McCain to court state female vote Friday
MADISON -- Republican presidential candidate John McCain is going after the female vote by hosting a women-only town hall meeting Friday in Wisconsin.
The first-of-its-kind event for the McCain campaign is the latest and most overt attempt to woo women turned off by Democrat Barack Obama's rivalry with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton during the primaries.
Obama also has been courting female voters. He and Clinton have campaigned together to help smooth over hard feelings. His wife, Michelle Obama, is holding round-table meetings with women this week, and Clinton's former director of women's outreach is now working for Obama.
McCain's town hall, to include his wife, Cindy McCain, will focus on the economic challenges faced by women in business. It is at J&L Steel Erectors in Hudson, just across the St. Croix River from Minneapolis-St. Paul.
That part of Wisconsin is divided politically, with St. Croix County and two adjacent counties voting for President Bush in 2004 while two others nearby went for Democrat John Kerry.
Winning that part of the state is part of McCain's strategy to carry Wisconsin and capture its 10 electoral votes.
Women are the most important block of swing voters in the nation and have more political power in this election than ever before, McCain spokeswoman Leah Yoon said. Women support McCain because of his economic plan, which will provide immediate relief to families with lower gas and food prices, she said.
Women can especially relate to that because they frequently are the ones managing budgets for the home and businesses, Yoon said.
McCain's plan calls for a gas tax holiday, a move that Obama has called a gimmick that won't lower prices at the pump. Obama favors tax cuts for middle-class workers and tax increases for top earners. He calls for substantial government subsidies for health care, college, retirement and alternative energies.
McCain argues that government should be smaller, and he pledges to cut taxes for all. His plan includes doubling the tax deduction for children and providing refundable tax credits of up to $5,000 for those who buy health insurance.
McCain backers say having a town hall meeting just for women will give them a chance to hear him talk about issues they care about.
"The No. 1 issue I think universally is the economy," said Wisconsin state Rep. Kitty Rhoades, a Republican who helped organize the event.
McCain is the right candidate for women not only because of his economic plan but also his stance on the Iraq war and fighting terrorism, said Mary Buestrin, a Republican National Committee member from Wisconsin.
"Quite frankly, all my women friends are supporting him and want to work actively for him," she said.
But Margaret Gilkison, a University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire political science professor who teaches a class on women and politics, predicted the meeting won't help McCain much with female voters.
Women traditionally tend to be more liberal, anti-military and concerned with health care and economic issues that affect their families, such as higher grocery prices, Gilkison said.
"Women are really stuck in the middle of all this," she said. "I don't see McCain being on the right side of a lot of these issues."
Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton, a Democrat who had supported Clinton but now backs Obama, said she hoped McCain would be asked why he didn't support a Senate bill that sought equal pay for women. McCain, who was not present for the vote, has said he opposed the bill because it would open the door to more lawsuits.
"I can't believe the audacity of this man to bring women together when he would not talk about equal pay and take a vote," Lawton said.
A recent poll showed McCain has a lot of work to do attracting women voters in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
In Wisconsin, Obama was up 16 points among female voters and 13 points overall. In Minnesota, he was up a whopping 26 points among women and 17 points overall, according to a Quinnipiac University poll done in mid-June.
Obama's lead with women in Wisconsin has only strengthened since he defeated Clinton in the February primary. Even though Obama won by 17 points, the two candidates split the female vote, according to exit polls.
Carolyn Kaster/Associated Press
Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain is holding a women-only town-hall meeting in Hudson Friday to attract the state's female vote.
