You could say it was just a dinner, and it was an honor, and it wasn’t explictly ideological at all, and leave it at that, and be honest as far as that goes. But this attendance at this event is going to go much further: you can just see it working its way into campaign speech after campaign speech over the next few months – and not the speeches of the honoree.
The event in question was an awards dinner by the WCF, the Women’s Campaign Fund, and it was held in New York City on March 13. The group is about encouraging women to run for office – no particular or specific philosophical inclincation necessary, and people of both major political parties are involved. (It’s buried in the organizational literature these days, but the group clearly is pro-choice on abortion.) And yet you get a sense that there is a tilt here. The guests include Massachusetts Senator John Kerry and his wife, and Ann Richards, the former Democratic governor of Texas (before she lost to George W. Bush) and Charles Rangel, the Democratic congressman from New York. The guest speaker is Al Franken, of Air America.
The lone “honored guest” from the Northwest: former Idaho state Senator Sheila Sorensen, now seeking the Republican nomination for the U.S. House.
Who really might have done better without the honor.
This was one award that, as the Red State Rebels blog predicted, hasn’t yet appeared on Sorensen’s campaign web site. But it has been noticed.
Consider this post from Bryan Fischer of the Idaho Values Alliance: “. . . it seems that Ms. Sorenson has shown her true colors by attending a pro-abortion event earlier this week in New York City. The Women’s Campaign Fund held a fundraiser Monday night, hosted by liberal talk show host Al Franken, to raise money for its foundation and its political action committee. The fund offers financial help to women candidates of both political parties who support abortion rights. Ms. Sorenson was in attendance, and her pictured appeared prominently in at least one press account of the event.”
The web site of Bill Sali, the top campaign fundraiser so far, had this from its campaign manager: “I’ll guess Sheila Sorensen is hoping nobody notices way back here in conservative Idaho. Apparently Sheila thinks she can talk conservative with the voters of Idaho and then raise money from some of the most liberal activists across the country. Does Sheila believe that what happens in New York stays in New York? Since she is running as a Republican candidate, Sorensen owes the voters of Idaho an explanation for why she was an “honored guest” at a liberal fundraiser headlined by Al Franken, a radical liberal who has called for the impeachment of George W. Bush, and said in his own book that he supports gay marriage and abortion on demand.”
This is only the beginning: You’ll be hearing much more about this. Over and over again, in the next couple months . . .
UPDATE (3/18) The Sorensen campaign notes, in response, that it is not raising or accepting money generated from the WFC event, and that Sorensen attended in large part t0 listen – not a bad thing for a prospective lawmaker to do. It also noted that not all the people noted as being invited guests at the event actually appeared there. Our view was not, in any event, that Sorensen was wrong to attend – other than from a politically strategic standpoint. On that front, we still see no reason to think that damage will not occur, or that it will be minor when it does.
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