Kelly Ayotte greets a supporter on the night of the primary elections. (Photo by Eliza Kern for primarywire.wordpress.com)

Women like Carly Fiorina, Sharron Angle, Linda McMahon and Christine O’Donnell have been sprouting up in Senate races across the country, gaining support from Sarah Palin and the Tea Party and building impressive amounts of followers. These women, it seems, are a real threat to democrats.

In a recent poll, Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid had only a slight lead over Angle. Kelly Ayotte, who recently won the Republican primary in New Hampshire, and has a 50 to 35 percent lead over Congressman Paul Hodes. And in California, Fiorina was polling slightly ahead of incumbent Barbara Boxer until recently.

Democrats do, however, have the edge in Delaware and Connecticut, with O'Donnell 15 points behind Chris Coons and McMahon trailing by 10-15 points, depending on the poll. But the fact that McMahon and O'Donnell are even in the general election came as a shock to many.

Each woman is one of Palin's "Mama Grizzlies" and has been publicly endorsed by the former vice presidential candidate. They all support smaller government and represent a “pro-women, pro-life” outlook, developing the term "conservative feminist" that has some voters tilting their heads in confusion.

A conservative feminist thinks that “if women pull themselves up by the bootstraps and work as hard as they can, they can be as successful as men,” said Ronnee Schreiber, a Political Science and Women’s Studies professor at San Diego State University.  “Their definition of a feminist is more concerned with women’s roles relevant to men.”

The new angle these women have taken on feminism is their traditionally conservative opposition to women’s reproductive health and abortion rights. These non-traditional stances on feminist issues have created a debate over whether a "conservative feminist" can actually exist.

“These women have benefitted from the feminist movement but the issues which they advocate are not feminist,” said Schreiber, who considers herself a feminist.

Fiorina and Angle, for example, have both stressed their ability to manage both work and family. Fiorina is the former CEO of Hewlett Packard and raised two step-children; Angle is a working mom with two children.

Although these women have experienced the institutional equality the feminist movement supports, they oppose many of the true basics of feminism. Feminism traditionally includes support of reproductive rights, the right to choose and protection against domestic and sexual violence.

Angle opposes abortion, even in a rape or incest case. Another mama grizzly, Michelle Bachmann, the Minnesota House incumbent, voted against a bill to give federal employees four weeks of paid maternal leave.

Most of these mama grizzlies have gained significant followings, but it remains to be seen what their impact will be come election day.

In fact, although the Republican National Committee is calling 2010  the "year of the Republican woman," experts say the number of women in congress might actually decline this year, for the first time since 1978. Why? Because most women in congress are democrats.

Reach reporter Samantha Yerks here.

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