Big Think

It's the Women, Stupid

It's the women, stupid: Did mismanagement lose Senator Clinton's bid for the White House? Or was it Mark Penn's bad strategy to woo women? It's clear from Joshua Green's The Front-Runners Fall piece in this September's Atlantic that Mark Penn was counting on XX chromosomes to usher Senator Clinton in as the Democratic Presidential Nominee. Picking women as a target audience was a wise choice, no doubt about that. Women are the "gender gap" in modern Presidential elections, and by some estimates make up to 59% of primary voters. Penn got that this campaign was about "the women, stupid." What he didn't understand how to reach them. Despite the infighting and power plays that Green's piece chronicles, missing the mark on women was perhaps Mark Penn's most fatal mistake on the Hillary campaign. As the CEO of public relations firm Burson-Marsteller, one would have guessed that Penn knows basic communications strategy 101: it's not enough to identify your target audience, you must know what moves them. Yet here's Penn's exact strategy as cited in Green's piece: "1) Start with a base of women: a. For these women you represent a breaking of barriers. b. The winnowing out of the most competent and qualified in an unfair, male dominated world. c. The infusion of a woman and mother's sensibilities into a world of war and neglect." He had a plan of sorts. But here's where he went wrong: • Lesson 1: Gender is Not Enough. Penn assumed Hillary could pull the "Sister Act" and then watch the girls line-up to pull the lever for her. In fact, women don't, as a rule, vote only based on gender. Yes, baby boomer and "the greatest generation" women connected with her "fighter" message. Many of them were the "great women" behind the "man" and didn't hold riding your husband's coattails against her (in fact, they knew that she helped make them). But younger women as well as some older ones often didn't connect to this narrative, and didn't buy that being a woman alone was reason enough to vote for a Presidential candidate. The Clinton campaign had a one size fits all generations approach to communicating with women - which hurt them in the end. • Lesson 2: Sensible Mothers Were Against the War. Penn advised Senator Clinton that an apology for her vote authorizing the war in Iraq would be "a sign of weakness." Yet this countered his own assumption that women would want a "mother's sensibilities in a world of war and neglect." By not boldly apologizing, Senator Clinton turned off a lot of women who were sick of seeing men and women die every day in Iraq and undermined her standing with her most important base - women. • Lesson 3: Caring Counts. Penn also advised Senator Clinton not to come across as caring or compassionate, for fear it would make her look too weak. While Hillary, being the first viable woman to run for President, was caught in an image pickle - the need to be a tough commander-in-chief in a pants suit and pearls - women in particular look for and crave care and connection. Indeed, it was when HRC broke away from Penn's advice in the New Hampshire primaries and held intimate town hall meetings she resonated most with female voters. • Lesson 4: Policy Matters. Many people make the mistake of assuming that women only care about the "soft" attributes of a candidate - their family, the way they communicate, their overall image. In fact, women are tougher customers when it comes to scrutinizing the details, especially when it comes to policy. Penn's memos don't connect policy to women voters but did for male voters. • Lesson 5: Meet Your Audience Where They're At. While Obama's online strategy has largely been credited with reaching young voters, we shouldn't forget that it's women who make up the largest online audience today. Obama mastered the tactic of creating online communities to reach people and connect them with each other - one of the most critical ways to reach women. Penn neglected this tactic and bingo, Obama's high tech touch was gold for many women young and old. Of course, there is never one thing that makes or breaks a campaign and it's easy for us to snicker with cockiness about how we would have done things differently. But women are the most important constituency you can reach. They are not a niche audience and you can't communicate with them the same as men. When Penn assumed he had the female constituency in the bag, by a 3 to 1 margin no less, he underestimated his audience. Future campaigns take note - you can't have a gender blind campaign, just as you wouldn't want a color blind one. Lisa Witter is co-author of The She Spot: Why Women are the Market for Changing the World and How to Reach Them

August 13, 2008, 5:22 PM

Obama, McCain and Mother Vote

Friday, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton hosted a joint public appearance in the aptly named town of Unity, New Hampshire. The event aimed to garner campaign contributions and promote party healing, but it also serves as a crucial opportunity for Hillary to pass the mother torch to Obama. At last count, there are 80.5 million moms in America. Of women over 60 (that crucial demographic Obama and McCain have been courting since Clinton dropped out), more than 80 percent have children. NBC News exit polls from the 2004 presidential election showed 20% of voters were women with children. 'Soccer moms.' 'Wal-mart moms.' 'Security moms.' Politicians have long loved to shine the rhetorical spotlight on mothers. But do they really know what these women want? Mothers will vote to protect their families, according to Ruth Mandel, director of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University and an expert on women and politics. "Whatever affects their families, whether [it] is their children or their spouses or their own aging parents, family issues are of central importance." Both candidates have positioned themselves as family men, John McCain hitting the campaign trail with his 95 year-old mother and Barack Obama rallying with his daughters. Although this is important, mothers are most concerned right now with providing for their families. An informal poll on the site "TodaysMama," lists the economy as the number one concern for moms this election. Security, health care, education, child care and equal pay also rank highly. When it comes to these issues, it looks like Senator McCain might run into some trouble. His actions are telling us he's on the wrong side of the issues for the majority of mothers: he's against ending the occupation in Iraq, against comprehensive family planning, against a woman's right to safely end an unwanted pregnancy, against comprehensive health care for America's families, and against legally mandated equal pay for men and women. This pay equity position is especially upsetting to mothers who know that, while wage gaps between women and men in entry-level jobs are slight, women with children make only 70 cents to their male counter-parts dollar. Senator Obama, on the other hand, is much better aligned with mothers on most of their key issues. He hit the rhetorical nail on the head at a recent event in New Mexico, when he said, "I would not be standing before you today as a candidate for president of the United States if it weren't for working women. I'm here because of my mother, a single mom who put herself through school... I'm here because of my grandmother, who helped raise me... And I'm here because of my wife, Michelle, the rock of the Obama family." At that point you could see the working-class women that he had trouble connecting with in Pennsylvania lean in and nod in agreement. He continued: "Too many of America's daughters grow up facing barriers to their dreams. And that has the consequences for all American families. It's harder for working parents to make a living while raising their kids. And we know that the system is especially stacked against women." This speech was authentic and empathetic connection done at its best, but Obama knows that mothers are tough customers who care just as much about policy as they do about powerful rhetoric. In New Mexico, he also spoke about how he wanted to close the gender pay gap by sponsoring the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act that would have made it easier for women to challenge pay discrimination. And on all other key policy positions -- the war, health care, family planning, and choice, his views are in line with many mothers' -- and are the exact opposite of his opponent's. Obama may have the clear advantage with the mother vote on the image, talk and policy fronts, but McCain has shown lately that he isn't willing to let the mom vote go without a fight. His camp is racing, arms out for an embrace, towards those disgruntled Hillary voters. A photo recently added to the home page of his web site shows a smiling, middle-aged white woman holding a Hillary for President sign with McCain stickers slapped all over it. But if Senator McCain thinks a website facelift is all he needs to reel in mothers, he's wrong. Mothers work too hard for their families to fall for empty gimmicks that may hide real facts.

June 30, 2008, 5:17 PM

Unfetter Women's Intellect on Campaign Trail

I've got whiplash. That's how quickly the national discussion of women's leadership has changed from one of the merits of an accomplished senator turned potential first female president to the clothes of the potential first ladies. Media coverage everywhere is "Michelle vs. Cindy." Where do they buy their dresses? Do they make bacon for breakfast? And, of course, which one can we compare to Jackie O? Is anyone else as appalled as I am at how quickly we have gone back to thinking of women in the oldest of stereotypes -- as only wives and mothers? I'm a wife. I'm a mother. I love my family. But I'm other things, too. We all know that the presidents' wives play an important role in policy and diplomacy in one way or another. Just look at the publicly recognized legacy of Eleanor Roosevelt, which proves how a strong first spouse (it just happens to be that they've all been first "ladies" so far) makes a country stronger. So why do we hide it by focusing on hair, clothes and what's on the breakfast table? Isn't this part of the mostly unspoken sexism that Sen. Hillary Clinton and even the media have highlighted all along? In "Michelle Obama Highlights Her Warmer Side" in the New York Times Thursday, TV critic Alessandra Stanley wrote that "Mrs. Obama distanced herself from that model [of the assertive career woman] on The View, describing herself as a mother and not mentioning her law career or her views on policy." How does not mentioning her career or policy positions make her warmer? Isn't this just another case of someone deciding that people can't handle a strong woman? Isn't this just another case of wives and women being forced into the "seen and not heard" box? Clinton is probably having cookie-baking flashbacks. The new focus on Obama's hair and hemlines comes right on the heels of the gender-biased way the media covered Clinton's campaign. If we let this go on, we risk losing an important opportunity to have a national dialogue about sexism. We should be holding the media accountable for perpetuating stereotypes. If a white woman is strong, she's considered cold -- as the coverage of Cindy McCain has shown. If a black woman is strong, she's obviously angry -- so go the accusations about Michelle Obama. But the responsibility doesn't just rest on the media. The campaigns themselves shoulder some of the weight, too. Do the McCain and Obama teams want to play into the stereotypes of first ladies that are only soft and sweet? Is Michelle going to quit giving her husband the "new high five" fist because it comes across as too strong? I hope not. Four years ago I had both the pleasure and the somewhat freaky experience of running for "president" on Showtime's American Candidate. The show had 10 real Americans traveling the country, kissing babies, debating foreign policy and laying out five-point economic plans. At each and every campaign stop, I was approached by women and girls who said, "Finally, someone who looks like me running for office -- a strong woman." I had to remind them that I was just playing a candidate on television, not actually running for the real deal. While America's women and girls lost the opportunity to see themselves reflected in the top job this round, what we can't do is lose the opportunity to change the way women -- and first ladies -- are portrayed. It's a tough line, no doubt. For the most part, we want to feel and look beautiful. We love our families and feel proud about our personal and professional accomplishments. But if we let the conversation about the first ladies focus mostly on the role and status of the conventional "Mrs.," we've lost a huge opportunity to reframe gender and marriage dynamics in our country. We all need to take it upon ourselves to strike up a conversation about how we can end sexism in America. Contact the press when they get it right -- and not so right. And I'm going to write Michelle Obama to let her know that when she portrays herself as strong, I feel strong, too. If this election didn't fulfill the hopes and dreams of many women and girls who wanted to see themselves reflected in the White House, the least we can do for them is use it as an opportunity to change the frame of wives and women from here on out. Note: Article first appeared in Newsday, June 23, 2008.

June 23, 2008, 2:22 PM

McCain to Capture the Women's Vote Through Golf Bags?

The race is on. The general election is finally here and voters now have a clear choice: Senator Obama or Senator McCain. For better or worse, getting elected isn't just about the issues. Citizens decide on a number of factors: Do they like the candidate? Do they trust them? Are they consistent? Can they connect? Do they share my priorities? It appears Senator McCain thinks he can connect with voters by encouraging them to buy golf gear. Yes, golf gear. On his home page he has major tabs for strategy, decision center, general election and... golf gear. Can you believe that at a time when the vast majority of Americans are struggling with high gas prices, potential or real home foreclosures, rising costs of food, sky rocketing health care -- John McCain prioritizes one of the most elite-of-elite sports on his Web site? He's encouraging supporters to buy golf gear with his name on it. Have you heard of anything more absurd? Talk about elite, out of touch and the wrong priorities. Karl Rove and his Republican machine call Obama out of touch. They say "Obama went to Harvard," "Obama eats arugula," and "He's even had a latte." I can't imagine anything more elitist than pimping monogrammed golf gear on your Web site, can you? This is especially odd during a time when both Obama and McCain are vying for the "women's" vote. McCain prioritized golf, the sport where women still aren't allowed to be members at one of the game's crown jewels courses: Augusta, Georgia. Golf, to many, is the sport contained in the local country club they always drive by and never drive in. Women will be the swing voters in this election. They have decided the last four Presidents. I can't imagine, despite the gains of great female golfers like Annika Sorenstam, that golf appeal is going to work for most women. We're looking for a candidate that will get us get our sons and daughters out of Iraq, that will help lower health care costs, and that will protect a women's right to choose. Trust me, the vast majority women are much more concerned about the cold hard cash in their hand-bags than they are owning their own monogrammed McCain golf-bag. Nobody can dispute Senator John McCain's service to our country. My father is a Vietnam War veteran and I can remember him teaching me to salute any man in uniform. Senator McCain, I salute you, but a way to the swing women voters' hearts is not golf gear or her golf swing.

June 9, 2008, 2:26 PM

Obama Can Reach Hillary's Female Loyalists

The news cycle is buzzing with questions about how Obama can capture many of the 18 million Senator Clinton female voters who had their hearts broken on Tuesday. It's important to know that they weren't just upset for Hillary, they were upset for themselves. Many saw Senator Clinton's fight as their fight. Many women saw her tenacity and wished they would have had it when they lost a promotion or job because of their gender. Many saw her outcome as theirs. This loss runs deep. On Saturday, when Senator Clinton suspends her campaign, we need to listen closely to what she says and how she says it. I'm confident that if Senator Clinton fully and sincerely endorses Senator Obama with her heart and her head he'll not only be able to capture back many of these disillusioned women, but they will become evangelicals for him. However, he'll need to take note of some of the truths about women's lives and the values women hold dearest. Here's how: Women value community and connection. So, Obama needs to: Activate Obama's women supporters to reach out to Clinton supporters and have open and respectful one-on-one conversations about why Obama will be good for America's women. (When you connect women to each other you strengthen your "brand." Opt for campaign events at small scale venues, instead of large stadiums, to connect more intimately. (For example: town halls, union halls, community centers, etc.) Talk more about his mother and the role she had in his life. He was raised by a strong, single mother who had an enormous impact on his life. Women want to see him as a real person, not just a politician. Talking more about his mother will go a long way. Frame his policies and principles as from the perspective of a husband and a parent of two small girls. Women respect a family man. Women like to feel part of a movement -- they draw on their movement allegiances and want to see women in leadership positions. So, Obama needs to: • Get high profile Clinton supporters to endorse Obama very publicly as soon as possible -- Gloria Steinem, Geraldine Ferraro, Madeline Albright, etc. • Give a seminal speech on gender much like the one he did on race. Ellen Goodman suggested this and wrote a beautiful version last weekend. • Have a private meeting with Clinton and leaders of the women's movement to talk about how women will be prominent in his campaign. • Commit to 1/2 of his cabinet being women. Why not have his advisers reflect the gender make-up of the country? This would show Hillary supporters that he understands the importance of women's leadership in his inner-circle. Women have a strong predilection for empathy. So, Obama needs to: • Continue to communicate the need for change and do it with optimism. If he starts attacking McCain it could really turn off women voters. He needs to communicate his refrain on hope. • Always be gracious to Senator Clinton. He must never ever do or say anything disrespectful of her. Obama's having trouble reaching women over 35, and 80% of women over 40 have children. So, Obama needs to: • Communicate that he understands that women are often the main caregivers in the family and that they are struggling to work, be mothers and often take care of their parents. He needs to communicate that he understands that this economy is tight for American working families and that women, as 83% of consumers, are forced to make the tough purchasing decisions: gas or food; which soap works best watered down; what medication cant they do without, etc. • Go on a women/mother's listening tour. • Continue to use the Web as an organizing tool for women. More women are online and blog than men are so his internet outreach is key. Women are also twice as likely to pass on information -- he can continue to use the web to help raise money and spread the word. Women are key to his viral success. • Make being involved in his campaign easy. • Update his Web site to be reflective of women. He should have prominent women endorsements, photos of women and of real people. I hope the Obama campaign wakes-up every day thinking about the women's vote and not make the mistake of lumping them in as a "niche" audience or think that the only issue they care about is abortion. Women have turned out in higher numbers than men in every Presidential election since 1960. They are the key to this election.

June 6, 2008, 7:30 AM