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Progressive group under fire from Sanders crowd

With its mission statement, “We elect pro-choice Democratic women to office,” it would appear pretty obvious that the progressive political-interest group EMILY’s List would endorse Hillary Clinton for president. And, of course, it’s done just that.

Wholeheartedly. Enthusiastically. Without a second thought.

What’s more surprising, and for that reason newsworthy, is that some members of the American left are so fired up for Sen. Bernie Sanders’ campaign that they aren’t willing to leave well enough alone. Instead, they’re wasting energy tilting at windmills by insisting on questioning the progressive leadership at EMILY’s List. Which, if you haven’t heard, exists “to elect pro-choice Democratic women to office.”

It’s enough to make you wonder, as David Freedlander asked in The Daily Beast, “Is the war on women — or on women’s groups, anyway — coming to the Democratic Party, too?”

EMILY’s List has walked point for three decades on behalf of pro-choice Democratic women candidates and can take credit for big inroads in the U.S. Senate and House. But now it’s being hit from the left for endorsing candidates who meet its mission statement but are more conservative on economic policy. The Progressive Campaign Change Committee isn’t shy about leveling criticism of the group.

Its spokeswoman tells Freedlander, “The Elizabeth Warren wing of American politics is ascendant — and when groups like EMILY’s List are part of helping us win more seats for populist progressives, we’re happy to work with them.”

Such comments leave EMILY’s List President Stephanie Schriock scratching her head.

“First, I don’t think EMILY’s List or so many other progressive advocates buy into a small group of folks deciding who’s progressive and who’s not progressive,” Schriock said Saturday after a rally and Clinton caucus organizing meeting in Boulder City. “Hillary Clinton has spent her entire life fighting for women and children. … The Sanders campaign is not going to define who is progressive and who is not progressive.”

From going door to door after law school on behalf of the Children’s Defense Fund to leading the fight for the creation and passage of the Children’s Health Insurance Program as first lady, Clinton has been a tireless advocate, Schriock says.

In addition, you may recall, Clinton is also a “pro-choice Democratic woman.”

But it also begs the question of whether Clinton is having trouble firing up young women raised in a generation that is more focused on economics than equality. Are they hearing Sanders’ anti-Wall Street message and aren’t as moved by Clinton’s “equal pay for equal work” mantra?

A recent Wall Street Journal/NBC/Marist College poll of New Hampshire Democrats noted that 64 percent of women under 45 surveyed supported Sanders with 35 percent siding with Clinton, The New York Times reported Monday.

Clinton does much better with older women, who clearly are more likely to appreciate her focus on the issue of pay equality. In the same Times article, prominent Clinton supporters former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, feminist icon Gloria Steinem and others at times have lapsed into chiding young female voters to better appreciate the potential to help make history.

Schriock is happy to spar with anyone who challenges Clinton’s superior experience and advocacy — and a more realistic economic plan.

“She is someone who can get things done,” Schriock says. “She is absolutely the leader we need to carry on in the next four years. That’s why EMILY’s List proudly supports Hillary Clinton.”

If Schriock is concerned, it doesn’t show. As you might guess, she downplays the sniping from the more-progressive-than-thou crowd and reminds skeptics that after the Granite State, Clinton enjoys broad-based support from Democrats throughout much of the country.

“It doesn’t complicate anything,” she says of the grousing. “…We have so many women standing up and volunteering and giving so much of their time for Hillary Clinton.”

Just not in New Hampshire, perhaps.

— John L. Smith’s column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. Contact him at 702 383-0295, or jsmith@reviewjournal.com. On Twitter: @jlnevadasmith

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