Sometimes headlines say it all and the headline above comes from two, of many headlines I first saw when looking for news this morning.
The first one that caught my eye was from the Washington Post which read "Palin Energizing Women From All Walks of Life."
In that article, it showed that Sarah Palin has energized not only Republican women but also some independents and even Democrats as well with women saying it isn't a "Palin movement" as much as it is a "sleeping giant that has been awakened," referring to women.
According to the most recent ABC News/Washington Post poll:
White women have moved from 50-42 percent in Obama’s favor before the conventions to 53-41 percent for McCain now, a 20-point shift in the margin that’s one of the single biggest post-convention changes in voter preferences.
With women being the largest voting bloc in America politics, that waking the sleeping giant analogy is being echoed throughout the blogosphere.
One of the women quote in the Wapo piece, Susie Baron, mother of two and a Republican says that Palin gives them someone to "identify with."
That seems to be the theme for many women, the feel as if she is one of them, which means she would represent them in the White House which they feel they have never had adequate representation in that office before.
The percentage of white women with "strongly favorable" opinions of McCain jumped 12 percentage points from before the parties' national conventions. And nearly six in 10 white women in the new poll said McCain's selection of Palin increased their confidence in the decisions he would make if elected. In the Post-ABC poll, it is white women who helped McCain erase Obama's late-August advantage and seriously cut into the Democratic nominee's lead as the one who would bring more needed change to Washington.
Which brings me to other headlines seen today, one from the LA Times which declares "Palin bounce has Democrats off balance," as well as The Hill which titles their piece "Shaken Dems fear Obama on downslide,", both refer to the national averages in different sets of polls which has Mccain leading Obama and both discussing how the Barack Obama campaign and Democratic officials believe Obama hasn't quite figured out how to handle the instant popularity of Sarah Palin among women and even men.
In the shaken Dems piece it describes Democrats in Congress as being "rattled" and disagreeing on exactly how the Obama campaign and Democrats in general should respond to the Palin factor that has infused this election.
Some think Obama needs to take a direct approach in challenging Palin, while others disagree and think this line of attack could backfire and risk alienating many voters.
Palin was the talk of the Hill as lawmakers returning to Washington woke up Tuesday morning to headlines declaring that Sen. McCain (R-Ariz.), the GOP nominee, has pulled even with Sen. Obama (D-Ill.) in national polls. The jump is due to a 20-point swing among white women, who now favor the McCain-Palin ticket by 12 points, according to a Washington Post–ABC News poll.
The worry and constant theme from these articles is "women" and how they are identify with Palin and how even John McCain's favorable opinion among women has gone up in the polls since choosing Sarh Palin as his running mate.
Still others want to push the experience factor which the Obama campaign initially tried right after Palin was chosen as the GOP running mate, to which Obama himself backed off of, with many believing that he simply does not want his experience as the top of the Democratic ticket, compared to hers as the bottom of the ticket because the comparison could backfire against him.
A Democratic lawmaker from Arizona, Representative Ed Pastor, states what the main concern is by saying "We were feeling a little laid-back, and now we’re saying, ‘Oh hell, this is slipping away, we’ve got to get to work.’ ”
Obama campaign manager David Plouffe denies their is a problem with women voters and calls the ABC News/Washington Post poll "wrong."
Then came the Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll released later that day, which the LA Times says, "A new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll released Tuesday, for instance, shows that McCain is now winning among white women 52% to 41% after having been statistically tied with Obama in that crucial category just a month ago."
"Whenever you see that kind of movement, you ought to be concerned; you ought to try to address it," said Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), a strong Obama backer.
David Bonior, the former Michigan congressman who managed Democrat John Edwards' unsuccessful presidential bid, called the new poll findings a "real concern," adding: "We can't lose white women and expect to do well in this race."
Women have once again become a major factor in the campaign season and the next few weeks we can expect the McCain campaign to continue going after them and the Obama campaign trying to bring those that are defecting from him, back into the fold.
Comments like those made by Obama yesterday, like "You can put lipstick on a pig, It's still a pig," whether a deliberate jab at Palin or an innocent expression taken wrong, are comments that are seriously offending some people, such as former Hillary Clinton supporters, like those over at PUMA, who state:
In response to the furor over yesterday’s “lipstick on a pig” remark, today Obama told us, “Spare me the phony outrage.” Well, okay then. We’ll spare you the phony outrage Barack and give you the authentic variety on November 4th. That sure will be Sweet-ie.
Some say the Obama camp needs to realize it is not only conservatives or Republicans that are watching his words, but former Clinton supporters, who already felt that sexism was a major part of why Clinton lost to Obama, are watching and they are Democratic women for the most part.
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