BlogHer - What women bloggers think: Hillary, Obama and the pink elephant in Election '08 - Comments

How to get the vote out

Virginia DeBolt — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 08:56:29 -0600

I spent some time yesterday comparing the web sites of the newly announced Democratic candidates. Governor Bill Richardson's site, for example, includes links to his sites on MySpace, Facebook, Zanby, PartyBuilder, Flickr, and YouTube. Each of these links offers citizens a way to participate, express their opinions, be heard, and develop a dialog with the candidate. It's not just about raising money any longer: it's also about a conversation with the voters. All the candidates are leaning this way for 2008. Any time we post something here of a political nature, we need to provide these feedback links to our readers. If we get involved in the dialog, we are more apt to go vote. If we take the time to look at candidates sites and respond to their posts, videos, and other communication opportunities, we are engaged in participatory democracy and are more likely to complete the cycle by voting in the fall.

http://www.webteacher.ws/
http://first50.wordpress.com/

Thanks for the mention

greenjenni — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 22:13:12 -0600

I'm flattered that you excerpted from my blog (Jen's Green Journal) on your Hillary Election post.

It's also fun to find this woman-centered site!

Also

heivilinj — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 12:22:42 -0600

Candidate voting records and other issue related facts are great and I hope to be able to easily find such data.

But it also occurs to me that in addition to these facts, corporate and PAC contributions to candidates might also be useful. Living in Missouri these days and the Blunt family seemingly inhabiting the pocket of Big Tobacco, I've become particularly sensitive to that topic.

Jim Heivilin

Facts

heivilinj — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 12:14:58 -0600

This is one of the things that I would find most useful. Links to places where I can go to find out the real facts, unencumbered with any media "spin".

For example, I want to endorse Senator Clinton but stuck in the back of my head is some issues which she came out on the side of the idiots regarding gaming (computer and video games). I don't recall the issue, when it occurred or even the name of the game in question. So some place where I could go to look at her voting record and the legislation which she has sponsored or initiated would be incredibly useful.

As far as your coverage I've always found that issues discussed here have a more rational perspective as well as representing the female perspective.

Jim Heivilin

I agree--brilliant. Lia's

Marilyn — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 08:29:32 -0600

I agree--brilliant. Lia's post gives concrete examples of how each of us can make a difference and be heard in the next election. I'm actually kind of excited about the '08 election--excited to put all the technology available to us to use to take action and be heard and feel involved.

In addition to the regular BlogHer newsletter, might there be a separate one re the '08 election pointing us toward relevant posts here and elsewhere? You've already spun off with a business conference. Maybe there needs to be an election conference in '08...but as I mentioned in my previous comment, it would be most exciting to me if it were live online...so that EVERYONE could participate without the burden of travel costs.

One of the biggest concerns

Marilyn — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 08:16:57 -0600

One of the biggest concerns I have is our loss of privacy since 9/11, all done by the current administration in the name of the 'war on terror.' Just last month Bush gave himself the power to open our mail without a warrant. This is a HUGE issue for me...and one that almost made me decide to not return to life in the U.S. We need a smart and humane immigration policy. Building a multi-billion dollar fence is not it. I'm deeply concerned about New Orleans and how little recovery has been experienced there--surely much of that recovery funding has gone to subsidize the war in Iraq. I want to feel hopeful again, and to find a candidate who can begin to repair our much-damaged reputation on the world stage. Hillary represents the past to me...Bush, Clinton, Bush...CLINTON? There are hundreds of millions of families in this country...do we really need to limit the presidency to just TWO?

"Let's talk. Let's chat."

Marilyn — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 07:46:43 -0600

"Let's talk. Let's chat." (gag) Let's not. It's that Oprah feel Morra mentioned. Maybe that's appealing to a lot of viewers--it turned me off. Sitting on a sofa in that living room setting, the colors in the room, the photo of Bill and Chelsea on the table. I agree that many view Hillary as "shrill" (whatever that's supposed to mean) and often divisive that video looked like a calculated effort to combat that. But that's just it--it looked TOO calculated to me. Barack didn't have a photo of his wife and daughters in the background. This is certainly not Hillary's fault, but it bothers me that--good lord--in 2007, we still have to show that a woman is soft and feminine and a Mom. She should be judged equally with her male counterparts on the ISSUES.

Couple things

amyloo — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 06:22:03 -0600

Lisa, so glad BlogHer is getting things organized for the election. Great post -- and it's drawn out some great comments.

Couple things we might be able to do something about:

- Don't you think political bloggers in general so often write to please people who already hold opinions similar to the bloggers' own views? It only draws readers and commenters who either agree or have diametric opinions, and no minds are ever changed. I think that's why it's important, as you pointed out in your post, for non-political bloggers to talk politics.

- We could try to shape the way the mainstream media covers the election. I mean just pick at bits of conventional wisdom enough to start to warp it. Here's an example that's one of my pet peeves: somehow it's ALL-IMPORTANT not to "flip-flop." So legislators who voted for the Iraq war have to be crossexamined about that vote, and changes of heart are seen as a big big black mark. A countermeme could assert that flexibility in light of changing information and circumstances is a great trait for a leader -- and one that our president could have used.

Muted tones

amyloo — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 06:00:47 -0600

I had the impression that the feeling of softness was calculated to counter objections that Hillary is "shrill" or strident. That shrill charge always drives me nuts. The word always seems to pop out when a woman has an opinion.

Health care - a leading cause for women

Lisa Stone — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 23:30:30 -0600

Virginia, you nailed - have you read the Pew report "How Women and Men use the Internet"? The document is peppered with descriptions of how and why women use the Internet to care for ourselves and our loved ones.

Watching California Gov. Schwarzenegger's plan for universal health care and lobby reactions has been a good training ground -- we need to figure out a way to stay on this one.

Think it's good breeding ground for an omnipartisan plank?

Lisa Stone
BlogHer Co-founder
Surfette

Your vote?

Lisa Stone — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 23:24:59 -0600

Hi Jody,

Thanks for crossposting your retrospective on women and the American presidency. Here's my question for you: Has Sen. Clinton's support of women in untraditional roles earned her your vote? What are you looking for? Would love to know...

Lisa Stone
BlogHer Co-founder
Surfette

How to get the vote out

PunditMom — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 16:19:01 -0600

Yes, we need to focus on and figure out what the issues are that voters are concerned about, but I think the key in 2008 is going to be voter turnout --- women and all young adults.

Apparently, according to one study, the recent mid-term elections saw a significant increase in voter turnout in the 18 to 29 age range. If we can put our collective finger on what got them out from in front of their MySpace pages and to the polls, that's a pretty good start in the battle.

What is important enough to us to get us off our duffs and to the polls and, getting others there? I think that's the tough nut to crack. But I think if we put our heads together we can do that. In the last presidential election, the blogosphere was nothing compared to what it is today. There are so many of us out there with opinions we want to "talk" about, we need to find a way to harness that.

http://punditmom1.blogspot.com

Good health care plans have

Virginia DeBolt — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 15:47:43 -0600

Good health care plans have always been a drawing card with me. Hillary had a good one back in '92 (or whenever it was), which got shot down quickly by the "men's club" she presented it to. Carol Moseley Braun had a great idea for a single-payer health care plan that nobody took the time time listen to. We need to make sure these ideas get heard and not outshouted by the people who want to keep health care as it is in the upcoming election.

http://www.webteacher.ws/
http://first50.wordpress.com/

What does Move On think?

Pam — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 14:37:59 -0600

I was wondering more what MoveOn would consider their own shortcomings. Did they get folks to the polls and if not, why not? Did they feel they reached the voters? How did they cross the digital divide and if they didn't, what were the obstacles to that... that's more the line of thinking I was going for.

Nerd's Eye View

Hillary Clinton and Non Traditional Careers for Women

Jody DeVere -- Ask Patty — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 12:04:05 -0600

Hillary Clinton Runs for President Supporting Non Traditional Careers for Women

This is a bit off topic for Ask Patty, however the news of a Hillary Clinton running for President in 2008 was just irresistible to comment about.

Interesting to me is that Hillary Clinton supports programs for non-traditional careers for women. She has worked to expand opportunities for women to enter non-traditional occupations, such as automotive technician, carpenter, electrician, or police officer. Women are still significantly underrepresented in these fields, yet these jobs often pay very well and include benefits like health insurance and pensions. She has worked to improve the federal vocational education program by providing incentives for states to help girls and women enter and succeed in non-traditional fields. She also introduced a Senate Resolution honoring women in the trades.

There is a woman chancellor in Germany, a woman president in Liberia and also in Chile, but when it comes to the United States, the only female Commander in Chief is the one Gina Davis played on television.

A 2006 CBS News/New York Times poll finds that 92 percent of all Americans say they would vote for a woman if she were qualified, up from just about half in the 1950s.

Is the American public ready for a woman president of the United States?

Hillary Clinton is not the first woman candidate to run for the office of President. This is the ninth attempt for a woman to run for President of the United States, beginning in 1872:

Women have always had a tough time in American politics. In 1872, when Victoria Woodhull became the first woman to run for president, women did not even have the right to vote in federal elections. They didn't get it until 1920.

Victoria Woodhull, a stockbroker, publisher, and protÃ©gÃ© of Cornelius Vanderbilt, ran for president of the United States in 1872 on the Equal Rights Party ticket. Belva Lockwood, the first woman admitted to practice law before the U.S Supreme Court ran for president on the same party's ticket in 1884 and 1888.

Sen. Margaret Chase Smith (ME) became the first woman to have her name placed in nomination for president at a major party convention when Sen. George Aiken nominated her at the 1964 Republican
national convention. Smith â€“ also the first woman to serve in both the House and Senate â€“ had campaigned briefly for the post when the Senate was not in session.

In 1972, Rep. Shirley Chisholm (D-NY) ran for president in the Democratic primaries. At the party's national convention, she won 151.25 delegate votes before Sen. George McGovern clinched the nomination.

Frances (Sissy) Farenthold, a former Texas state legislator who twice ran for governor of that state, finished second in the balloting for the 1972 Democratic vice presidential nomination, receiving more than 400 votes.

Third-term Congresswoman Geraldine A. Ferraro (D-NY), secretary of the House Democratic Caucus, became the first woman ever to run on a major party's national ticket when she was selected by Walter F. Mondale as his Vice Presidential running mate in 1984.

Congresswoman Patricia Schroeder (D-CO) explored the idea of running for president in the 1988 election, but bowed out of the race after concluding that she could not overtake men who had been running and raising funds for months before her.

Elizabeth Dole, who had served as U.S. Secretary of Labor, U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Federal Trade Commissioner, and president of the American Red Cross, ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2000. After failing to attract sufficient early support, she withdrew from the race. She now represents North Carolina in the U.S. Senate.

Ambassador Carol Moseley Braun (D-IL) is among ten Democrats seeking the 2004 presidential nomination. An attorney and one-term U.S. senator (1992-1998), Braun has also served as U.S. Ambassador to New Zealand, Illinois state representative, and Cook County Recorder of Deeds.

2006 - Senator Hillary Clinton was born in Chicago, Illinois, on October 26, 1947. She is the daughter of Dorothy Rodham and the late Hugh Rodham. Her father was a small businessman and her mother a homemaker. She is a graduate of Wellesley College and Yale Law School. She is married to former President William Jefferson Clinton. They have one daughter, Chelsea.

Jody DeVere
President
AskPatty.com, Inc.

What women bloggers think: Hillary, Obama and the pink elephant in Election '08

Lisa Stone — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 16:31:06 -0600

Meet Emily, an Illinois blogger whose online diary this week veered sharply away from pop culture and launched into presidential politics:

"I was watching CNN this morning as I woke up, as I do every morning, and I heard the most amazing and exciting news that has honestly made my day. Hillary Clinton has decided to run for the presidency in 2008. First Barack Obama, which I'm just as excited about, and now this....I never thought I'd be blogging about politics, but this just has me very excited."

Emily is just one of many women bloggers I found turning away from their usual topics this week and tuning in the landslide of American presidential history-to-be. I took a tour of women's blogs to see what they think of the first-ever entry of a former First Lady into the race, on the heels of the very popular junior senator from Illinois. Anyone who cares about getting women to vote should read on for some encouraging news....

What I found confirmed that women bloggers are farther than ever from Kevin Drumm's question -- "where are the women bloggers?" -- that inspired me, Elisa Camahort and Jory Des Jardins to launch BlogHer.

Because while BlogHer's list of Politics & News blogs by women is 379 strong, in this case I found sudden and serious grassroots engagement everywhere, from mommyblogs to myspace diaries. These races are catching fire with women immediately, well outside the cabal of political bloggers at the 2004 Democratic National Convention that I blogged for the Los Angeles Times.

Here's a round-up of this week's alluring political news; so much erupted in the past seven days that you didn't have to be inside the Beltway or a political blogger to get excited about it:

Sen. Hillary Clinton's in by Marianne Richmond

Sen. Barack Obama's in by Morra Aarons-Mele

Congressional Democrats, led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, delivered on their agenda for the first 100 days, although the speaker's outfits got nearly as much press, by Morra Aarons-Mele

The Sen. Judiciary Committee isn't letting up on the Bush administration by Kim Pearson

Al Gore's nowhere to be seen on the presidential front, although his anti-global-warming cause is getting play, by Dana Tuszke

Out among women who don't blog this stuff every day, these two candidates are packing the punch of serial celebrities. Case in point: To Sen. Clinton's news, Lizzy on LiveJournal said only, "YAY!" and posted the Clinton campaign press release.

Other bloggers got to "yay" via their personal history Clinton, from her time as the former First Lady to today. Blogger Alejna, for one, ws surprised by her own positive response to Sen. Clinton. In "feeling optimistic," she writes:

"I have to admit that Iâ€™ve had mixed feelings about her. I loved her during Bill Clintonâ€™s administration. I was excited about her commitment to issues such as national healthcare. But then sheâ€™s seemed to move more and more into the center since those halcyon days. I was disappointed in her support of the the war in Iraq. Iâ€™d come to like her a lot less. And whenever Iâ€™ve heard people say that sheâ€™d be running for president, Iâ€™ve thought, â€œthereâ€™s just no way.â€ No way sheâ€™d run. And no way she could win. But now Iâ€™ve read a few things that make me think again. Like this article. And this one, from a couple of years ago. And suddenly, Iâ€™m feeling a tingling of optimism. That after these dark political years, weâ€™re once again moving forward as a society. Not only can people imagine having a woman as president, they believe it can happen. Soon."

Still others want to vote for Sen. Clinton, but feel her pro-war vote prevents them. Writes Jen of Jen's Green Journal: "It's now official. As an anti-war, pro-peace person, I will not be able to support Hillary, as much as I'd like to see a woman president." But some of this enviro-blogger's readers are having none of it: One anonymous reader commented, "I am totally frustrated with the argument "I can't vote for this Dem on principle" (pick the principle). That is the attitude that has resulted in eight years of George W. Bush. Sorry, but there is no way to rationalize your way out of this. It is what it is." (Click through on Jen's blog to read her response about living in Utah.)

Therein lies a major difference between Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama, whose vote against the Iraq war has become a major calling card for him and a possible liability for her, since she voted for the war. (At this point, polls state that more than two-thirds of Americans oppose President Bush's plan to add 20,000 troops in Iraq; see Bloomberg's report).

Another point of difference is that as of 2 p.m. PST, I can't find Mrs. Clinton's announcement on YouTube, and when I search "hillary for president" on http://youtube.com, I find lots of homegrown Hillary videos (pro and con, nothing unusual) AND Mr. Obama's announcement that he will announce his decision to run for president on Feb. 10.

Aside: If the senator from New York is going to make the most of her impassioned, video-enabled speech, her Web team needs to make sure her site offers her fans the ability to embed her video on their sites. According to Thinkprogress, her online presence hasn't completely joined what Phil Noble of PoliticsOnline calls the first YouTube election.

Still, according to this Jan. 18 Gallup Poll, Sen. Clinton is the front-runner among Democrats. And if Gallup's numbers are any indication of how Sen. Clinton will appeal in her state-by-state primaries, key to her appeal and her success will be women who identify as conservative Democrats (and, my guess, socially liberal Republicans).

I think it's important to stop talking horserace right there. For while women are the majority of voters, and many a pundit loves to talk of "soccer moms" as a monolith, we certainly don't all vote alike. I can see many of the Democratic candidates appealing to any number of women for a variety of reasons. And this is the pink elephant in the room for anyone who's "in to win."

In conclusion, we -- BlogHer's Politics & News team -- would like to ask for your help. As BlogHer's contributing editors pull together our Election 2008 community journalism initiative, we want to know: How do we make sure this election stays about you the voter? We know the press will cover the horse race in excruciating detail. We know that talk shows and blogs of all kinds will sling data and mud.Our goal, however, is a different: How do we best create an opportunity for women online (and our friends who aren't) equip ourselves to make our voices heard in 2008?

We have many ideas -- but first we want to hear yours.

Please -- comment below?

Thanks.

Lisa Stone is a BlogHer Co-Founder. Her personal blog is Surfette.