candid conversations with active and retired justices, reporters who cover the court, and attorneys who argue the cases there, revealing unique insights about the court. it is available in hardcover wherever you buy books. >> what are people watching on the c-span video library? you might be surprised, whether it is the most you give us today, in the past, or over the past month, click over "most watched." watch what you want, when you want. >> newsmakers is pleased to welcome stephanie schriock.

let me introduce our two reporters. michael o'brien is with us. and karo -- this year was a record year for the number of female candidates for house and senate, but not in the general election. what you think the dynamic is there? >> it is good news that we have more women running across the country. gender is not an obstacle to leadership in this country. for 25 years, we have worked very hard to make sure that every year is the year of the woman. we have wonderful candidates running for reelection this challengingl as chancello incumbents. we have seen a number of

republican women who ran in did not make it through their primaries. that is something to be said about what is happening around the republican party. they are very -- it shows how conservative they have become to get that nomination. that is why we have lost republican women. >> most folks agree that this will be a strong year for republicans. they could possibly win the house and they're hoping for the senate, but that looks less likely. it would seem that the democrats would need to build up turnout. what is the strategy to get republican women to the polls this year? >> id is really women who make the difference for democratic candidates. we have seen consistent gender gaps in the elections for decades now. it is something that emily's list has been working on.

we just recently came out with a survey. we talked to democratic women voters in particular, women who often vote in presidential years, but not necessarily in mid terms. unlike other democratic voters that you see polling over the last month, democrat women are not angry. they are more discouraged. we also found that they are hungry for information about the choices they are facing. what do the republican candidates stand for? what do the democratic candidates stand for? when they walk through what the differences are, not only do they continue to vote for the democratic side, but there are

more enthusiastic. >> recently, you said the republicans are trying to discourage women to vote this year. what did you mean by that? >> as we hear the constant dialogue, particularly among pundits on the cable news, there is so much noise, none of which is talking to the concerns that are facing american women. american women, like all americans, but in particular, are struggling to make ends meet. they're not quite sure how to make sure the have enough money for child care. they're working full-time. all of this back and forth and negativity in and anger that is particularly coming out of the tea party is not speaking to what they're dealing with everyday. that is something that is really discouraging women.

that is why, at emily's list, we're very focused at having conversations with democratic voters around the country to lay out the clear choice and talk about how much we need them to vote this year. >> i would like to ask specifically about the turnout initiatives. understand that two of them have led to increases in volunteer rates. you talk a little bit about how they are related to boosting turnout in this election. >> absolutely. over the summer, as we hear more and more about sarah palin and the candidates that she has endorsed, we felt it was time to really lay out the clear choice between the candidates sarah

palin has endorsed and the democratic women candidates around the country. part of the reason we did it was as an education tool to make sure that voters knew what her endorsed candidates are standing for. what has resulted was an amazing outcry of energy and desire to get involved in this election. we have gotten all kinds of volunteers committed to making phone calls to their neighbors and their friends to ensure they get out and vote. lots of folks are pledging to vote because they want to make sure, particularly as women, that it is clear that sarah does not speak for them.

boners america.org -- senator boehner's america.org is about that. >> you have sharon angle and christine o'donnell. is this a short-lived phenomenon? >> i think it is something that will very much continue. we really do feel strongly that we need more women to run for office in this country. only 17% of congress today are women. the mass majority of those 70%

are women. -- are democratic women -- the vast majority of that 17% is democratic women. the republican candidates are not only very extreme, but they go against empowering women. that is why we believe we will continue to see a gender gap in this election when we convince them to get out and vote. >> by choosing national figures liked governor palin and senator boehner, how will this work for you to have a national campaign in the midterms? >> the national campaign itself is really about energizing

activists and volunteers around the country. it is to do exactly what you said, to get to work in those districts. these campaigns this year, they will be fought out in each individual district in each individual state. our candidates will be talked about and debated locally. i think we have started to see some movement, especially in marketing. in colorado, the democratic running for reelection has had a tough go ahead, but this week, she is only down three. that is a huge improvement over the summer. why is that happening? one because she is a smart bus -- a smart business woman who speaks to the issues interdistrict. that election, like so many of them, is about issues in colorado. we will see that the district- by-district.

>> where you looking at this year and how are you spending money? >> we have had a great cycle. we have raised and spent $43 million, some of which went directly to candidates. early money is like yeast. it helps the dough rise. what we see this year, we will do as much as we can to get as much money as we can. we have contributions down a little bit. we think that is a recession problem. but we do two things. we bundle and get that many stick to the candidates, straight to barbara boxer and mary jo kilroy and write to their campaigns.

the other piece we are committed to do is turn up the democratic women voters around the country. we do that through an independent expenditure program called "and women vote." if we do advertising that lays out the case for the voters, particularly women democratic voters. we will do both those things until the polls close on november 2. of prioritization, taking a look at the 31 house and senate candidates on your web site, you have two senate incumbents and eight house incumbents or talked about as lean seat. you have also listed two senate candidates in state democratic races. i am wondering what the strategy is for your wisdom behind that.

a lot of people in the marginal districts will need as much support as possible. >> it is a challenge that we deal with everyday. our priority is to ensure as many as our pro-jewish democratic women incumbents win reelection and we also look for those opportunities where we can -- pro-choice democratic women incumbents win reelection and we also look for those opportunities where we can hope new candidates. we will do independent expenditure work and we're looking closely at the house mumbles who really are the fire wall of ensuring the majority does not slip away. that is really where we prioritized. earlier in the year, we support ed a number can bandits -- and

member of canada's. one of our early winners was terry -- a number of candidates. one of our early winners was sewellsol once we get to a place where they are little more solidified in their base, we tend to ask our members to focus on those races that are much tighter. our membership -- they have to

make decisions, too. so they look at the list of candidates and make decisions on where they want their resources. but we do focus everybody's energy on those races that are so incredibly tight, like new hampshire. >> i like your how the citizens united decision has affected the races this year. >> it is very interesting. when it happened, we knew we would see it start changing as we got closer to the election. i think we are seeing it. there is so much money coming into the chamber commerce and through american crossroads where we do not even know or the donors are coming from. it has really opened up some doors for a very large corporate checks and individual checks that we will not know where they

are coming from. it is a bombarding our members and democrats around the country. i was looking at the numbers in washington state before it came over and there is such a difference between how much republican conservative money is being spent against patty murray vs what the democratic side has put together. it has really opened the floodgates. i think we are living it right now. >> i think the same is true in many other states, too. there are some many republican groups out there spending money this year. what other democratic groups are there out there besides you guys. -- besides you guys? >> the labor union community has been amazing this year. they have released an up and gone resources to educate their members, to make sure their

members turnout, which is a huge piece of the work any to do with democrats. and also counteract some of the spending. we do not have the same kind of resources as some very large corporations. we just do not. particularly, in this economic environment. so organizations like emily's list, who depend on the $100 check and we get support from individuals around the country, but those individuals are dealing with recession and what wall street is doing and they wonder how their stocks are doing. it is a different situation. that is the difference between the two parties. who will those parties represent wants to get there? >> i want to ask a broader question about the impact of this and it -- of this election. you have eight candidates in the house that are threatening to

flip, who are in lean or toss of distress. let's assume they lose. >> do we have to assume that? [laughter] >> what is the impact of the role of women in the house, abortion rights, if those specific candidates lose? what is the impact of the democrats lose control of the house? >> it is stark. it is why we will spend every day making sure that a number, if not all, of those on emily's list have that candidate selection. what does it mean if john boehner become speaker? and this group of fairly extreme right-wing republicans win?

he has literally said that he does not know how to create jobs. it is not his job to create jobs. what does that mean? we have john boehner who is talking about the need to create jobs and candidates saying that it is not their role in this. there is a disconnect going on there. it is a huge problem and it is also about dismantling health care. they have made it clear on the republican side that they want to dismantle the health care reform. we want to remind everybody what it did for women in this country. it made it so we are not a pre- existing condition just by virtue of being a woman. and you think about the debate a year ago. i remember seeing senator john

kyl come to the for the united states senate and saying we should not pay for maternity coverage because i do not need maternity coverage. and senator debbie sao said, yes, but i bet your mother did. that is what it means to have women on the floor of the senate and on the floor of the house. without that perspective, the policy is that we are -- the policies that we are adopting will not represent the population. >> women or democratic women on the floor of the senate to? >> i would say that democratic women have fought very hard for things like maternity coverage and have really fought to ensure that women have choices in their lives, particularly in their reproductive health. i think about the women who fought hard to ensure that the very first bill that got through was the lowly ledbetter

act for fair play. that was because there were a lot of democratic women who fought very hard to make that happen. >> it was written about your announcement on the senator boehner campaign this week. we men are involved in the process -- criticizing them for policy is one thing, but criticizing them as being chauvinistic when women are participating in that party is the heart of the complaint. >> we want to make this clear. it is about the policy. it is about policies that empowerment to raise their families the way they want to raise their families, to have carriers and not have careers, to figure out the work-life

balance. it is very much about the policies. we have a thought about republican candidates around the country who want to lessen the ability for women of this country to make their own choices. i think that is what that is about. >> barbara boxer in california, cathy marie in washington, will we see them in d.c. next year? >> yes. they have done a great job of representing the people of their state. at the end of this -- at the end of the day, californians and washingtonians will go to the polls and send them to the office that does the job for their home state. >> there is an audiotape from jerry brown's campaign. i can see it that you are aware

of it. an assistant in his campaign referred to meg whitman as "and core." >> it is inappropriate. -- as "a whore." >> it is inappropriate. what is the room at -- what is the ramification of words like this being used in a public forum? >> it should not be used by anyone any where. it is not what our democracy is about. it is unfortunate to hear in any place. >> beyond this program, are you intending to speak out? >> i will continue to make it clear that it is inappropriate. we have a lot to do to focus on our incumbent women who are running for reelection. we will keep that focus.

he should apologize. >> i just wanted to take a look again at that landscape and the cross of candidates you have. you have conversely a crop of some republican women. who would you most like to see win from your crop and who would you most like to see lose? >> from ours? [laughter] >> note, which republican women would like to see this? >> we will focus on reelecting are pro-choice of democratic women, barbara boxer, patty murray, and i would sure like to elect alex sink who is running for governor in florida. this is something we are very focused on. we really want to see the democrats maintain a majority in both the house and the senate. i hope we can do everything we

can to make sure that the democratic women get out to vote in all districts around the country. we do support pro-choice democratic women and that is what we're focused on. >> roll call just put out the top 10 most vulnerable incumbent list. out of the top 10 were a freshman democratic women. if you were there campaign manager, what would you tell them to talk about. -- about? >> we talked every single day. we had such success in 2008 getting a number of women elected. the first re-election is always the toughest. in this environment, is particularly tough.

it is about jobs. it is about the economy. and it is about the people in your district. all of them have done exactly that. i think you'll see a lot of them coming back after this election. >> should we expect tv advertising from emily's list? >> you probably have seen some already. we are hoping to do as much as we can. >> that is our time. thank you very much for being with us. >> it has been a pleasure. >> "newsmakers" is back after talking with stephanie schriock of stephanie's list. we heard her talk about her desire to get women out to the polls this year for progressive candidates. how much of a challenge does the organization face? >> it is tough. not only that, it is an off

year. it is a midterm year and less people are interested in voting point it is harder in general to get people out. the mood, you are right, is bad. people are buying that the replica of -- the republicans are doing very well. the question is will these women's issues be something that will address turnout or not? we will see. but the midterm elections are independent voters. will they be coming up to the polls and will they be voting for democrats? that is the other question. >> from the top down, the white house, the democratic national committee, they have been focused on the use of women voters, especially first-time women voters. they think that bringing them back to the polls this time will be key to stop and losses or

minimizing losses. they are one of the most targeted groups that the official democratic party is trying to get to turn out. but groups like emily's list will be providing a really big assist to those efforts combined. we will see whether or not they can stop some of those losses. >> the first lady this week was named the most powerful woman on "forbes" list of 100. they will put her on the campaign trail. how big a drought will the first lady before the kinds of voters that emily's list is trying to attract to the polls? >> first, their moms. s. they are mom' i think michelle obama could certainly bring up some of those voters. with the mood of the electorate,

it may be harder this year, but, certainly, polls show that she is a very popular person, even more popular than her husband. >> she has an extraordinarily large draw. the administration has helped her out as this example of a successful, professional woman. that is the type of voter that they are trying to bring out. they are deploying her strategically. she is going to ohio. that is not an accident. she is not going to massachusetts or alaska. she is going to ohio, the state that has a lot of those voters and will really be key to delivering democrats some of the victories they need. >> what about the tactic announce this week by emily's list which is the campaign surrounded around john boehner. he has fruit -- he has fairly well recognition numbers.

would you comment about that as a tactic to try to identify mr. boehner and have people relate to jobs in their own districts? >> for someone who has low recognition, they have the ability to now portray him as -- is a good time to start doing that. they tell people that this is what mr. boehner stands for. that is probably a very good tactic. >> making the link between what mr. boehner stands for and what is happening in our district seems to be the challenge. >> yes. this is what families list is try to do to complement the democratic effort. they're trying to make him well known and define him, if he would become speaker, if he would