Clinton shows femininity to court key constituency

[jefferson_dem]

Personally, I think this effort to prime the "gender factor" is an excellent strategic move on her part and a perfectly reasonable campaign "issue."

Clinton shows femininity to court key constituency
By Marcella Bombardieri, Globe Staff | October 18, 2007

MANCHESTER, N.H. - Everywhere she goes, Hillary Clinton asks voters to help her make history as the first woman president.

Yet Clinton is increasingly portraying herself more as motherly and traditional than as trailblazing and feminist, sometimes playing up the differences between men and women.

At a fund-raiser in Washington yesterday wrapping up three days of her "Women Changing America" events, Clinton joked about how her male rivals have been focusing on her. "At first, you know, I didn't know what to make of it, and then a friend of mine said, 'You know when you get to be our age, having that much attention from all these men -' " she trailed off, as the audience of female donors roared with laughter.

Until now, Clinton had said little on the campaign trail about raising her daughter, Chelsea, now 27. But at the YWCA in Manchester on Tuesday, as she unveiled a $1 billion family leave proposal, she told story after story about baby Chelsea getting sick or crying inconsolably.

A day earlier on "The View," a daytime TV talk show aimed at female viewers, Clinton criticized people who focus on her haircut or clothes, yet she joked about the differences between her and her male rivals: "Well, look how much longer it takes me to get ready."

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http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/10/18/clinton_shows_femininity_to_court_key_constituency?mode=PF

[Larkspur]

1. Hey, Hillary, when are you going to sacrifice Chelsea to the US Army

You voted for war with Iraq and are beating war drums against Iran. Don't you think you should back it up by sending Chelsea into the US Army and into Iraq?