ST. PAUL — Senator Barack Obama will increasingly lean on prominent Democratic women to undercut Gov. Sarah Palin and Senator John McCain, dispatching Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to Florida on Monday and bolstering his plan to deploy female surrogates to battleground states, Obama advisers said Thursday.
Mrs. Clinton’s campaign event in Florida, her first for Mr. Obama since the Democratic convention, will serve as a counterpoint to the searing attacks and fresh burst of energy that Ms. Palin injected into the race with her convention speech on Wednesday, Obama aides said.
With the McCain-Palin team courting undecided female voters, including some who backed Mrs. Clinton in the Democratic primaries, Obama aides said they were counting on not only Mrs. Clinton but also Democratic female governors to rebut Ms. Palin — and, by extension, Mr. McCain. Those governors include Janet Napolitano of Arizona and Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas.
Still, within the Obama campaign and among Democratic officials nationwide, talks are well under way about how the party should treat Ms. Palin in the campaign — and what Mr. Obama and his running mate, Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., need to do to regain the offensive after the Republican convention.
Some Democrats were urging Mr. Obama’s campaign not to underestimate the potential power of Ms. Palin’s speech, even among voters not aligned with either party: On liberal talk-radio shows and on left-leaning blogs, some Democrats said the Obama campaign should fight back hard to avoid being caricatured as Senator John Kerry was four years ago when he ran against President Bush. Some party strategists warned that Mrs. Palin’s personal narrative as a “hockey mom” with a special-needs child, would appeal to some undecided women voters.
“What McCain has done with Governor Palin’s nomination is aim right at a demographic that Obama needs to address quickly: noncollege-educated women,” said Mike McCurry, a former spokesman in the Clinton White House. “They need to maximize Biden’s ability to reach out to them, but at the end of the day, it is Obama who has to get that very, very critical group."[More]
Yikes!
It didn’t take long for Scaredy Barack to go hiding behind Hillary’s pantsuit. Such manliness from the Obamadonis.
This latest Obama strategy to counter the devastating effect Sarah Palin's candidacy has had on the Obama/Biden campaign will go over really well. Hillary can't help it but come across as self-important and shrill whenever she is "on the attack." Now she is going to sound catty as well. It should be quite the fight. I wonder whose side Bill is going to be on.
I can hear Hillary’s shrill voice reaching a crescendo as she declares: ““Shame on you, Sarah Palin! You hockey mom of a special needs child!” That will work. Carry on, Obamaboys!
They just don't get it. The elitism continues. Hockey moms without a college degree are just another "critical group" and "a demographic Obama needs to address quickly," not real people, many of whom cling to guns and religion, juggling work and family.
Oh, yeah, send Joe Biden to “reach out to them.” He is a real hit with the ladies. I hear hair plugs drive hockey moms wild with desire.
