The ladies man

Kate Michelman, lifelong feminist and former head of NARAL, talks about why she's signed up to work for John Edwards.

By Rebecca Traister

Read more: Presidential Race, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Politics, Elections, Feminism, John Edwards, Rebecca Traister, Life, NARAL Pro-Choice America

Jan. 29, 2007 | With the Democratic presidential field full to bursting a year before the first primaries and caucuses, contenders have already gotten grabby over campaign staffs, consultants, celebrity spokespeople and fundraising powerhouses. Further gumming up the assembly of political machinery is the historic nature of campaigns by a female candidate, Hillary Clinton, and an African-American, Barack Obama. As a result, perhaps, primary teams are defying expectations and conventional wisdom.

One of the most unexpected alliances announced in these early days has been the hiring of leading women's rights advocate Kate Michelman by former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards. Michelman's new role, as a senior advisor to the Edwards campaign, has surprised many who might have assumed that the former head of NARAL Pro-Choice America would have automatically reported for duty at Camp Hillary, where women's history may be in the making.

Michelman spoke by phone to Salon about her decision to hitch her star to the Edwards campaign.

What is your role in the campaign?

I am a senior advisor. I will advise on message, strategy and organizational development as we move from state to state. I hope to contribute to fundraising. And I am going to spend a great deal of my time organizing women for Edwards. National security, foreign relations, healthcare, education, the economy -- it takes deliberate and careful thought as to how women see these issues, and I hope to play a role in focusing on how each of the issues can be discussed in ways that are more meaningful to women. The other important role I will play is as a surrogate for John. I will travel the country and speak to groups and rallies for John when he can't be there or when [his wife] Elizabeth can't be there. The goal will be educating people about John's views, his mission, and inspiring commitment to John's vision, with particular emphasis on the future of women's role in society.

Do you think women think differently than men on every issue?

No. I don't mean to say that every issue has a male and female component. But I do think there are issues women approach with a different perspective, often a very personal perspective. Men approach reproductive rights from a policy perspective, and women think about it from a personal point of view, obviously because reproductive decision-making is so compelling a reality in women's lives. So we start with the personal and build out to policy. Women do that on many issues, and I want to just remind the campaign about that. On issues like national security or the threat of terrorism, you can add to the discussion the security of families. Often in campaigns there hasn't been a sensibility about how to communicate to women. But John has a keen understanding of these things, and is very sensitive to how women think about issues.

What issues loom largest for women voters right now?

Women care about national security; there's a foreboding that women feel. Violence in society is a major concern; whether that translates to support for gun control or not is another issue. How a candidate views the selection of Supreme Court justices is not an issue that polls high, but it is of great concern. Then there is the economy; we have so many single women, many women in poverty, many working women, who are struggling to make ends meet, that the security of jobs is a big concern, and healthcare is an enormous issue for women. Also, quality education for their families, as well as their rights and liberties.

Women's rights and liberties do not come up straightaway when you poll people about which issues are most compelling to them. But some of those deeper values women expect from a candidate include the value of a woman's rights to dignity, to equality, to privacy, a woman's right to determine the course of her life, to equal pay, to healthcare. They may not poll as "issues" like healthcare or education, but they are factors that contribute to a way that a voter sees a candidate.

Have you ever played this role in another presidential campaign?

No, because until 2004, I ran NARAL for 20 years. There, I ran campaigns in presidential contexts, trying to move voters to a particular candidate. And in 2004, I served at the DNC [Democratic National Committee] as chair of the Campaign to Save the Court. But I have never served on a presidential candidate's team before.

Al Gore hired Naomi Wolf as a consultant in 2000; she memorably advised him to wear earth tones, or so it was reported. But aside from that, have other candidates hired prominent feminists to advise their campaigns at high levels, or is your position a first?

Well, there aren't that many of us who have held national women's rights leadership positions. I'm thinking back to Mondale, and I don't think he had a national women's rights leader on his team, but there were organizations like NOW advising him because of [Geraldine] Ferraro. I do think that if not totally unique, that it is rather unusual to have someone like me at a high level as a part of a campaign.

And, clearly, he asked you very early on in the campaign.

Yes, very early on. So I think that says a lot about his seriousness and commitment to addressing the experiences of women in society. I think it speaks very well of him. And while I've been a leader on women's liberties and equality, I'm known mostly for my work on reproductive rights, which could make a candidate feel somewhat reluctant or questioning. But it didn't with John and Elizabeth.

I have often felt that in the past, campaigns have paid lip service to women, or treated them as a constituency. Well, excuse me. I hate to be treated as a constituency. We are people. We are a force, a vital centerpiece of society as a whole -- and in the past I have felt insulted that issues of concern to women have been given only lip service. But John is doing anything but that. Bringing someone like me on board is a real statement about that.

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