BACK TO THE SIXTIES – AT 8:23 A.M. ET:  Barbara Boxer is taking a page from the Patti Murray playbook.  In Washington state, Sen. Murray has pulled ahead of GOP challenger Dino Rossi by running a campaign directed at women.  Boxer, maybe feeling some heat, is learning the lesson, as The Politico notes:

LOS ANGELES — Sen. Barbara Boxer returned on Thursday to a tried and tested campaign strategy by painting her opponent as an extreme anti-abortion conservative who is out of touch with California voters.

The three-term Democrat used a rally at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel to claim that GOP nominee Carly Fiorina would become a sure Senate vote to overturn Roe v. Wade.

"Make no mistake about it," Boxer said alongside actresses Maria Bello, Amy Brenneman and Alfre Woodard, and Reps. Jane Harman, Diane Watson and Laura Richardson. "A woman's right to choose is on the ballot here in California this year. It's very stark. Barbara Boxer, pro-choice, versus Carly Fiorina, anti-choice. It's very clear and very important people know this."

And...

"Barbara Boxer is a very talented politician, but her single greatest skill is running against pro-life opponents," said one California Republican political analyst. "She's really good at it. Matt Fong [her GOP nominee in 1998] didn't even know he was pro-life until Barbara Boxer got through with him."

Both Boxer and Murray are symbolic of the retrograde nature of the Democratic Party.  Both are children of the sixties, and want so much to return.  Boxer, as we noted here yesterday, gives a helping hand to Code Pink, and Murray made some favorable comments about the idealism of Osama bin Laden after the 9-11 attacks. 

But, alas, Boxer's return to the abortion issue will probably work.  It has worked before.  It is one of the standard fear tactics of the political left.

Carly Fiorina continues to fight, and is still within striking distance of Boxer.  A huge Republican turnout in California might turn this one around, but bankrupt, high-living California is tough for us.

October 15, 2010