Sen. Clinton Supports Webb in Va. Campaign
2006-10-04
Source: Washington Post
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rss feedSen. Hillary Rodham Clinton endorsed Democratic Senate candidate James Webb yesterday as he and Republican Sen. George Allen intensified their efforts to woo female voters in the Virginia campaign's closing month.
The high profile appearance by Clinton (D-N.Y.) at a fundraising lunch in Old Town Alexandria provided a needed boost to Webb, whom Allen has criticized for his past attitude toward women in the military.
While the former first lady was announcing her support for Webb, Allen was attending a similar function in Fredericksburg held by his wife, Susan, and Cecelia Howell, the wife of House of Delegates Speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford).
The Senate candidates' views toward women have become a central character issue of the campaign. Allen, who has had problems with questions about his racial sensitivity, has sought to shift attention to Webb's opposition 27 years ago to women in combat.
Allen is running an expensive statewide television advertising campaign featuring three female graduates of the U.S. Naval Academy complaining about remarks Webb wrote in a 1979 magazine article, "Women Can't Fight." Webb, a former Marine and secretary of the Navy, began airing an ad yesterday with a female academy graduate rebutting the allegations.
Echoing the theme of Webb's ad, Clinton told reporters: "I've watched and analyzed what Jim Webb has done when he was in the Pentagon, opening up positions -- thousands of them -- to women when previously they had not been available. We have women serving with valor and distinction because the battlefield has changed."
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