Politics

By Alexandra Silver

Kate Michelman surprised a lot of people when she announced her support for John Edwards in the early part of 2007. The longtime women's rights leader and former president of NARAL Pro-Choice America is a senior adviser on the Edwards campaign, and as such she spends her days arguing that women should support Edwards over the first major female candidate for Commander in Chief.

Michelman, 65, has never worked directly for a candidate, and the decision was not a light one. As NARAL's president for nearly two decades, she worked with and developed admiration for most of the Democrats currently in the race. But she argues that Edwards is the best candidate on "women's issues"--which she defines as including not just abortion but also poverty, low wages and access to health care, all of which affect women more acutely than men. "I know what it's like to be a woman who is marginalized," she says, citing her time as a single mother on welfare.

When it comes to attracting the coveted women's vote, Michelman has no choice but to focus on grass-roots outreach. Hillary Clinton has the endorsements of NOW and Emily's List, and her campaign has been redoubling attention to Clinton's chance to make history, issuing a memo highlighting her support among women and touting her appearance on The View. Michelman is happy to see a woman running but says, "It's more important to change history than to make history."