Pryor kicks off tour to attract women voters

Push coincides with new ad

Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor announced a planned "Women for Pryor" statewide tour Tuesday to talk about his and Republican opponent U.S. Rep. Tom Cotton's record on legislation affecting women and families.

The tour will coincide with a statewide $250,000 ad buy featuring Paulette Hill, the director of a 24-hour women's shelter in Mountain Home named Serenity Inc. Pryor's campaign is making a push to attract women voters across the state as the heated campaign winds down.

"Women will be there for Mark in this election because he's always been there for us and our families," said Pryor spokesman Mary Robbins. "Women in Arkansas know how important it is that our senator stand up for paycheck fairness and protections for our families, but while Mark votes with us, Congressman Cotton opposes equal pay for equal work and voted to end the Violence Against Women Act."

About 40 people gathered for the announcement of the tour Tuesday at Bernice Gardens in Little Rock including former Arkansas first lady Barbara Pryor -- the senator's mother, former Little Rock Mayor Lottie Shackelford and Bobbi McDaniel, member of the Arkansas Coalition Against Domestic Violence and wife of Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel.

"We have 31 domestic violence shelters across the state of Arkansas. The Violence Against Women Act provides funding for those shelters in addition to funding for vital services needed for police training, counseling and legal advocacy," McDaniel told the crowd. "Sen. Mark Pryor has supported the Violence Against Women Act at every opportunity he has been given."

In the ad, which began airing today and will continue to run for at least the next two weeks, Hill says, "We've got to do something to break this cycle of violence, and Tom Cotton is not doing anything to help."

She ends the ad with, "There's a big difference between Mark Pryor and Tom Cotton. One wants to protect women and children, the other doesn't."

When asked about Cotton's vote against the Violence Against Women Act, campaign spokesman David Ray did not directly address the vote, instead referring to a written statement about Pryor's announcement Tuesday.

"Senator Pryor is once again making ridiculous election-year accusations. While Senator Pryor is busy perpetrating a fictitious 'War on Women,' it is the Obama-Pryor economic policies that have harmed so many Arkansas women by increasing the cost of everything from health insurance to gasoline to groceries," he wrote.

A spokesman for Cotton said in 2013 after the vote, that the congressman was concerned that the legislation wouldn't withstand legal challenges.

Pryor emphasized the importance of women to the campaign during his speech Tuesday.

"All over the state [Women for Pryor] are doing the grassroots thing you have to do to win," he said. "We talk about the billionaires that are all lining up for my opponent. He has the billionaires but I have you... we have women all over the state making phone calls to other women, knocking on doors, talking to people at work, and at church, and in the neighborhoods and at schools."

Pryor's Deputy Campaign Manager Erik Dorey said the "Women for Pryor" coalition has 2,304 volunteers statewide who are "not just on an email list," but who are making phone calls and knocking on doors.

On Sept. 23, for example, Dorey said, "we had 146 participants statewide and in those three hours, 6,186 phone calls were made by women to women ... that works out to 42 calls per person."

Outside groups, including the Women Speak Out PAC, have been rallying women for the Republicans across the state and in some cases across the country. A spokesman for Women Speak Out said last month that the group plans to spend more than $1 million specifically targeting Pryor and contacting women voters in Arkansas.

Cotton's campaign has been developing a "Women for Cotton" coalition over the past several months, according to the campaign's website, which asks women volunteers to reach out to other Arkansas women to talk about Cotton's record.

Metro on 10/01/2014

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