Raimondo will help Cicilline woo back key voter bloc: women
August 16th, 2012 at 9:54 am by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes, On the Main Site
Few groups of voters are more crucial to David Cicilline’s hopes of keeping his U.S. House seat than women, and a major announcement from his campaign Wednesday offered a vivid reminder of that.
Cicilline released a list of more than 300 “Women for Cicilline” who will be leading his campaign’s outreach efforts among female voters, which will include a series of house parties that kicked off last night in Middletown. It comes on the heels of his endorsement by abortion-rights groups Planned Parenthood Action Fund and NARAL Pro-Choice America.
And Cicilline has landed a big name as co-chair of the group: Treasurer Gina Raimondo, one of the two most popular politicians in the state. She’ll serve alongside Lt. Gov. Elizabeth Roberts. The group also includes other familiar faces such as Myrth York and Grace Diaz.
Cicilline’s announcement lambasted House Republicans – and, implicitly, GOP vice-presidential pick Congressman Paul Ryan – for their “outrageous” policies: “voting to defund Planned Parenthood and undermine access to contraception to blocking legislation that would help women achieve equal pay for equal work and failing to support stronger protections under the Violence Against Women Act.”
Politically, the big push makes sense for Cicilline.
The final WPRI 12 poll before he won his seat in 2010 showed 51% of women backing him, but the latest poll in February found their support for him down to 37%, giving Republican Brendan Doherty a 7-point lead. For the Democratic primary, Cicilline was 10 points ahead of Anthony Gemma among women in a May WPRI 12 poll.
Cicilline campaign manager Eric Hyers told WPRI.com the long list of women includes individuals from every city and town in the 1st District, and he echoed the candidate’s critique of the House GOP Doherty wants to join. “Our grassroots operation is going to continue working hard to let women know just what is at stake in this election,” Hyers said.
The Doherty campaign has its own Women for Doherty Coalition, which it said in June has a leadership team of 27 and more than 200 members – though the Republican didn’t release a long list of names the way Cicilline did Wednesday. Doherty, who is anti-abortion, declared at the time: “If there is a war on women, I’ll be leading the charge in their defense.”
Doherty campaign manager Ian Prior told RIPR his candidate is “a social conservative, but he’s not a social crusader,” saying he opposes federal funding of abortions but would not support limiting access to contraceptives. In a staunchly Democratic district like the 1st, though, Doherty won’t be helped by spending a lot of time discussing social issues.
(photo: Cicilline’s office)
Tags: 1st Congressional District, campaign 2012, david cicilline, gina r, gina raimondo
Nesi's Notes covers politics and the economy in and around Rhode Island for WPRI.com. (Twitter: 
Interesting article since I believe Treasurer Raimondo has yet to endorse the former mayor in his reelection bid. Also, I suggest you read the most recent investigation on GOLOCALPROV concerning the Treasurer’s connection to/promotion of EVERFI’s financial literacy program in RI high schools.
Only in RI would someone like Cicliine have any chance at all.
I’m shocked that Treas Raimondo would endorse a person with such low ethical standards.
This does not speak well of Ms. Raimondo’s own standards and character.
Looks like Gina Raimondo is getting deeper and deeper involved in the sneakiness of the Democratic party…the association with Cicilline only means she will want his help in 2014 when she wants to run as the governor.
Women should not be taken in by her deception and fraud…Especially those women who got screwed by her in the finance department.
Time and time again, she shows how unethical she really is. These current news stories just validate it.
Who you associate with has a lot to do with who you are, Ms Treasury! You don’t have my vote that’s for sure…I don’t like pay for play, like you did, deception in any form, telling people one thing and doing another and your support for “FOR-PROFIT” education. You better stick to being a treasurer which you won with your cooking of the finance books when you raised the rate of return, you also downgraded the pension liability to a low 48% which scared the public and bamboozled the moron lawmakers in the Gen ASSembly.t
Those are not qualities I would vote for in anyone..scare tactics and pay for play to get $$/support like engage ri is not my idea of an ethical poltiician running RI in 2014…
[...] week. Lincoln Chafee showed it can work in a crowded field. Color me skeptical, though, considering her support for David Cicilline and the way it could complicate her aspirations down the road. Moreover, just a few months ago [...]
[...] Related: Raimondo will help Cicilline woo back key voter bloc: women (Aug. 16) Tags: 1st Congressional District, brendan doherty, campaign 2012, republicans, todd [...]
This is a perfect combination. Cicilline needs money to buy his votes and Raimondo is rich. I bet Raimondo can pay for a lot of buses to bring out of state residents into vote for Cicilline.
Can anyone tell me what the going rate is for my vote?