| Chapter 1: | An Introduction to Emily's List |
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bundling prowess and its formal PAC status has led to a certain type of myopia vis-à-vis the organization's influence. Although EMILY's List began as and remains a non-connected PAC, categorizing it as such is reductionist.
Today, EMILY's List is much more than a PAC. Rather, over the past quarter of a century, EMILY's List has morphed into a multipronged influence organization that functions as a PAC, an interest group, a party adjunct, and a campaign organization. Its impact can be seen in the voting booth, in state and local governments, in the U.S. Congress, and even in the White House. In fact, there are few political theaters where EMILY's List has not become a major player. But this outcome was far from preordained, and thus, the goal of this book is to shed light on ELIST's transformation from a PAC to a multipronged influence organization.
Certain factors are critical to ELIST's transformation, not the least of which is Ellen Malcolm. From all accounts, Malcolm did not set out at an early age to become one of the top political strategists in the nation; she was rather reserved and kept her status as the heiress to the IBM fortune a tightly guarded secret. However, by the early 1990s, Malcolm had emerged an entrepreneurial leader who possessed the skills, social network, education, wealth, passion, and strategic vision necessary to catapult herself and EMILY's List into a position of influence and power in American politics.
Malcolm: The Ultimate in Tupperware Sales
EMILY's List began as a pseudo Tupperware party, but instead of a group of apolitical housewives discussing the merits of resealable containers and trading meatloaf recipes, the organization brought together groups of politically savvy women to discuss poll numbers, campaign platforms, and voter outreach efforts.1 Like a