Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) strongly criticized Massachusetts Republican gubernatorial nominee Charlie Baker for calling a female reporter “sweetheart.”
Warren’s criticism of Baker came in a fundraising email for Attorney General Martha Coakley, the Democratic candidate for governor in Massachusetts.
The fundraising pitch centered around an interaction Baker had with a local Massachusetts reporter who was asking the Republican gubernatorial candidate about his opinion on how National Football League commissioner Roger Goodell has handled a number of domestic violence scandals concerning NFL players. At one point Baker said “this is going to be the last one sweetheart.” Baker later apologized to the reporter.
Warren’s email began by citing Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) who pointed out, according to Warren, “sometimes she feels like she’s living in a Mad Men episode.”
“So when Charlie Baker – the Republican nominee for Governor of Massachusetts – dismissed a woman news reporter by calling her “sweetheart,” a lot of people questioned Charlie’s attitude toward women,” Warren wrote in the email.
By contrast, Warren continued in the email, “Martha Coakley thinks people should earn paid sick leave—which means a mom can take off a day to be with a sick child and not worry that she can’t make the rent—or that she will get fired. Charlie Baker says no to the ballot initiative for earned sick time.”
Warren went on to contrast the two candidates on birth control. Baker, Warren said, doesn’t care “if an employer decides what birth control coverage his female employees can —or can’t— get.”
“I don’t think Charlie Baker is a bad guy,” Warren said. “But when it comes to issues that will powerfully affect women-issues like taking care of sick kids, getting children into preschool and making sure that insurance coverage includes birth control —I want someone who gets it right the first time and every time.”
The TPM Polltracker average finds Coakley with a 2.8 point lead over Baker.
