Courting the single female voter

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/05/23/WOMENVOTE.TMP

At one table, hip young women line up for free manicures -- perfectly polished nails in "peace pink" -- before registering to vote.

At another, they're choosing from displays of rose-colored lingerie proclaiming "Give Bush the Pink Slip," or thongs with political slogans too sizzling to make a family newspaper, or upscale silver jewelry with delicate "vote" insignias.

And through it all, the frenetic scene at the "Women's Voices, Women Vote" gathering in San Francisco -- which drew hundreds of women to Fort Mason this past week -- provided a preview of what organizers said could well become the hottest trend in election year 2004: passionate efforts by political parties to woo the single girl into the voting booth.

In what is expected to be a close race, Republican President Bush and his Democratic challenger Sen. John Kerry are battling for their sliver of influential swing voters who could decide the election. And no group is getting more attention than the 22 million unmarried women who were eligible to vote but did not cast ballots in the 2000 presidential election.

[Radical Activist]

1. How do I get involved with this campaign?

I've been wooing single female voters for years.
Then again, considering my infrequent luck maybe I'm not that well qualified.

I really do like the idea of women with politically themed lingerie. I must be the ultimate political junkie if that turns me on.

[corriger]

2. or needing a girl

hey who else here in this place enjoys

florent pagny
patricia kass
michel fugain
france gall

[Lisa0825]

3. I'm a single female! My girls and I all made a pact... ''Sally Baron''

If any of us meets an untimely death, in lieu of flowers, please make donations to any organization dedicated to removing George Bush from office.

[corriger]

4. what is

sally baron?

are you a cute girl whatever you meant to say?

Maid of Orleans?

[Lisa0825]

12. Check this link for Sally Baron's story....

http://screwthegovernment.com/SallyBaron.html

[Awsi Dooger]

5. That block cost Gore the election in 2000

Yeah, I know, he really won and other than that little technicality, dozens of factors came into play.

But when I reviewed the data a month or two after the SCOTUS travesty, the most sickening trend was single females who simply did not care enough to vote. We won that group by a considerable margin, but they voted so much less than their single male counterparts it didn't do us any good.

Single males, not surprisingly, opted for Bush. Married females were close to 50/50. Our edge among women was strictly the unmarried block. All those trends are likely to remain close to the same in 2004, so get your career gal friends to the damn polls!

[Radical Activist]

9. So, it sounds like

we wouldn't need to sell out to the middle of the road swing voters if we had a ticket that could inspire more single women and african-americans to vote in higher numbers. It irritates that all I hear over and over again is that we have to go to the middle and get the swing voters or we can't win an election. Baloney!

[spooky3]

6. Every person (M or F) who is single is not "young and hip".

Single women as a bloc have given Democrats their greatest edge among any demographic group except African Americans. However, silly journalists who want to simplify the world to write a cute story and use sexist terms such as "single girls" are making a big mistake, because "wooing" this group is complex, just as it would be for "married men" or any other large group. "Single women" includes women who have owned homes for years as well as renters, parents and non-parents, secretaries and college presidents and business owners and retired people, people in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, and beyond. The article is misleading also because young, single women aren't even the most likely of the group to support Democrats. One factor accounting for this is that women who have worked more than a few years have likely experienced workplace discrimination, and they know that the Democrats have traditionally been more concerned than Reps. with addressing this.

[REP]

7. Fuck Nail Polish - How About Some Respect?

I get tired of hearing politicians talk about women - if they do at all - as Wombs in Waiting or as Nobody Unless You're Mrs. Somebody. According to recent census numbers, 44% of women between the ages of 15 and 45 are chosing not to have children, so framing "women's issues" as child-related issues is missing the mark with a sizeable number of voters. I don't have numbers on marriage, other than something like 50% end in divorce. In any case, most women no longer derive their identities soley from being married.

Women are concerned about their own education, job opportunities and fair treatment. Focusing on women as people who worry only about these things for others is pissing a lot of us off.

[Lefty Pragmatist]

8. Young people don't vote

Which is unfortunate, but frankly I wouldn't bother courting them until they start showing up at the polls.

[Nashyra]

10. There is a website called MOB

I't is Mother's Opposing Bush, it is not a "girly" website. I don't have the link on hand just do a google or someone here can post it.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

11. Huh, a REAL pragmatist would say,

"Here's a group of potential supporters that's not voting for us. What are we doing wrong? Let's figure out what their concerns are and what we can do to meet those concerns."