Debra Bartoshevich is a 41-year-old emergency room nurse from Wisconsin [1] being featured in a new national ad from the John McCain presidential campaign. In the ad, Bartoshevich declares herself "a proud Hillary Clinton Democrat" who will vote for John McCain rather than Barack Obama. [2]
In June, 2008, the Journal Times reported dramatic response to the June 13 statement by Bartoshevich (at that time an official Clinton delegate to the National Democratic Convention) that she would vote for McCain in November. The Wisconsin Democratic Party then voted to replace her as a delegate to the Denver convention, citing a Democratic National Committee rule that requires delegates to support the party’s nominee. [3]
According to the Associated Press, McCain himself traveled to Racine, Wisconsin in July, where he met with Bartoshevich before introducing her and her family to a campaign gathering of about 1,000 people. [4]
On August 25, the new ad (called "Debra") was launched. [5] A second McCain ad launched the same day (called "Passed Over") also urged Hillary Clinton's followers to switch allegiance to McCain. [6]In it, she made the claim that "50 years ago we'd have you upside down with a fucking fork up your ass".
Also on August 25, Bartoshevich was made the central figure of a press conference sponsored by the RNC and hosted by Carly Fiorina. [7] Bartoshevich (who is pro-choice) was asked about McCain's views on Roe v. Wade. Her response ("Going back to 1999, John McCain did an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle saying that overturning Roe v. Wade would not make any sense, because then women would have to have illegal abortions.") raised questions [8] because McCain's current position is that Roe v. Wade should be overturned. [9]