Yellowdogtexan
06-19-2008, 07:12 PM
Conventional wisdom was that mc :cane would get the votes of some angry female Clinton supporters but that appears to be wrong. What is interesting is that mc :cane is having trouble with GOP women due to his extreme policies on reproductive rights. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/18/MNS211BBRL.DTLThe challenges facing Sen. Barack Obama as he tries to woo supporters of former rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton could pale in comparison with Sen. John McCain's troubles with female voters - if the voices of a growing number of prominent Republican women are any indication.
"I cannot see a more counterproductive candidate for women," said Jillian Manus-Salzman, a leading California Republican activist and generous GOP donor in the nation's most populous state, an ATM for presidential campaigns. "I cannot vote for McCain."
Susan Eisenhower - granddaughter of former GOP President Dwight Eisenhower and a Washington, D.C.-based expert on foreign policy and national security issues - said Wednesday she is backing Obama over McCain because the Democrat has shown more understanding of how the Iraq war, the economy and other key issues affect women's daily lives.
And Harriet Stinson, the 82-year-old founder of Bay Area-based Republicans for Choice, said that - after 60 years of Republican registration - she has finally reregistered as a Democrat.
"I couldn't take it anymore," she said, arguing that on issues like funding birth control and support of sex education, McCain "couldn't be worse.".....
Stinson said GOP women must ask critical questions of their candidate.
"If McCain is so against abortion," she asks, "why does he oppose all the measures needed to reduce the need for it - making insurance companies cover contraceptives, federal funding for birth control and comprehensive sex education?"
Some major Democratic Party donors, like philanthropist Eleni Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis - president of Sacramento-based AKT Development Corp. who has written checks to Clinton since her first Senate race in 2000 - say that even for some Democrats, the idea of getting behind Obama was "hard, no question about it."
But she has come around, she says, and she believes many women, Republican and Democratic alike, will follow suit.
"After many days of feeling very sad," the Democratic insider said she went online this week and did what was once unthinkable - "maxed out," writing the maximum donation to Obama's presidential campaign. .....
Manus-Salzman said she hasn't yet endorsed Obama, but she will not be surprised if Republican women begin writing checks and openly expressing their support.
"I would have had a hard time selling Republican women on Hillary Clinton," she said. "But selling Republican women on Barack Obama is a whole different story."
"They don't see him as a partisan," she said. "My instinct, as a woman, is that this is a truly special person who respects women, who will listen to our voice and use women to rejuvenate and resurrect this country."
John McCain on abortion -- "I'd love to see a point where (Roe vs. Wade) is irrelevant, and could be repealed because abortion is no longer necessary. But certainly in the short term, or even the long term, I would not support repeal Roe vs. Wade, which would then force X number of women in America to (undergo) illegal and dangerous operations." McCain said he would support legislation banning abortions in the third trimester. - Interview with The Chronicle, Aug. 20, 1999
-- "After a lot of study, a lot of consultation and a lot of prayer, I came up with a position that I believe there should be an exception for rape, incest or the life of a mother ... (the issue) is one of the most difficult and agonizing issues that I think all of us face, because of our belief - yours and mine - that life begins at conception." - Reported in the New York Times, Jan. 22, 2000
-- "John McCain believes Roe v. Wade is a flawed decision that must be overturned, and as president he will nominate judges who understand that courts should not be in the business of legislating from the bench." - McCain for President Web siteI have trouble believing that many of Clinton's supporters will vote for mc :cane given his positions on reproductive rights and it appears that Senator Obama may actually get more female votes from GOP women than he loses from Clinton supporters.
"I cannot see a more counterproductive candidate for women," said Jillian Manus-Salzman, a leading California Republican activist and generous GOP donor in the nation's most populous state, an ATM for presidential campaigns. "I cannot vote for McCain."
Susan Eisenhower - granddaughter of former GOP President Dwight Eisenhower and a Washington, D.C.-based expert on foreign policy and national security issues - said Wednesday she is backing Obama over McCain because the Democrat has shown more understanding of how the Iraq war, the economy and other key issues affect women's daily lives.
And Harriet Stinson, the 82-year-old founder of Bay Area-based Republicans for Choice, said that - after 60 years of Republican registration - she has finally reregistered as a Democrat.
"I couldn't take it anymore," she said, arguing that on issues like funding birth control and support of sex education, McCain "couldn't be worse.".....
Stinson said GOP women must ask critical questions of their candidate.
"If McCain is so against abortion," she asks, "why does he oppose all the measures needed to reduce the need for it - making insurance companies cover contraceptives, federal funding for birth control and comprehensive sex education?"
Some major Democratic Party donors, like philanthropist Eleni Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis - president of Sacramento-based AKT Development Corp. who has written checks to Clinton since her first Senate race in 2000 - say that even for some Democrats, the idea of getting behind Obama was "hard, no question about it."
But she has come around, she says, and she believes many women, Republican and Democratic alike, will follow suit.
"After many days of feeling very sad," the Democratic insider said she went online this week and did what was once unthinkable - "maxed out," writing the maximum donation to Obama's presidential campaign. .....
Manus-Salzman said she hasn't yet endorsed Obama, but she will not be surprised if Republican women begin writing checks and openly expressing their support.
"I would have had a hard time selling Republican women on Hillary Clinton," she said. "But selling Republican women on Barack Obama is a whole different story."
"They don't see him as a partisan," she said. "My instinct, as a woman, is that this is a truly special person who respects women, who will listen to our voice and use women to rejuvenate and resurrect this country."
John McCain on abortion -- "I'd love to see a point where (Roe vs. Wade) is irrelevant, and could be repealed because abortion is no longer necessary. But certainly in the short term, or even the long term, I would not support repeal Roe vs. Wade, which would then force X number of women in America to (undergo) illegal and dangerous operations." McCain said he would support legislation banning abortions in the third trimester. - Interview with The Chronicle, Aug. 20, 1999
-- "After a lot of study, a lot of consultation and a lot of prayer, I came up with a position that I believe there should be an exception for rape, incest or the life of a mother ... (the issue) is one of the most difficult and agonizing issues that I think all of us face, because of our belief - yours and mine - that life begins at conception." - Reported in the New York Times, Jan. 22, 2000
-- "John McCain believes Roe v. Wade is a flawed decision that must be overturned, and as president he will nominate judges who understand that courts should not be in the business of legislating from the bench." - McCain for President Web siteI have trouble believing that many of Clinton's supporters will vote for mc :cane given his positions on reproductive rights and it appears that Senator Obama may actually get more female votes from GOP women than he loses from Clinton supporters.