Battle Is On for the Female Vote

Candidates are obvious sign, but best commentary, comedy comes from females

(NEWSER) - This election is all about women—and Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton can't take all the credit, Sarah Hughes writes in the Independent. The candidates are the most visible, but female commentators, comedians, and protesters have set the tone and are asking the difficult questions. "The good ol' boys are still there, hollering," says Hughes, but it’s the likes of MSNBC's Rachel Maddow leading the pack. More»

Women divided over conservative female veep pick's stand on women's issues

(NEWSER) - John McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate is drawing a mixed reaction from the female swing voters his campaign is desperate to woo, reports the New York Times. Some conservative women who have been lukewarm about a McCain presidency are energized by the pick, whereas many independents and Clinton fans take issue with the Alaska governor’s anti-abortion stance and other issues vital to women. More»

(NEWSER) - Sarah Palin's resignation speech on Sunday showed how far she's fallen, writes Maureen Dowd: "Once a blazingly confident media darling," the now-former Alaska governor has become a ranting, whiny "Nixon with hair extensions." It's a marked contrast from Hillary Clinton, who on the same day gave an hourlong interview to Meet the Press. Her trajectory has been just the opposite—once "paranoid and press-loathing," the secretary of State is now radiating self-assurance. More»

Dowd: Maybe you want a woman president —but not this woman

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama's sweep of eight primaries in the past four days has put Hillary Clinton on the ropes, and New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd wonders if women will once again come to her aid as they did in New Hampshire. But the "national seminar on gender and race" that is this year's Democratic primary has a strange tenor: while Obama aims to transcend race, Clinton often tries to use her sex as a tool, or worse, as an excuse, says Dowd. More»

Linda Hirshman: White women aren't excited about midterms

(NEWSER) - White women aren’t particularly excited about the 2010 midterms. In a recent Gallup poll, a paltry 27% of them expressed excitement about the upcoming election. Gallup’s explanation for this was simple: Men are more likely to be Republican, and Republicans are more enthusiastic this year. But Linda Hirshman has another explanation: “Remember the PUMAs?” she writes in the Daily Beast . “I wonder if we declared them an endangered species too soon.” More»