The House: They Stump to Conquer

Women Runners

"A national evolution," says Nancy Sinnott, campaign director of the National Republican Congressional Committee, and so it seems to be. This year 51 women, 25 Republicans and 26 Democrats, are running for the U.S. House of Representatives.* If the 16 Democratic and 14 Republican women who are given good chances of winning do so, the House will have a record 30 women members in 1981.

The phenomenon is an outgrowth of increased political activity by women at all levels of government. At last count, nearly 14,300 women held over 9% of all local, state and federal elective posts, compared with 5% in 1975. Says Janyce Katz, an official of the National Women's Political Caucus: "Women are coming out of the ranks." They have been helped by the breakdown in party organizations; instead of smoke-filled rooms, most nominees are now chosen in open primaries. And they are finding a new willingness on the part of local groups and national party leaders to contribute money to women's campaigns. For example, in 1978 New Jersey Republican Marge Roukema, 51, raised only $142,000 and lost by 6% of the vote to Democratic Incumbent Andrew Maguire, 41. Says she: "I had fund-raising trouble. I was victimized by people who said, 'She's a woman. Let's hope that she doesn't embarrass herself.' " This year she has raised $258,000, former President Gerald Ford has campaigned on her behalf, and she has a good chance of beating Maguire.

Voters, moreover, are looking at women less as novelties these days. Most women candidates, like the men, are emphasizing economic and defense issues. For instance, in her TV spots, Attorney Sheila Suess, 39, a conservative Republican from Indianapolis, is silhouetted against a B-52 bomber as she says: "If I am elected, I will be a solid vote for a strong national defense." In Colorado, four-term Democratic Incumbent Patricia Schroeder, 40, is opposed by a Republican woman, Denver School Board Member Naomi Bradford, 40. Schroeder, who leads by more than 2 to 1 in the polls, is attacked by Bradford for opposing spending on defense and for failing to support some reclamation projects in Colorado.

Another woman congressional candidate with a commanding lead in the polls is Illinois Republican Lynn Martin, 40, who is running for the House seat being vacated by John Anderson in a district that has never sent a Democrat to Congress. A Julie Andrews lookalike, Martin is a former public school teacher in Rockford who was elected a county commissioner in 1971, a state representative in 1976, and a state senator in 1978. Her hard-driving interest in cutting the state budget caused colleagues to nickname her "the Ax."

Taking no chances on becoming overconfident, Martin has put 26,000 miles on her 1978 Chrysler Le Baron in 14 months of campaigning. She plans to raise $230,000 in funds, to Democratic Opponent Douglas Aurand's modest $60,000. Trying to turn the so-called feminist issues to his own advantage, the portly Aurand, 39, a former telephone company lineman and the Winnebago County treasurer since 1970, wears an embroidered red rose on his lapel, symbolizing his opposition to abortion, and attacks the ERA as opening the way for women to be drafted into the military. The campaign has been refreshingly clean. Says Martin: "I want to be able to face his kids when the election is over."

In another congressional race, in a district that encompasses the industrial cities of Allentown and Bethlehem, Pa., Democrat Jeanette Reibman, 65, is far more experienced in politics than her front-running opponent, Donald Ritter, 40, a former metallurgist and Lehigh University administrator who in 1978 became the first Republican to be elected to Congress from the area in 46 years. An attorney from Easton, Reibman was elected to the state house of representatives in 1954; in 1966 she became Pennsylvania's first elected woman state senator. Says Reibman of her opponent: "The trouble with him is that we have too many inexperienced people in office who do not know how to make government work."

Armed with a budget only slightly less than her opponent's $137,000, Reibman is campaigning on her efforts to attract new industry to Pennsylvania, develop a community college system, increase aid to the elderly and improve environmental protection. Says she: "My name is on practically every piece of legislation that has helped bring Pennsylvania into the 20th century." But Ritter replies that Reibman is too liberal, too much of a big spender for the district, and he even implies that she is too old for the job. Says his press secretary, Russell Mack: "For 20 years she has been part of the old guard, voting for large-scale spending programs. Her views are obsolete." Ritter leads in the race, but polls indicate that Reibman could close the gap.

Even if women candidates lose, political experts figure that they often still gain: men frequently lose the first time they run for Congress, but obtain enough exposure to win the second time around. Says Jeane Kirkpatrick, a political scientist at Georgetown University: "We are seeing women building on experience in politics. It is a changed conception of femininity, first on the part of women and second on the part of men. It is a slow process. It has worked its way up to Congress, and maybe it will even work its way up to the vice presidency and the presidency.''

* In addition, five women (two Democrats and three Republicans) are running for the U.S. Senate.

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