[NYTr] Activists Against Domestic Violence See Rare Ally in Joe Biden Campaign

Thu Dec 13 15:23:19 EST 2007

Womens eNews - Dec 13, 2007
http://www.womensenews.org

Safety Activists See Rare Ally in Biden Campaign

By Allison Stevens - Washington Bureau Chief

WASHINGTON (WOMENSENEWS)--Democratic presidential candidate Joseph
Biden responded to a question about immigration in last week's radio
debate on National Public Radio by raising the problem of domestic
violence.

"It is relevant, believe it or not," said Biden, the 34-year veteran
senator from Delaware who chairs the Foreign Relations Committee.

Immigrant women get "the living crap beat out of them" but are "afraid
to acknowledge they're being brutalized because they'll be deported,"
he said. Current law now protects battered immigrant women from
immediate deportation "so you can put the S.O.B. who's beating her in
jail."

Biden, in other words, continued to act as the Democrats' point person
on domestic violence.

The Delaware senator is the only candidate to give premium campaign
space to the issue. He highlights domestic violence on the home page of
his campaign Web site with a clip of a filmed speech about domestic
violence and links to newspaper articles about his efforts to address
the issue in the Senate.

He also talks up his record on the trail. Since 1994, he has sought to
increase federal funding for domestic violence programs and to expand
the scope of the federal response to domestic violence with a measure
to create an electronic network of 100,000 lawyers willing to volunteer
work on behalf of victims.

Pushing International Scope

He has also introduced a bill that would combat violence against women
at an international level. I-VAWA, for International Violence Against
Women Act, commits the United States to ending violence against women
around the globe and awaits committee attention. Last week, Biden
introduced a resolution designating Feb. 4-8 as National Teen Dating
Violence Awareness and Prevention Week.

Most other Democratic candidates raise the issue on their campaign Web
sites but to a lesser extent than Biden; no Republican candidates make
obvious mention of it on their campaign sites.

"We're very thankful to have someone who's been a champion of this
issue bringing it to presidential election," said Jill Morris, public
policy director at the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, an
advocacy organization based in Denver.

Biden took special interest in the issue in the early 1990s, when he
served as chair of the Judiciary Committee. At the time, reports of
domestic violence surged, even as crime was in an overall decline.
Biden saw a legislative answer to help battered women, and began
writing the Violence Against Women Act. Passed in 1994, it established
federal programs to combat domestic violence.

Widespread Problem

Any politician has a good reason to work on the issue.

One in 4 women experiences domestic violence over the course of their
lifetimes, 1 in 6 suffers an attempted or completed rape, and 1 in 12
is stalked, according to the National Coalition Against Domestic
Violence, an advocacy organization based in Denver. The vast majority
of victims are female, although more than a quarter--27 percent--of
victims of family violence are male. Men are 16 percent of the victims
of spousal abuse and 14 percent of abuse by boyfriends, according to
the coalition.

But Biden, who claimed only 4 percent of Democratic voter support
nationwide in a CNN survey conducted earlier this month, pushes the
issue only so far.

Like the other candidates he sticks mainly to issues that top the list
of voters' surveyed concerns: the war in Iraq, the economy, health
care, terrorism, immigration, education and the environment. As chair
of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he pays special attention to
international issues such as the threat of war with Iran.

Biden would have little to gain politically if he did make domestic
violence his highest priority, said Carol Hardy-Fanta, director of the
Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy at the University of
Massachusetts in Boston. Candidates neglect domestic violence because
legislative solutions to counter the problem enjoy wide bipartisan
support, leaving candidates no room to draw differences with their
opponents.

"The issues that sort of get momentum for a candidate are ones where a
person can distinguish themselves and change the direction of the
debate," she said. Domestic violence, she said, is not likely to serve
as the kind of pivotal wedge issue that candidates rally around.

Constituency in Waiting

But Morris thinks candidates could still benefit from giving the issue
more attention. Simply taking a public stand could appeal to groups
representing constituents who range from law enforcement, the
judiciary, women's rights, anti-violence and children's welfare, Morris
said. "I think it's an easy win."

In a 2006 Lifetime Television poll, nearly 8 of 10 women and men said
preventing violence against women was a top election concern, more so
than or on par with issues that get much more attention like jobs and
the economy, health care, education, national security, the war in Iraq
and the environment.

Yet few candidates spoke out on the issue, said Cheryl O'Donnell, a
spokesperson for the National Network to End Domestic Violence in
Washington, D.C. She thinks candidates could appeal to millions of
victims by addressing the issue.

"Over the last two years, we've really been trying to make the issue of
domestic violence a higher profile issue during campaigns," O'Donnell
said, adding that she hopes Biden's example will encourage the other
candidates to talk about it more.

Democrat Karen Hartley-Nagle, a former battered mother from Delaware
who is running for Congress, prioritizes issues like the Iraq war,
health care, jobs and the economy, but counts herself and Biden among
the few politicians willing to talk about domestic violence publicly.

"By us talking about it, it lets other politicians know that this is
not a taboo subject. It's not a subject you need to stay away from to
get elected."

For more information:

Women's eNews Spotlight on 2008 Presidential Election: -
http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/3410/

"Biden Wants Legal Brigade for Domestic Safety": -
http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/3029/context/archive

National Coalition Against Domestic Violence: - http://www.ncadv.org