Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Timothy M. Kaine is continuing his courtship of women voters with a new radio ad featuring sound bytes from a recent debate with opponent George Allen.
The one-minute ad, called “Economic Issues,” features Kaine speaking on women’s issues in clips from the Fairfax Chamber-NBC4 debate in McLean. The ad looks to build on the advantage that polls show Kaine already enjoys among women voters.
“It’s demeaning to suggest that issues about women are just social issues and not economic issues,” Kaine said at one point in response to a question by moderator David Gregory. “If you force women to have an ultrasound procedure against their will and pay for it, that’s an economic issue. If you deny women the opportunity because of personhood legislation to make constitutional choices, even including whether to purchase contraception, that’s an economic issue.”
Allen has voiced no opinion on contentious ultrasound legislation that was signed into law earlier this year. But he has supported so-called “personhood” legislation to define life as beginning at conception.
The radio ad also takes a direct shot at Allen, challenging his record on women’s issues.
“When George Allen was in Congress, he repeatedly voted against Family Medical Leave Act. He’s supported the Blunt Amendment to enable employers to take away contraceptive coverage from their employees,” Kaine said at the debate. “These are women’s issues, but they’re bigger than that — they’re family issues. And they’re economic issues.”
“When Tim Kaine talks about women facing difficult economic issues, he is right. Under the Obama-Kaine economic policies of the last four years, women have disproportionately borne the brunt of the worst economic recovery since the Great Depression,” responded Allen campaign spokeswoman Emily Davis.
“Unfortunately, Kaine would rather borrow attacks from his Washington playbook than talk about his own economic record,” Davis added, accusing Kaine of making cuts to education, proposing tax hikes and job losses during his term as governor.
