In a shocking turn of events, Mitt Romney has sliced into the huge lead Barack Obama had among women and the Obama campaign is desperately trying to win them back. How?
The only way the Obama Administration knows how: bleating about abortion. The Democrats truly believe that their die-hard support of abortion is the linchpin on which women’s support of their party rests. Now that the Obama team sees their lead among women slipping away, they are panicked and firing the same old fusillade of abortion bullets at Romney.
How much have the facts on the ground changed since the first debate? In 2008, exit polls showed Obama with a 13 point edge over John McCain with women. This past Monday, the Pew Research Center revealed Obama’s lead over Romney, which had been 18 points in September, had plummeted to a mere 3 points.
Thus the Obama campaign has ratcheted up their whining about abortion. On Tuesday, Romney had said, “There’s no legislation with regard to abortion that I’m familiar with that would become part of my agenda.” On Wednesday, Obama accused Romney of “clouding” his views: “This is another example of Governor Romney hiding positions he’s been campaigning on for a year and half.” Yet when asked whether he thought Romney was lying, Obama said, “No, I actually think … when it comes to women’s rights to control their own healthcare decisions, you know, what he has been saying is exactly what he believes … (Romney) thinks that it is appropriate for politicians to inject themselves in those decisions.”
Romney thinks that it is appropriate for politicians to inject themselves in those decisions? Obama actually believes he hasn’t injected himself into this issue? What was that legislation he championed when he was a state senator that involved infanticide?
All of this is a smokescreen to distract women from issues at hand, which the Romney camp recognizes; they understand that women have other issues that matter to them besides abortion. Amanda Henneberg, spokeswoman for the Romney campaign, said:
“On a day when the Obama Administration raised more questions than it answered about whether or not it deliberately misled the American people, President Obama is more focused on making things up about Mitt Romney.As Barack Obama said in 2008, ‘if you don’t have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from.’ Four years later, that’s all he has left. The American people deserve more from their president.”
Michael Dimcock, associate director of research at Pew Research center, agreed that women were far more interested in Romney because of a host of issues:
“We looked at all the traits, leadership, connecting with people, particular issues like jobs, Medicare and healthcare. But the shift in Romney’s image seemed consistent across all of those issues. One that sort of stood out … was that he connects well with ordinary Americans, which has been his weak spot.”
The Dems are frightened; Karen Finney, a Democratic strategist, allowed that NARAL Pro-Choice America had undertaken a project earlier this year identifying some 336,000 women voters living in battleground states it characterized as potential “Obama defectors.”
But they may lose myriad women because of what they can’t see. As Sabrina Schaeffer, executive director of the right-leaning Independent Women’s Forum, said, “The idea that Democrats are trying to woo women voters based only on issues related to reproduction is insulting. Sure, there are many women who are ready and willing to play identity politics. But many woman do not want that at all.”
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