In courting women, Romney camp bets on the economy
With just 15 days until Election Day and most polls showing a dead heat between President Obama and Mitt Romney, Democrats and Republicans have found common ground on all of about two matters: The race is close, and women voters will play a huge role in determining who comes out on top.
As Romney attempts to close in on Mr. Obama's advantage among women, his campaign is banking on the notion that a crucial sliver of females will be voting on economic issues -- and in favor of Romney's business record -- in a hard-hit economy. The Obama campaign, which has for months been relentlessly highlighting ongoing debates over social issues like abortion, contraception, and health care, is doing everything in its power to undermine that effort.
Whichever team is able to reach more women has a pretty good chance of seeing their candidate elected next month.
"It's the ballgame," says Democratic strategist Mary Anne Walsh.
Defining the debate
Democrats have long had an edge when it comes to female voters: The last time a Republican candidate won the women's vote was in 1988, when George H. W. Bush squeaked out a 1-point lead over Michael Dukakis. In 2008, Mr. Obama enjoyed a 13-point advantage over John McCain with the female vote, besting him 56-43 percent. Currently, the national and many any state polls show a gender gap favoring Mr. Obama to varying degrees -- a new Quinnipiac/CBS News survey of Ohio, for instance, shows the president holding on to a double-digit lead among women -- but a couple of polls have shown that gap may be narrowing.
Candidates fight for female vote
Whether or not that's true has proven difficult to measure thus far, and the Obama campaign insists any slimming of the president's lead among women is a reflection of a general tightening of the race. But regardless of the numbers, it's undeniable that both campaigns are putting every imaginable effort into casting their candidate as the one who would better serve women.
For the Obama campaign, that means touting the president's record on women's issues -- with a strong focus on health care-oriented topics -- while highlighting Romney's conflicting positions on reproductive rights, contraceptive care, and pre-existing conditions as evidence that the candidate's pitch to women is disingenuous pandering.
On Friday, the Obama campaign released a new TV ad, "Seen," showcasing a clip of Romney saying he'd be "delighted" to sign a bill that would ban all abortions; a week earlier, it released an ad featuring a video of Romney promising to defund Planned Parenthood.
On the trail, the president has been aggressively targeting Romney for what he's casting as purposefully misleading views on abortion and contraceptive rights. On Friday, he facetiously diagnosed his rival with "Romnesia" - a condition wherein, in his words, "you can't seem to remember" where you stand on certain issues.
"Mitt Romney has run as the ideal Tea Party candidate, severely conservative for the last six years running for president and in the last two weeks of this campaign, he's suddenly moving to the middle," said Stephanie Cutter, a top Obama campaign aide, in a Sunday appearance on CBS' "Face the Nation." " What about all those policies that he declared?"
The Romney campaign has attempted to blunt the force of these attacks, releasing an ad clarifying that Romney would allow abortions in cases of rape, incest, and if the life of the mother was in danger. In the second presidential debate, he also argued that he doesn't believe "employers should tell someone whether they could have contraceptive care of not," although he has firmly expressed support for a measure that says employees shouldn't be required to provide free contraceptive care to their employees.
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Broadly, however, his campaign's efforts to build support among women reflect the philosophy that those struggling financially will vote on jobs, not abortion.
"Across the country we are hosting roundtables and town hall meetings with women to talk about the issues most important to themselves, their businesses and their families," said Courtney Johnson, Women's Coalitions Director for the Romney campaign, in an email. "We are making sure that women everywhere are hearing Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan's plan to restore America as the best place in the world for a woman to find a job, start a business, and raise a family. What you see in the polls is this message resonating."
Indeed, in the Romney campaign's recent abortion-related ad, the featured woman says that while the abortion issue is "important" to her, she's "more concerned about the debt our children will be left with" -- a message the campaign no doubt hopes will resonate with women who see the ad.
"Mitt Romney is pro-life, with the exceptions he's laid out, so let's be honest - it's not like he's going to be able to go out there and campaign on abortion. That's just a reality," said Republican strategist Trey Hardin. "Barack Obama can campaign on [social issues such as abortion]. The social issues Romney is going to be speaking about to women are about creating an economic environment where men and women can compete equally."
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It MATTERS that hundreds (perhaps thousands!)of employers pay women less than their male peers for doing the same job. Far more important than Mitt Romney's clumsy "binders full or women" comment is the fact that he NEVER answered the audience member's question: what will you do to ensure equal pay for equal work? It MATTERS that many health insurance plans cover Viagra but DON'T cover contraception. Calling Sandra Fluke a "****" or falsely claiming that she wants YOU to pay for her contraception doesn't deal with the fact that, for many women, effective contraception is all that allows them to support (or help support) their families.
Are there women who will believe Romney's fatuous promises of 12 million jobs (precisely the number most economists think will be created over the next four years no matter who is president)? There probably are. But it will STILL matter to those women whether equal-pay-for-equal-work is the law, and whether contraception is covered under health insurance plans!
So, she admitted that she probably wasnt the best person for the job...but that she was chosen because she has two X chromosomes.
Absolute insanity.
the female electorate is very important, so are their concerns (social and economic). While women play a determining role in the election, their situation has not improved or not even a little
It is hoped that these women not let themselves to be manipulated for electoral reasons, they must know the difference between achievable promises, and promises which will not be kept.
"au revoir"
I don't think so. Ladies, stand up for yourselves and keep this idiot out of your bedrooms, your doctor's offices, and your work places!
Obama said that on film:
"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fNUQQBE8iE"
"My priority is jobs," Romney said.
Romney's record on jobs is on video:
"http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ZMndjLIQUFw"
In America, "47% of the people believe they are victims," Romney said. "That 47% believe they are ENTITLED [emphasis Romney's] to health care, food & housing. These are people who pay no income tax. Forty-seven percent of Americans pay no income tax. It's not my job to worry about those people. I'll never convince them to take responsibility for their lives."
Hmmm.
The steelworkers in the video above pay income tax. They take responsibility for their lives. I'm guessing that you reading this pay income taxes and take responsibility for your lives. My husband and I pay 35% income tax. We sure as heck take responsibility for our lives!
Meanwhile, Romney's defense of his unreleased tax returns is that last year he paid 14.1% income tax. (And there's evidence that he paid extra so American wouldn't know how low his tax bracket actually is--that's trying to buy votes.)
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all are endowed with CERTAIN UNALIENABLE RIGHTS, among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."--the US Constitution
Did Romney really dismiss in contempt all of us Americans who pay taxes more than twice as high as his, as well as the basic tenant of our US Constitution, when he thought he was speaking secretly behind closed doors?
The record is on video:
"http://www.motherjones.com/transition/inter.php?dest=http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/09/secret-video-romney-private-fundraiser"
So who told the truth in this 2nd 2012 Presidential debate? Who lied?
The record is on video:
"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXpKq4UYtXw&feature=related"
Who stood firm on his platform for election? Who switched his positions?
The record is on video:
"http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=jebDlVAcpGo"
Who told the truth in the 1st 2012 Presidential debate? Who lied?
The record is on video:
"http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=TWHLgMCDuOs"
Romney's handlers claim debates are no place for "fact-checking" and that Romney will not be limited by "fact-checkers."
A Presidential candidate who doesn't want to be fact-checked?
What could that possibly mean. . .other than lying?
Apparently, Romney's handlers claim it means they disagree with "facts" because they like "empirical data." However, "empirical data" ARE "facts." A "fact," according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is "a thing known or proved to be true," and "data" is "a collection of facts." Yes, data are facts. "Empirical" simply means anything at all "verifiable by observation or experience."
Empirical DATA = [observed or experienced] FACTS = THE TRUTH
This is a particularly meaningless red herring designed to fool Republican voters into believing there's a difference between two identical terms and confuse them about why the facts, when checked, don't match what Romney says.
This is why President Obama doesn't object to being fact-checked.
It's a good thing American voters aren't as easy to lie to as Romney thinks.
Americans deserve the truth from our Presidential candidates.
Fact-checker's list on the 2nd 2012 Presidential debate, with citations, compiled by Milt Shook:
http://pleasecutthecrap.typepad.com/main/2012/10/second-debate-romney-lies-debunked.html
Fact-checker's list on the 1st 2012 Presidential debate, with citations, compiled by Milt Shook:
http://pleasecutthecrap.typepad.com/main/2012/10/a-small-sampling-of-romney-lies-at-last-nights-debate.html
For moderate voters, Obama and Romney compared, with citations, by Milt Shook:
http://pleasecutthecrap.typepad.com/main/2012/10/if-youre-a-moderate-voter-thinking-of-voting-gop-read-this-first-please.html
Obama's record as President, with citations, compiled by Milt Shook:
http://pleasecutthecrap.typepad.com/main/what-has-obama-done-since-january-20-2009.html
Whom among the American people Obama has really represented during the past 4 years? Revealed in detail by Milt Shook:
http://pleasecutthecrap.typepad.com/main/2011/08/more-politics-101-obama-is-smarter-than-us.html
By mid-October, 2012, the Obama campaign had broken all previous records for number of individual donations with 10,000,000 donations from Americans of all walks of life. That's ten million Americans not only voting for Obama, but investing their hard-earned money in a future lead by him. (And we all know exactly how hard-earned that money is these days.)
Please--read, follow up citations to their sources, educate yourself.
Don't be bought by simple-minded television ads paid for by billionaires who hope to gain financially by your loss.
Make an informed decision about what's best for you and for America.
And VOTE.
Romney isn't the first Presidential candidate who's said trust me, I have a secret plan that's sure to work. Nixon did the same in 1968. Hitler did the same in 1932. Boy, did that work out well for everyone!
There was a time when women did not have the right to vote, nowadays the politicians are desperate to get the women's vote.