| Chapter 1: | An Introduction to Emily's List |
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typical Tupperware party, the guests in Malcolm's home that first night pulled out their checkbooks, but this time they were writing checks to support an idea—EMILY's List. The name stood for the group's mission: Early Money Is Like Yeast (it makes the dough rise).
Malcolm and the other Founding Mothers, well-versed in the realities of politics, wrote letters to everyone in their Rolodexes, telling them about their new group and encouraging them to join for a yearly fee of $100 to cover administrative costs. The leadership of the group identified viable female pro-choice, pro-ERA Democratic candidates and sent information about the candidate and the race to group members. Members promised to choose at least two endorsed candidates and send each a check of $100 or more. They were also encouraged to forward information about the group and its candidates to friends who were sympathetic to the organization's mission.
From these rather humble beginnings, the organization steadily grew. By 1988, the organization bundled over $650,000 to their list of recommended female candidates.2 By 1992, it became the premier women's PAC, surpassing the other more established women's PACs. In 1994 EMILY's List began its work as a campaign organization, providing professional training to women who wanted to become campaign professionals and providing candidate training to female pro-choice women who wanted to run for office. By 1996, EMILY's List used data acquired through the Women's Monitor to microtarget and organize women at the mass level. These data became the basis of ELIST's WOMEN VOTE! program. These “get out the vote” (GOTV) efforts, combined with regular transfers of funds (from EMILY's List to the Democratic Party committees and vice versa), helped strengthen the ties between EMILY's List and the Democratic Party. Over the next few years, EMILY's List would become a key part of the Democratic Party coalition. In 2001 the organization took