War Over Women Gets Personal

After Rick Santorum suspended his campaign this week, Mitt Romney and President Obama are campaigning to attract every demographic in America, and their newest target is women voters. According to the Los Angeles Times, one of the biggest campaign issues for women is equal pay for equal work, prompting reporters on Wednesday to ask Mitt Romney his opinion on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act, which was the first piece of legislation signed by President Obama. Romney's stance? Equal pay for everyone.

During a White House press conference on women and the economy, President Obama said the debate over women was “oversimplified,” and The Washington Post is reporting that the president also said it is doing women a disservice, because they are being treated more as an interest group than as people. But ABC News is reporting that is just how democrats see women voters. Democrats are succeeding in winning over women voters since the midterm elections when the majority of female voters sided with republicans. However, new polls show President Obama has an 18-point lead over Mitt Romney in 12 key swing states, and ABC News is reporting this new lead is due to the GOP’s stance on social issues, like funding for Planned Parenthood.

While President Obama is currently wooing more female voters over Mitt Romney, the current job market could sway women voters to Romney’s side. The Los Angeles Times is reporting that new attack ads on the president claim that 92.3% of the jobs lost in this bad economy during the Obama Administration were female workers. These new ads also claim that the President has “failed American woman,” and has “[turned] the clock back 20 years for women.”

As with most issues concerning the presidential campaign, the so-called “War over Woman,” has found it’s place on Twitter. On Wednesday night’s episode of Anderson Cooper 360 on CNN, democratic political consultant Hilary Rosen questioned Mitt Romney’s claims that his wife Ann is his “guide to the economic problems facing women,” saying “his wife has actually never worked a day in her life.” The Washington Post is reporting that two hours later, Ann Romney made a new Twitter account in order to respond to Rosen, saying that staying home and raising five boys was hard work. The Obama camp quickly jumped onto Twitter saying “families should be off limits,” and showed their disappointment in Rosen’s statements. Rosen later tweeted that she knows raising children is hard work, but most women have to raise their kids and make a living, someone Ann Romney is unfamiliar with.

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