ON MY WAY TO THE REPUBLICAN CONVENTION

The WIPP contingent flew out of Denver to Minneapolis. There were a lot of media on our flights (as most attendees go to one convention or the other, not both). We’ve got the weekend to catch up on our other work before we start up again. Of course, the media is full of news on how the impending hurricane will affect the convention, and Governor Sarah Palin’s announcement as Senator John McCain’s VP nominee.

We are getting a lot of questions about what we think of Palin’s nomination. WIPP does not endorse any candidate. We encourage women to run for political office, from community boards to federal elective office. In fact, a recent nationwide survey commissioned by WIPP told us that our members place a great deal of importance in electing more women to public office and feel that the country would be better governed if more women, and specifically more women business owners, in office.
However, WIPP’s sole mission is to educate women business owners on the economic issues before Congress that affect their business growth – and they, alone, will decide which candidate to support.
According to the survey, women small business owners are nearly unanimous in their intent to vote in the November election, and a majority feel that they have some degree of influence on the outcome of the election. Our members are almost evenly divided between the two candidates, and one in six are undecided. They are similarly divided over which candidate would be best for small business.
The economic picture is the top issue for small businesses today, followed by other pocket book concerns like taxes and gas prices. WIPP worked together with 30 small business organizations to develop its Economic Blueprint. WIPP and its partners are united on six economic areas that are essential to our economic growth: healthcare, procurement, taxes, access to capital, energy and telecommunications, and the Blueprint is our call to action to Congress. We call upon Congress to adopt the principles contained in the Blueprint, as they are essential for small business growth. It represents our action plan to remove the constraints that inhibit the success and growth of women enterprises. The Economic Blueprint was unveiled at both the Democratic and Republican conventions, and will be the primary focus of WIPP’s Annual Meeting on September 8-9 in Washington, DC.