Winning Women

Whoever wins women this year may win the White House. Hillary voters are pivotal--are they still disaffected by the perceived sexism of the MSM and the Obama campaign? Or will they vote Dem in the end? Barack sends out Michelle, who lately described her husband as a fashion accessory, while Sen. McCain's emissary Carly Fiorina reached out to Hillary voters in New York.

In June, there was the Hillary supporter and (now ex-) Democrat delegate from Racine County, WI:

In an interview, Bartoshevich expressed lingering unhappiness over the Democratic nominating process, said Clinton was treated unfairly by the party and said she has deep reservations about Obama’s lack of experience and his judgment.

“I’m kind of disenfranchised,” she said.

Chicago Sun Times columnist Carol Marin kicked off the most recent discussion, after organic chicken with Michelle:

But the women Obama needs right now are the ones who do not dine downtown. They're the ones who can't afford organic anything, forced to choose between a gallon of gas and a gallon of milk because they can't buy both on the same day.

Next, Maureen Dowd does Jane Austen a disservice. How could anyone ruin "Pride and Prejudice"? Dowd does it. No way is Barack Mr. Darcy, sorry. And would you want Mr. Darcy for president? Then she says this:

In this political version of “Pride and Prejudice,” the prejudice is racial, with only 31 percent of white voters telling The New York Times in a survey that they had a favorable opinion of Obama, compared with 83 percent of blacks.

This is evidence of racial prejudice? Couldn't there be any other reason for having reservations about Barack Obama? Don't African-Americans in this country reliably vote Democrat--84-90%-- and have for years? If Obama gets less than that, is it a sign of racial prejudice?

Can't people just say no to Barack? Bergen County, NJ, The Record:

Meet Caren Z. Turner, a Democratic fund-raiser, a devout supporter of Hillary Clinton, and a lobbyist with a 25-year Inside-the-Beltway career.

Ms. Turner:

The people involved in Together4Us have a general discomfort with the way the Democratic process and the Democratic caucus system went down, with the Florida, Michigan representation, with apportionment, generally.

I think we also have a great discomfort with the misogyny that was expressed by the media during the entire election and the deafening silence by the DNC and the Barack campaign in the face of such denigration of women generally.

This last week we had Obama ally Ludacris' alienating Hillary voters anew, and bringing moms into the mix who had to be shocked Barack would expose his then 3 year old daughter to similar obscene and hateful lyrics. Even Amie Newman at Huffpo was offended by Ludacris:

Yet, instead of including women -- both Black and White -- in his call to support Barack Obama in his historic run for the White House he single-handedly, metaphorically gives us a good slap in the face. These lyrics are nothing if not indicative of a sexism that pervades society and with a broad sweep turns both black and white women, women of all colors, shapes and sizes into "b****s" and "hos."

A new Lifetime poll is out, receiving media coverage in Barack's home town, and on MSNBC, and Hillary wants a first ballot vote at the Democrat convention. McCain asks for women's votes on health care, and is talking common sense on energy and the economy.

Should be an interesting few weeks, but it's a win for women's influence.

--crossposted at BlogHer