[NYTr] Oprah Electrifies Obama's 'Women's Initiative'

Tue Dec 11 19:58:56 EST 2007

Womens eNews - Dec 11, 2007
http://www.womensenews.org

Oprah Electrifies Obama's 'Women's Initiative'

By Megan Tady
WeNews correspondent

(WOMENSENEWS)--Sen. Barack Obama's campaign is wagering that last
weekend's stumping by the diversified-media celebrity Oprah Winfrey
will spur its grassroots organizing initiative aimed at women.

"What ultimately will be the greatest benefit to the campaign is that
the women attending these rallies will also be serving as precinct
captains, canvassers and in other key positions to help get out the
vote and caucus in their respective states," said Becky Carroll,
national director of the campaign's Women for Obama initiative. "So,
they're not just attending a rally to show their support for Barack;
but they'll be playing a key role when it counts on Election Day."

Winfrey, an old friend of Obama's from Chicago, stirred mass-media buzz
in May by breaking her nonpartisan stance to endorse him. Last weekend,
she ignited the campaign trail in Iowa, South Carolina and New
Hampshire, all early primary voting states. The duo drew over 29,000 to
the Williams-Brice football stadium in Columbia, S.C., and around 6,000
people at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, N.H.

Last month, the campaign announced the formation of state-specific
Women for Obama leadership committees to organize in the nine states
holding primaries on Feb. 5: Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado,
Georgia, Idaho, Missouri, Minnesota and New Jersey. The committees are
being asked to help expand the campaign's base and increase the number
of women fundraising, canvassing and holding house parties for the
candidate. Michelle Obama, Barack's wife, launched the committee with a
conference call with over 700 female leaders across the country.

Even before Winfrey offered the candidate her mass appeal--her
22-year-old daytime TV show is watched by nearly 8 million U.S. viewers
a day--Obama had been quick to declare the party coed and challenge New
York Sen. Hillary Clinton's historic bid to put a woman in the White
House by making his own historic bid for a person of African descent to
be leader of the United States.

Endorsement Battle

Clinton has captured a host of endorsements from women's advocacy
groups, including EMILY's List, the National Women's Political Caucus,
the National Organization for Women Political Action Committee, the
Women's Campaign Forum, the Women's Political Committee and the Eleanor
Roosevelt Legacy Committee.

For many months, Clinton enjoyed a strong gender gap but now some polls
show Obama gaining on her among women and even surpassing in other
groups.

While Obama may be making inroads with women, Clinton in turn is
appealing to African Americans.

A CNN poll conducted and released in October indicated Clinton has a
26-point lead over Obama among African American registered Democrats.
In that poll, 68 percent of black women said they preferred Clinton.

Clinton has also secured endorsements from the Alabama Black Caucus,
civil rights leader Rep. John Lewis of Georgia and Robert Johnson,
founder of Black Entertainment Television and owner of the NBA
Charlotte Bobcats.

Obama's endorsements were slower to start but have been rolling in. In
late November, Iowa State Rep. Deb Barry gave a nod to the senator,
calling him the "best candidate to bring our country together." In the
same month, 46 other female elected officials in Iowa endorsed him.

Karen Bass Talks Up Obama

On the West Coast, California Assembly Leader Karen Bass, who is from a
Los Angeles district and endorsed Obama in May, has been talking him
up. "He is the candidate who will end the war as well as ensure that
the country uses those wasted funds to address poverty issues
throughout the nation," she recently wrote on the Women for Obama blog.
Bass is the vice chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus,
which endorsed Obama in September.

Alice Walker, the Berkeley, Calif., author of "The Color Purple"--the
film version of which marked Winfrey's film debut--and songstress Nancy
Wilson began backing Obama this fall.

Another women's group, Black Women for Obama, which is not affiliated
with the Obama campaign, launched in September and now says on its Web
site that it has 12 chapters across the country and uses a grassroots
approach to mobilize voters.

In Obama's home state of Illinois, Rep. Jan Schakowsky endorsed her
colleague in the upper house in December.

The campaign's attention to women seemed to become invigorated last
March when Bonnie Grabenhofer, president of Illinois NOW, drew some
public attention when she chastised the senator for only voting
"present" on abortion bills. "When we needed someone to take a stand,
Senator Obama took a pass," Grabenhofer said in a press statement. "He
wasn't there for us then and we don't expect him to be now."

A month later, in April, the Obama campaign launched its Women for
Obama initiative, along with an ample Web site.

Network of 20,000

Like its wider grassroots mobilization effort the women's initiative
matches one donor to another and encourages donors to urge others to
contribute. Carroll, the director of Women for Obama, says the
initiative has a grassroots network of 20,000 women.

"Women who support Obama have really been the backbone of our
operation," she told Women's eNews, adding that more women than men
have donated to the campaign.

In the Illinois State Senate in 2003, Obama introduced a set of
employment law protections for domestic and sexual violence victims. In
April, Obama co-sponsored a bill that guarantees women receive equal
pay comparable to men. Last January, he introduced a bill that would
lower the child tax credit's income limit so more working families
could qualify and benefit.

As president, Obama says he would expand a program that provides home
visits by trained nurses to low-income pregnant women and their
families, raise the minimum wage and create a housing trust fund to
develop affordable housing.

"He talks about fighting poverty, which is to my mind a woman's issue,"
says Lenore Patton, chair of the Rockingham County Democrats in New
Hampshire and an Obama supporter. "Most people in poverty in this
country are children. The second largest group is single mothers, who
are raising those children." Rockingham is one of the largest and most
Democratic of the state's counties.

"Although I am a woman and a feminist, and am very concerned about
seeing women in all positions of influence in the country, I wouldn't
vote for a woman just because she's a woman," Patton told Women's
eNews. "When I'm making my choice, I have to pick the person who I
think would be best for the country and the planet."

Obama was raised by a single mother and likes to say that he has the
right "biography" to fight for women.

A blogger who calls herself "Margaret from Viroqua, WI" agrees. "I am
the product of a single mom," she wrote on the Women for Obama blog
last month, "went to an all women's college, and am a stay-at-home,
self-employed mom and I think that Barack Obama is the change we need
on so many issues that women are concerned about--the war in Iraq,
health care, education, etc."

[Megan Tady is a national political reporter for In These Times, and a
freelance journalist.]

For more information:

Women's eNews Spotlight on 2008 Presidential Election: -
http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/3410/

"Iowa Women Jostle Obama Ahead of Clinton in Poll": -
http://womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/3413

Women for Obama homepage: -
http://women.barackobama.com/page/content/WFOhome