EMILY'S List expects GOP to spend more

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WASHINGTON, July 17 (UPI) -- EMILY's List leader Stephanie Schriock said Republican third-party groups will pump more money into U.S. campaigns than her group in the 2012 U.S. elections.

"We are going to get outspent," Schriock told Roll Call in an article published Tuesday. "In some races, we could get really outspent in numbers that we have not seen before. I've got to believe, though, that if we have enough money to work the program that we have to educate the voters, that we can win these races."

The organization, whose acronym stands for Early Money Is Like Yeast, raised $24.3 million for its political action committee so far this election cycle, the Center for Responsive Politics said. EMILY's List ranks among the center's top five PACs.

EMILY's List, with its 1.5 million members, backs Democratic women who support abortion rights, and is endorsing a record number of candidates this election, Schriock said, including 10 women running for Senate and nearly two dozen House candidates.

Democratic pollster Celinda Lake says women could go either way in 2012, adding that female voters sided with Republicans by 1 percentage point in 2010.

"In general, women voters will be the undecided voters," Lake said. "They're leaning Democratic, but they are still up for grabs."

GOP organizers said the party is fielding a strong group of female candidates, including four for Senate.

"Women care about taxes, women care about health care," said Julie Conway, executive director of View PAC, which backs Republican female candidates. "Women care about all the same issues men care about."