Wooing Women Voters: Hillary Clinton Aims to Bolster Her Standing As She Inaugurates a Campaign Targeting Salary Parity, More

By Glenn Thrush, Newsday, Melville, N.Y.

Mar. 7–WASHINGTON — Hillary Rodham Clinton placed her left hand on a Bible and her right had in the air while a smirking Chief Justice John Roberts issued the oath of office.

The video pre-enactment of Clinton’s 2008 inauguration — with actors in the leading roles — nearly stole the show yesterday at the annual meeting of EMILY’s List, where the real Sen. Clinton unveiled a break-the-glass-ceiling campaign theme before 1,300 members of the powerful political action committee that backs abortion rights.

Today, Clinton targets another key group — New Yorkers — as she holds a closed-door meeting with the state’s congressional delegation to woo uncommitted members to her cause.

“Women are a majority of the voters, a majority of students in college and we are a growing presence in the Congress. … Together we can break that hardest and highest of glass ceilings,” Clinton told a somewhat subdued crowd of 1,300 at EMILY’s List.

To that end, former White House spokeswoman and Planned Parenthood official Ann Lewis is creating a voter outreach campaign targeting younger women, whose voting rates have lagged.

The campaign also announced that Clinton had picked up the endorsement of New Hampshire state House Majority Leader Mary Jane Wallner, one of that state’s top female politicians.

In recent national polls, Clinton does well with women, but doesn’t completely dominate among female voters, who make up 52 to 54 percent of the general electorate and 60 percent of Democratic primary voters.

Clinton’s campaign publicizes the fact that she won more than two-thirds of the female vote during her re-election campaign last year against relative unknown John Spencer. But better-known Democrats and Republicans do far better against her in hypothetical matchups.

In a Feb. 21 Quinnipiac University poll, Clinton defeats Barack Obama by a 42- to 21-percent margin among Democratic women. When pitted against Rudolph Giuliani, the same poll found Clinton winning by a 50- to 42-percent margin.

Clinton, who has already garnered the EMILY’s List endorsement for 2008, announced the reintroduction of a bill cracking down on pay discrimination against women.

Clinton’s appearance was preceded by the 90-second video showing a pair of actors, one portraying Roberts, the other a blonde in a vermilion pants suit, pantomiming an inauguration. The former first lady said she loved the clip’s theme and took away some fashion tips.

“I liked the color of the outfit; the hair looked great,” she said. “All we have to do is win.”

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Copyright (c) 2007, Newsday, Melville, N.Y.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.

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