This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Aug. 28, 2012 - TAMPA – Some are sporting “Moms for Mitt” buttons. Others are buttonholing friends or coworkers and talking about how GOP economic reforms would mean more jobs for women. Still others are working with church and anti-abortion groups to find more female backers.
Republican women are trying to close what surveys indicate is a significant gender gap in support for GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney: He appeals more to men than to women. Some surveys show a wide gap, with President Barack Obama leading Romney by about 8 percent among women.
Start update: On Tuesday evening, Romney’s wife Ann – considered by many to be a warm, engaging asset to the campaign – gave an emotional speech at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, emphasizing her husband’s commitment to his spouse, his family and his country.
"Tonight I want to talk to you about love," she said, recounting how she had first met Mitt at a high school dance and telling the story of their early years and her happiness as a spouse and the mother of five boys.
"It's the moms who always have to work a little harder, to make everything right," she said. "It's the moms of this nation -- single, married, widowed -- who really hold this country together."
She added to applause: "We're the mothers, we're the wives, we're the grandmothers, we're the big sisters, we're the little sisters, we're the daughters. You know it's true, don't you? You're the ones who always have to do a little more."
Then Ann Romney made the transition to why women -- and all voters -- could put their trust in her husband.
"I can't tell you what will happen over the next four years," she said. "But I can only stand here tonight, as a wife, a mother, a grandmother, an American, and make you this solemn commitment: This man will not fail. This man will not let us down. This man will lift up America!"
Trying to appeal directly to thousands of women in the audience -- and millions viewing her remarks -- Ann Romney recounted the couple's enduring love through some challenging early years and, later, during her health battles with breast cancer and MS.
"I read somewhere that Mitt and I have a 'storybook marriage,'" she said. "Well, in the storybooks I read, there were never long, long, rainy winter afternoons in a house with five boys screaming at once. And those storybooks never seemed to have chapters called MS or breast cancer.
"A storybook marriage? No, not at all. What Mitt Romney and I have is a real marriage." She added: "I know this good and decent man for what he is -- warm and loving and patient."
When Ann Romney finished her speech, the thunderous applause got even louder when Mitt Romney walked onstage, to the tune of the Temptations' song "My Girl," and embraced his wife.
It was a speech and spectacle that impressed the delegates, many of whom had looked forward earlier to her speech as a major step in trying to close the gender gap. “Ann Romney gave a tremendous speech, providing the kind of perspective on Mitt Romney that only a wife can have," said Susie Eckelkamp, vice chair of the Missouri Republican Party.
Calling the candidate’s wife “an inspiration,” Eckelkamp commended Ann Romney for talking about “good times and difficult times.” Eckelkamp added in a statement: “Now Americans know a little bit more about Mitt as a loving husband, a caring father, and a leader committed to preserving our nation.”
Romney's speech came before New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie gave the convention's keynote address, helping to define the party's future.
End of update.
Before the speech, Missouri delegate Patricia Thomas of Jefferson City said she was "excited to hear Ann Romney’s speech on her life path and how it has led her to this.”
Mitt and Ann Romney’s middle son, Josh, said after he talked with Missouri delegates that his mom had been looking forward to her speech. “She’ll do a great job of giving the personal side of my dad,” he said. “They have a great marriage.”
Romney campaign advisers hope Ann Romney’s speech and Mitt Romney’s recent overtures to women will start turning around the gender gap, which most surveys say is pronounced. For example, the GOP pollster Kellyanne Conway did a survey in August indicating that women favored Obama by a margin of 52 to 36 percent.
Meanwhile, polling data released Tuesday by Gallup – covering Aug. 6 to 26 – found that Obama led among women, 52 to 42 percent. Romney led among men, 51 percent to 41 percent.
While much of the publicity in recent months has focused on social issues like abortion and contraception – such as the recent comment by U.S. Rep. Todd Akin on “legitimate rape” and the controvesy last February over the "Blunt amendment" on contraception and religious freedom – some Republicans argue that economic issues are more important for many women.
“I don’t think that women are looking for preferential treatment,” said alternate Kathy Swan, a businesswoman from Cape Girardeau who is running for state representative. “Women believe in experience, intelligence and knowledge -- and in earning their positions, just as men do.”
In an interview, Swan said Ann Romney’s “values reflect that belief as well: that women are as capable as men and want to be recognized for that – not preferentially, but fairly.”
Jennifer Meyer, an at-large alternate from St. Charles County, says she resents what she regards as “an attack on Republican women” by liberals. “Democrats are telling women that they need the Democratic Party to take care of them: to pay for their birth control, to pay for other services,” Meyer said. “I don’t think that is enabling women.”
Taking a markedly different approach was neurobiologist Claudia S. Toomim of Kansas City, who contends that the Romney/Ryan ticket would have greater appeal to women if they would moderate their positions against abortion. Toomim, a delegate for Ron Paul, concedes that – as a pro-choice delegate – she is likely in the minority among female GOP political activists.
One of the most strident opponents of abortion among Missouri’s delegates is St. Louis County resident and Eagle Forum founder Phyllis Schlafly, who has attended every GOP convention since 1952. In an interview, Schlafly said she would advise the Romney campaign to emphasize that he wanted to give women more independence.
“Obama is trying to create more dependence on government,” especially among young, unmarried women, Schlafly said. She suggested that Romney “tell them that you don’t want government running their lives.”
While Schlafly argued that “the big division” in support for Romney is between married and young single women, other female delegates think the gender gap is more complex – and is more related to questions of economics and political philosophy.
“Women my age want to see nominees who lead by example, who live their values,” said Thomas, 44. “But they also want to know where their money is going, how their parents are being taken care of, and whether there will be jobs for their kids.”
As far as Thomas is concerned, the choice is clear: The Romney/Ryan ticket is far preferable on those issues that the Democratic alternative, the Obama/Biden ticket.
While the gender gap question has focused mainly on Obama’s edge among women, some GOP analysts also point out that Romney has a considerable edge among men, close to 10 percent in some surveys.
When asked this week about the gender gap, former GOP presidental candidate Newt Gingrich told reporters: “That’s true. I don’t know why President Obama does so badly among men.”