Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was surrounded by women during a rally in Fairfax City two weeks ago — a symbol of the role women likely will play in deciding this year’s election.
Similarly, George Allen (R) — a former U.S. senator and Virginia governor — staged an outreach effort targeting female voters Sept. 22 in Reston as part of his campaign to reclaim his old seat.
With just five weeks remaining before the November election, the big campaign question in Virginia might be: Is the wooing of women working?
A Sept. 19 poll by The Washington Post showed President Barack Obama’s campaign leading among likely female voters in Virginia by 19 percentage points, 58 percent to 39 percent — a deficit for Romney that could put him neck-and-neck in a state that glowed Republican-red in 2009. Likely male voters in Virginia were reported favoring Romney over Obama, 50 percent to 44 percent, according to the poll.
Area women’s groups, such as the Women’s Strike Force, are saying this year’s national races could be impacted more by what’s happening in the state on women’s issues than the national campaign are discussing.
“I think Virginia women were woken up to the fact that politics affects our lives, especially after the General Assembly’s actions this past session,” said Rebecca Geller of Fairfax Station resident, who helped found the Women’s Strike Force — a statewide nonpartisan advocacy group started in March by Fairfax County residents. The group formed in the wake of controversial state legislation mandating ultrasounds for patients seeking an abortion.
Although the group is not focusing on the presidential election — it instead is gearing up for state House and governor races next year — Geller and other members of the group said they worry about the message a Republican win could mean for Virginia’s women.
“I think Republicans in general are out of touch with women,” Geller said.
Local Democrats are making the same argument, saying state Republicans are causing more women to look left than right.
“If there were any agnostics left after [Republican and state Attorney Gen.] Ken Cuccinelli injecting himself into the health care legislation last year, they’re gone now,” said Margaret “Margi” Vanderhye, chairwoman of the Fairfax County Democratic Committee’s Women’s Action Committee. Vanderhye, a former state delegate, lost her 2009 re-election campaign to Republican Barbara Comstock (Dist. 34) by 316 votes.
While left-leaning backers say women’s issues are at the heart of this year’s presidential and U.S. Senate campaigns, right-leaning supporters of Romney say the Republican’s platform offers better economic options for mothers and young women.
“In Northern Virginia you have a lot of educated women and a lot of working moms and we care a lot about jobs and the economy … and I think that’s why Gov. Romney appeals to us,” said McLean resident Caren Merrick (R), who was appointed to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority by Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R). Merrick ran unsuccessfully for state senate against Barbara Favola (D-Dist. 31) in 2011.
Merrick said Republicans are not anti-women, and are aware of the importance of the female vote.
“I think there’s a misperception about Republicans and women,” she said. “The last presidential election you had a woman on the ticket [former-Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin]. So they’ve been reaching out to women.
“What I hear people talk about is jobs and the economy and I care about whether my child is going to get a job after college. I haven’t heard anyone talking about those other issues.”
Democrats, like Vanderhye, say women’s issues are economic issues, specifically the cost of health care and the choice to have a family.
“You can’t say, ‘Let’s talk about the economy, but not these women’s issues.’ They are a part of the economy. They are about productivity. … You can’t say you’re pro-life and then cut funding for prenatal care.”
Female voters have been referred to in past elections as soccer moms, hockey moms, mama grizzlies and historically suffragettes. The women’s vote has mattered since they first got to vote in 1920, said George Mason University state and local government professor Toni-Michelle Travis.
“The breakdown I’ve heard is married women versus single women. The breakdown is there in terms of values,” Travis said, adding the Obama campaign has recruited female votes on campuses such as Mason’s. This strategy might not pay off if Travis’ description of college-aged women is true.
“The younger women are too concerned about work and school. But the older women are plugged in,” Travis said.
Beyond the presidential election, this year represents a record year for women running for office. Eighteen women are running for U.S. Senate, besting the record two years ago of 14 women candidates. On the House of Representatives side, 163 women are running, bettering the previous record of 141 in 2004.
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I hate when democrats try to speak on behalf of women. Newsflash - women have well-rounded brains that often think of things other than abortion and birth control. We’re also smart enough to know that no one wants to take our birth control away. Pandering to the ill-informed is just sad.
“forgo basic rights in exchange for a 77 cent to the dollar paycheck”
So, now you’re implying that free birth control is a basic right? Do you see the idiocy of that statement? NOTHING is implied in the United States Constitution as being free but freedom. The rest is a liberal utopian nightmare with unicorns and fairy dust.
There are no free lunches. No one can overturn Roe vs. Wade except the Supreme Court…and even then, it’ll have to be sparked by some landslide moment in history. So all the fear-mongering and hand-wringing is just that.
Now, the economy and the approaching cliff….that’s VERY real. Spain and Greece have already tried to lurch into reverse…and the rest of Europe just rear-ended them. The worst part is that we are approaching that same cliff at 80 miles an hour under this President’s regime.
So Jehovah really wishes women would return to the days of NOT being able to own property, vote, or make one’s own decisions as in Ingalls Wilder times? Why not just go back to puritanical Salem witch trials? Or maybe she envisions bringing the ultra-conservative methods that repress and regress women in Iran, Saudi Arabia, etc. to our country? Her idea of “limited” government is to control access to birth control for women who are trying to be individually responsible? She’s the one whining about “women’s issues,” of which she obviously does not believe or support. If she enjoys patriarchal controls, fine but don’t expect the rest of us to want that.
The only freedoms R & R give are to plutocrats and modern-day robber barons. If they really believed in America, they would invest in America, not send their monies to 12 other countries to avoid taxation. They believe in AMERCIA - a murky offshore place with no regulations.
Frank, thanks for getting the GOP “disconnect.”
Women WILL remember in November… we’ll remember to vote for the Romney/Ryan ticket of freedom, individual responsibility and limited government—not the patronizing Obama “I’ll buy your birth control” nanny state. For any woman out there who’s read the Laura Ingalls’ books… can you imagine Ma Ingalls whining about “women’s issues”? C’mon.
@ Bulletproof
So you’re saying that American women will forgo basic rights in exchange for a 77 cent to the dollar paycheck?
Wow, and republicans wonder why there is a disconnect between them and women.
I was just wondering if people in Virginia knows this is happening. You will be the biggest losers if it does and will have a lot of upset people in Virginia. Good luck.
I wrote this to McCain a couple of minutes ago. It made me mad when I heard about Obama’s administration telling Defense companies about delaying layoff notices so people wouldn’t know they were getting fired before the election. Mostly in Virginia.
Mr. McCain, I have voted for you on every election since I arrived her in Arizona in 1992. You need to go very public on what the Whitehouse is telling the companies about delaying the announcement of Defense layoffs. They are telling companies that the taxpayers will have to pay the penalties in not telling their employees within 60 days of layoffs. No wonder our Government can’t pay their bills with that kind of leadership. This is a political scam and the Republican Senators and other leaders need to make sure this doesn’t happen. So basically what they are telling me is, Obama doesn’t want the layoffs known before the election so he can carry Virginia. Lockheed is the first to agree to this with other to follow. It’s interesting that the Democatic Senators are the one’s that voted this in and now they are trying to break the law to inform the workers as is the law. If Government can pick and choose which laws they want to break and make me as a taxpayer, pay their penalty, why in the world should I believe in America? I was wondering, can the American Citizens sue the Government for intentionally sending out a letter to promote illegal activity and then force us to pay the bill? I guess this is one of the reasons we need to raise taxes. So in the last month I have been lied to about some video tape that caused four Americans to be murdered and now this. I tell you what, it really doesn’t make me proud to be an American right now and I can’t see how you can either.
Jeez, Equity… I suppose that between free birth control…or a job….most women will vote for the chance to get to work…since they are 11% unemployed under this President. Oh, to be an African-American…who are 14% unemployed, or a Latino voter…who are 11% unemployed.
The tarp is off the pumpkin, people. This administration doesn’t give a good-damned darn about employment.
Look at Obamas cabinet for unequal pay. Women unemployment has gone up and so has Black unemployment under this administration.BTW the increased deportations are the illegals being shoved back across the border, never was counted before. How’s that price of hamburger, cheese and gas going for you? Guess we got are change alright about 10% increase on food and double on gas. I know, I know it;s bushs fault but Ican smoke some hope-ium and munc on obamalogna!h
If the VA GOP thinks that “wooing” or courting” the women’s vote means:
voting against equal pay and opportunities; denying access to contraception and in-vitro fertilization; proposing “personhood” legislation; forcing pregnancies yet prohibiting paid medical and family leave; using ALEC to propose bills on forced, invasive, and not medically necessary trans-vaginal ultrasounds in order to obtain legal abortions; not allowing abortive procedures even in cases of rape, incest, or detriment to the health of the mother-
they’re more delusional and abusive than anyone was willing to recognize! While educated and working women, including older women, have more understanding of a family’s needs and related economic issues, don’t underestimate their message to younger women about these battles that were fought long ago.
Women will remember in November!
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