text: Groups on both sides of abortion debate boost their support for dueling female candidates 
   
   By Julian Pecquet - 
   
   The pro-abortion rights group EMILY's List launched an Internet campaign on Tuesday aimed at creating support for the 32 female candidates it is endorsing for state and federal office this year. The campaign, called "Sarah Doesn't Speak for Me," aims to counter former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's (R) high-profile endorsements of "Mama Grizzly" candidates who want to restrict abortion rights. 
   
   At a press conference Tuesday, EMILY's List President Stephanie Schriock called the Mama Grizzlies "backwards-looking." The charge immediately drew reaction from the competing Susan B. Anthony List, which supports abortion opponents for office. 
   
   "EMILY’s List is running scared — and it shows," Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser said in a statement. "Clearly, in this ‘Year of the Pro-Life Woman,’ which Sarah Palin helped make possible, women have found their political voices. Pro-life ‘Mama Grizzlies’ represent the majority of women across the country." 
   
   Schriock called her group's new campaign a "get out the vote hub" and drew particular attention to three key races where its candidates are running against Sarah Palin's endorsees: the California Senate race pitting Sen. Barbara Boxer (D) against Republican Carly Fiorina; the Minnesota House race where Tarryl Clark hopes to unseat Rep. Michele Bachmann (R); and the New Mexico governor's race pitting Democrat Diane Denish against Republican Susana Martinez. 
   
   The EMILY's List campaign features an Internet video of women in bear costumes mocking the "Mama Grizzlies" slogan. The women caution Palin that "there are plenty of Mama Grizzlies out there who would disagree with you." 
   
   EMILY's List says it raised $43 million during the 2007-2008 election cycle and has helped elect 80 pro-abortion-rights women to the U.S. House and 15 to the Senate since 1985. During her press conference, Schriock twice declined to say how much the group was spending on its new campaign. 
   
   The Susan B. Anthony List, for its part, recently launched a bus tour through Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania to build momentum for its endorsed candidates. The group says it has elected 75 pro-life women to the U.S. House of Representatives and seven to the U.S. Senate since 1992. ||||| Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser responded Tuesday, saying, "EMILY's List is running scared -- and it shows. Clearly, in this 'Year of the Pro-Life Woman,' which Sarah Palin helped make possible, women have found their political voices. Pro-life 'Mama Grizzlies' represent the majority of women across the country." 
   
   She added, "We are looking for women leaders who affirm the best in women -- who seek to include rather than exclude the rest of humanity as we find our fulfillment. EMILY's List is busy perpetuating what it purports to abhor: using women candidates with whom they disagree as punching bags." 
   
   Sarah Palin has made "Mama Grizzlies" a campaign theme, but a Democratic women's group is growling back. EMILY's List, a national organization dedicated to electing pro-choice Democratic women to office, announced a new campaign, "Sarah Doesn't Speak for Me," on Monday. Its mission: To fight back against Palin's "radical agenda" and her endorsed candidates.In a press release, the group said: "Sarah Palin has predicted a rising tide of mothers and women voters will support her so-called 'Mama Grizzly' candidates. Today, we call upon women -- and men! -- to let their voices be heard and to reject Palin's reactionary candidates and backward-looking agenda. We're asking Democrats, Independents, and moderate Republicans who have no home -- to join us in our new campaign,."The group planned to announce more details of the campaign Tuesday in Washington, and launched a new website for the campaign."We wanted to respond to Sarah Palin and her candidates' assertions that they were speaking for all women with a community of women who are speaking for themselves," Jes McIntosh of EMILY's List told Politics Daily. "It's a place for them to connect and respond, meet their neighbors and tell what they want out of their government."Palin, one of the most polarizing figures in politics, has spent a large portion of this year traveling the country in support of female GOP candidates, or as she calls them " Mama Grizzlies ." Through her Sarah PAC, Palin has endorsed a host of female candidates including South Carolina gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley and Susana Martinez in the New Mexico governor's race. Both won. Both are the first GOP women in their states to win their party's nomination.Palin has also had some losses in her endorsements, including Karen Handel, who lost Georgia's gubernatorial nomination earlier this month.In Tuesday's Wyoming primary, Palin endorsed Rita Meyer for governor. On her Facebook page , Palin wrote on July 29: "She may not have millions of dollars to campaign with, but she has enough volunteer human resources and is running her campaign the old fashion way -- grassroots and gritty! Voters know that Rita has a unique blend of steel magnolia and mama grizzly."In July, Sarah PAC released "Mama Grizzlies," a video that consists mostly of audio clips from a speech Palin gave to the anti-abortion rights group, Susan B. Anthony List The new president of EMILY's List, Stephanie Schriock, spoke in Boston last month about Palin. The Boston Globe reported that Schriock said Palin "represents a set of values that are way out of the mainstream and arguably out of the mainstream of the Republican Party."Schriock replaced EMILY's List founder, Ellen Malcolm, earlier this year. The group, which was founded 25 years ago, is trying to lure younger women who may have no memory of life before Roe v. Wade to its pro-choice cause. Palin is now the poster girl for it.So far, Palin hasn't addressed the EMILY's List campaign against her.On Monday afternoon, she told her Facebook followers she would appear that evening on Greta Van Susteren's show on Fox News to discuss energy resources in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, among other topics."I'm traveling with Greta Van Susteren to Alaska's North Slope and ANWR to discuss how developing our resources can contribute to America's energy independence, security, job growth, and economic stability," Palin wrote. "You'll see what the remote 20 million acres of ANWR with its vast oil and gas reserves really looks like (unlike the extreme environmentalists' fundraising pics)."
target: – Emily's List has drummed up its own group of Mama Grizzlies to counter Sarah Palin. The pro-choice group launched a SarahDoesn'tSpeakforMe website and campaign with this parody video, reports the Hill. The group is hoping to raise funds for candidates it supports, citing three races in particular against Palin-backed opponents: Emily's List is backing Barbara Boxer vs. Carly Fiorina, Tarryl Clark vs. Michele Bachmann, and Diane Denish vs. Susana Martinez in the New Mexico governor's race. Click here for more.