COLUMBUS – Mary Jo Kilroy (D-Columbus) received high-profile help from U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) Tuesday in her race for the 15th Congressional District.

Pelosi and Kilroy focused on winning female voters Wednesday by meeting with local mothers at a women’s business roundtable at the Capitol Club. Pelosi and Kilroy alsoattended a closed-door fundraiser.

Pelosi’s pitch for Kilroy is that her joining a Democratic Congress will help America’s children.

“People ask me what the three most important issues are in Congress, Mary Jo, and I always say the same thing: our children, our children, our children,” Pelosi said.

Kilroy said she would lean on central Ohio mothers and families to tell her what they need from Washington if she’s elected to Congress.  

A new president and a Democratic Congress will ensure passage of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP) that will cover 10 million children for the cost of 40 days in Iraq, Pelosi said.

The two also talked about expanding stem-cell research with federal money, which drew an attack from Kilroy on opponent Steve Stivers (R-Columbus ).

“My opponent voted against stem-cell research,” Kilroy said. “He voted to ban Ohio from investing our state bond issue in investing into that kind of research and development.”

State Sen. Stivers voted for a prohibition on human cloning in the Ohio stimulus package passed in June, which Gov. Ted Strickland said would restrict scientists’ ability to research potentially life-saving stem-cell projects.

Regarding Democrats’ efforts to win more U.S. House seats, Pelosi said Ohio is the “heart of the matter” with Democratic candidates Kilroy, Steve Driehaus (D-Cincinnati), Vic Wuslin (D-Indian Hill), John Boccieri (D-Alliance) and Sharen Neuhardt (D- Yellow Springs).