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Obama camp woos the women's vote in Madison

Steven Elbow  —  8/21/2008 5:07 pm

The state Barack Obama campaign again turned its sights on the women's vote this week with series of town hall meetings, this time hosted by former U.S. Sen. Jean Carnahan.

A crowd of more than 50 -- mostly women WITH a smattering of men -- gathered in the Democratic presidential hopeful's campaign office Thursday near the UW-Madison campus to speak with Carnahan, who represented Missouri from 2001 to 2002, and Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk, state Secretary of Workforce Development Roberta Gassman, Rep. Terese Berceau, D-Madison and Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis.

The event was billed as a "Unite for Change" town hall meeting, aimed at bringing Hillary Clinton supporters into the Obama camp. While Carnahan and Gassman have backed Obama for months, Falk and Baldwin were strong Clinton supporters until she conceded a bitter primary fight to Obama.

The discussion covered a wide array of topics, including jobs, health care, education, reproductive rights, working families and foreign policy.

The panel made use of the news of the day to spark a lively lambasting of GOP presidential candidate John McCain after he told online news organization Politico.com Wednesday that he didn't know how many houses he owned.

The McCain campaign shot back a jab about Obama's ties to Tony Rezko, a Democratic campaign contributor who was convicted of federal bribery and fraud charges.

"It's surprising that Barack Obama wants to have a debate over houses after he added on to his with the help of a sweetheart deal from convicted felon and Chicago crook Tony Rezko," Kirsten Kukowski, a spokeswoman for the Republican Party of Wisconsin said. "Not to mention that Obama made more than $4 million last year and just got back from a private Hawaiian vacation."

The Madison forum gave women a chance to ask questions on topic that concerned them, including foreign policy, an issue that polls have shown to be a soft spot in the Obama campaign.

On that issue Baldwin told the crowd, "First of all, you can't get worse than where we are now."

Baldwin said that Obama's call for diplomacy over force has already had an impact, forcing President Bush to soften his tone on Iran and send low-level officials to open dialogue after earlier saying he would not negotiate with the Iranian government.

Playing on the theme that electing McCain would be an extension of the unpopular presidency of Bush, Carnahan said that Obama would bring a thoughtful approach to the table in dealing with foreign policy.

"It would be an intellect you'd be finally dealing with, which we haven't seen in a long time," she quipped.

Paula Rinelli, an Obama volunteer who attended the event, said despite that fact that she didn't agree with Obama on everything -- specifically his vote to support a sweeping intelligence surveillance law backed by Bush but panned by many of his Democratic colleagues -- the Obama campaign has gotten her more politically involved since the late 1960s, when she worked on the presidential campaign of Bobby Kennedy.

"I'm energized to be with the young people here," she said, referring to the young volunteers working at Obama's Madison headquarters.

she hasn't she was excited by the campaign heavily denounced by the liberal activists took

Carnahan also hosted town hall meetings Wednesday in Wausau and Green Bay.

Carnahan was appointed to the U.S. Senate after her husband, former Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan, was posthumously elected.

Steven Elbow  —  8/21/2008 5:07 pm