of women in their 20s to write and design mailings saying, without naming candidates, "This is your chance to make a difference" and offering free rides to the polls.   

    Send out, oh, 93,000 postcards in all. Just before Election Day. Absentee-ballot mailings, too. And fliers about the minimum wage and how stem-cell research could help kids in wheelchairs.

    "Some people thought we wouldn't have the money to pull it off -- too big of an effort," reports the group's executive director, Tamara Morris. "We thought it was worth it and would make the difference.

     "We were right."

Posted by Rick Montgomery

Comments

[BoratSagdiyev]

I writes open letter at womens in Missouri not have the husbands. I born Kazakhstan so cannot run twenty hundred eight for to replace Premier Bush. That okay. NOT!

Since cannot be Premier U S and A I campane instead for be Premier City Kansas. I like you. You like me? Single womens pleave vote my name okay? If want meets me I have ice cream truck for running mobile campane. Outside I paint my name and look very nice. Inside not so much. Maybe you be my wife wah wah weeh wah.

A list of 32,000 single women? All of legal age? Priceless!

[Robert]

was a very wise investment.......these women have been ignored and as we've seen across the country, wooing them is a wise investment.

[meyoudink]

Cheers to the Women's Political Caucus.

[jenniferm]

Those single women probably didn't like the fact that Jim Talent had no balls.

But seriously, young people in general came out in droves this election, which is quite remarkable. Hopefully they see the value in making their voice heard through voting. That really is the only power the people have--and they spoke loudly a week ago.

[Bydsm]

Amazing. Claire spends over a year with her mom touring rural Missouri and raises her vote total out there from near zero to competitive and wins by far less than her increased turnout in rural Missouri. Now the Womens caucus wants credit for the win because they sent a postcard to each other. Claire has Always had urban single women and that postcard in the avalanche of mail had zero effect on the outcome. Give Claire credit she won this race in rural Missouri not with a postcard from the Caucus. Sheez.

[Joe Barone]

I have thought a combination of issues were more imporant than the stem cell issue in helping to elect McCaskill. Among those would be the minimum wage and women's issues.

[shrugging]

A list that provides names, addresses, ages, sex and voting habits, what will they think of next. Where's the privacy screamers now?

Claire lost in the county where her family had the mill she ran in her ads by about 1000 votes!

[Jim]

32,000 single women? Then why does dateing suck so bad in KC? :)

[tlovin]

Claire McCaskill skipped her first week of work and her first votes as a Senator-elect. Now she won’t tell reporters where she is because it’s “private.” Bob Holden Democrats, still smarting over her win, have revealed her location: she’s in Bali.

The GKCWPC is a fantastic group that proved the power of women voters. It's sad to see every Republican use them as a "Radical Feminist Organization", considering it's a bi-partisan group.