GOP Bails on Its Feminine Side

Purge of moderates will render party male-dominated
By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 9, 2009 4:47 PM CST
GOP Bails on Its Feminine Side
This combination image of Oct. 2009, file photos shows Congressional candidates in New York's 23rd district, Democrat Bill Owens, Conservative Party Dan Hoffman, and Republican Dede Scozzafava.   (AP Photo/FILES)

Rebelling conservatives pushed Republican Dede Scozzafava out of the House race in New York’s 23rd District because she’s a moderate. But she’s also a woman, and her ouster points to a toxic side effect of the tea party revolution: the closing of the GOP to all but the most reactionary female candidates. Over the past 2 decades, pragmatic moderate women made up a substantial part of the Republican’s House majorities, but today the party has only 17 women in the chamber, and 13 challengers for 2012.

Scozzafava’s experience “is a terrific example of what happens when you have a strong, moderate Republican woman on the ticket,” a Rutgers political scientist tells Politico. “She struggled because the stalwarts of the party turned against her.” Ohio Rep. Deborah Pryce agrees: “Look at what’s happened in New England. We’ve lost virtually all of our seats there because the base of the party doesn’t take kindly to moderates.”
(More Dede Scozzafava stories.)

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