Sen. Ken Salazar’s strong statement Tuesday that abortion shouldn’t be a political litmus test is a sign that Democrats are beginning to erect a “big tent” over an issue that has long divided them. It’s a welcome development.
Salazar endorsed Bill Ritter for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination just one day after Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper announced he wouldn’t run for the job. Hickenlooper didn’t make any endorsements Monday, but answering a question about Ritter’s abortion views said: “I’ve never looked at any political decision based on one issue. You really have to take the balance of the whole person into consideration in deciding where your support should go.”
Salazar, who knows some party activists are beating the bushes for an alternative solely because Ritter is anti-abortion, admonished his party, “We need to move beyond the polarization of the issue of abortion.”
That polarization has bedeviled both political parties since the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe vs. Wade decision in 1973. In 1992, Democrats even denied Pennsylvania’s popular Gov. Robert Casey a chance to speak to their national convention because of his strong anti-abortion beliefs. Such zealotry has cost Democrats the support of many voters who share the party’s egalitarian economic views but not its single-minded support of abortion rights.
Today’s Democrats, however, are more tolerant of Roe vs. Wade diversity. Pennsylvania Treasurer Bob Casey Jr., just as pro-life as his late father, is his party’s consensus favorite to run against the stridently anti-abortion U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum next November. Virginia’s pro-life Gov. Timothy Kaine was even chosen by Democrats to give their response to President Bush’s State of the Union address.
We’d like to see a corresponding dialogue in the GOP gubernatorial race. The anti-abortion dogma of Marc Holtzman and Bob Beauprez is a stark contrast to legislative Republicans, who have diverse beliefs – as illustrated last year when GOP senators split 9-8 on a series of abortion-related questions. Add the pro-choice Republicans to the pro-choice Democrats and the legislature isn’t likely to pass a bill restricting abortion. Thus, the question of whether Ritter as governor would sign such a bill is moot – as it is for Holtzman and Beauprez.
Instead of shadow boxing over abortion, Coloradans need to hear what their next governor will do to improve education, rebuild our crumbling highway network, strengthen health care and develop “win-win” solutions on water issues.
Salazar (who is quietly pro-choice himself) is right. It’s time to put the sterile abortion debate aside and discuss the questions vital for Colorado’s future.
