Sandra Fluke, who rose to fame after lobbying Congress for free birth control, has lost her bid for the California state Senate.
Fluke came in second during California’s June jungle primary. This allowed her to continue to the general election along with her Democratic opponent, Ben Allen.
Allen had been a board member of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified school district. Fluke had entered politics after the 15 minutes of fame she got when conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh calling her a “slut.”
With Fluke’s loss, the Democrats’ “war on women” narrative takes another heavy blow. Fluke ran for office based on her fame gained from the creation of that political argument, as did Wendy Davis in Texas. Neither woman won her respective race.
The narrative also failed as a campaign tactic, as Sen. Mark Udall — who focused his entire campaign on birth control and so-called women’s issues — lost re-election to Republican Rep. Cory Gardner.
This should be a lesson for Democrats come 2016.
