Who values women voters?

One final comment regarding BlogHer. It's really telling that only two campaigns decided to send representatives to the conference -- the Clinton and Edwards campaigns. Where was Obama, Kucinich, Richardson, Dodd, or Biden -- or for that matter, Giuliani, Romney, McCain, or any of the other Republican candidates?

It is truly a mistake to snub women, and particularly a mistake to snub women who BLOG!

Here are some facts that the candidates might want to keep in mind:

Women’s Voting Facts:

• Women vote in higher numbers than men, and have done so in every election since 1964. In 2000, 7.8 million more women voted than men did. Because of unprecedented voter registration efforts, women may vote in even larger numbers in 2004.

• Women have voted at higher rates than men since 1980. In 2000, 56.2% of registered women voters went to the polls, compared to 53.1% of men voters.

• More women register to vote than men. Some 68.7 million women were registered to vote in 2000 compared to 59.4 million men. Initial reports show the trend will continue in 2004.

Hat's off to the Hillary Clinton and John Edwards campaigns for recognizing the importance and value of reaching out to women voters. And to the rest of the candidates on both sides -- it's your loss!

Home Sweet Home

It's an hour and a half flight from Chicago to DC, so why did it take 12 hours to get home? Weather. Yikes!

It was beautiful in Chicago this morning. As I waited for a cab I had a chance to say a few last minute good-byes to some of the other BlogHer women in the lobby. It was a last minute decision to attend this conference, and I'm so glad that I did.

I'm not sure how many people attended the conference, but it was in the hundreds. What did surprise me was the make up of the group. I will admit to my bias, and as a progressive I just assumed most of the women attending were progressives, too. That wasn't the case.

As it turns out, according to co-founder Lisa Stone the BlogHer community is almost evenly divided between women who identify as liberal and women who identify as conservative. The difference was evident at some of the workshops I attended.

I found myself in discussions with some of the women over "political" versus "partisan." Some of the more conservative women didn't want to frame the discussions taking place as "political" -- even though almost all the workshops I attended were part of the political track. I am someone who believes everything is political, and anyone who knows me can attest that I'm not shy about stating it. But, just because something is "political" that doesn't mean the solution has to be "partisan."

Anyone who is a regular reader of Yikes will know that I am critical of both Democrats and Republicans. In certain areas you can hardly tell them apart. In other areas there is a vast difference, which is why I tend to vote for Democrats.

If liberal and conservative women could agree on a particular course of action for an issue, like health care for example, what a powerful force we could be! How much faster would change occur if both sides of the aisle were hearing the same message from their constituents?

Is this possible? Let me know what you think?

BlogHer 2007

The Closing Session at BlogHer 2007

It's the closing session at BlogHer, and the guest speaker is Elizabeth Edwards. She is so compelling, it's really too bad that she isn't the candidate. She's right on point on so many of the social justice issues I care deeply about, reproductive justice and marriage equality. Much further along than her husband.

When asked about what issues she thinks are of importance to women she responded that the issue that seems to come up most often is health care. In her travels she finds that women nationwide believe we need to have universal health care. In order to provide this we will have to raise taxes on individuals who earn $200,000 or more. She said this, recognizing that it's a difficult issue for many of the candidates to embrace.

The first question from the audience is about child care. How can we provide safe and affordable child care for working mothers and fathers. One of the ideas Elizabeth is suggesting is to give tuition credit for individuals who will become child care providers and teachers, who will commit to working in the field for at least two years.

BlogHer co-founder Lisa Stone ask the question: "Is Iraq a woman's issue?"

Elizabeth responded that it certainly is, given that 10% (or more) of the troops in Iraq are women. It is also a woman' issue because it's our sons and daughters, and our husbands and partners who are dying. "If we don't have a direct connection, we need to take it personally when someone else's child is there."

The next question from the audience was about our media, and the way -- and type -- of information we are receiving. Does John Edwards have a position on the Telecommunications Act of 1996? Elizabeth's response is that John would not want Rupert Murdock to be the gate keeper of information and he would work to repeal the TeleCom Act. She said that he also supports Net Neutrality, which drew applause from the audience.

One of the last questions asked was about faith, and how it informs the work she and her husband do. She mentioned that on Monday, she and John will renew their wedding vows. In preparing for the ceremony she looked back at their original vows, which included a commitment to public service. She said she was pleased to be reminded that one of the things that bound them together 30 years ago, is still an important part of their lives today.

As I have mentioned before, I would not hesitate to support Elizabeth Edwards for elected office!

Women and GOTV

The GOTV panel has just stared, talking about how you move people to go vote! In the 2004 election 55% of women voted Democratic and 43% voted Republican, so there is a gender gap.

Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization for Women, just asked how many bloggers had a link to how to register to vote. Only five or six bloggers had done this. She then asked who would do it in 2008, and all hands went up.

People are more likely to register if they are asked to do so by someone they know. They are also more likely to vote, if asked by a trusted friend. The blogging community has the potential to raise that to a whole new level. As women, we can make a difference, and we need to talk with other women to get them involved.

Back in 1992 we called that "the girlfriend vote" -- where one girlfriend would talk with another girlfriend, over a cup of coffee, across the back yard fence, or anywhere that women gather.

Zephyr Teachout is talking about grassroots organizing, and urging people to "use the internet to get offline." Meeting with people, in person, is one of the best ways to make change.

Liza Sabater followed up by saying it's important to have a mailing list, to know the people in your community. Basically that all politics are local.

She is talking about why religious right activists have been so successful, because they are tenacious in contact policy makers until they get what they want! Before blogswarms, these folks used email-swarms, post card-swarms, etc. Progressives need to organize in this same way.

I just shared a story about two wonderful women I met in Pennsylvania back in 2006. These women have an email list of 1,000 names, and they were names of voters who trusted these women to vet the political candidates in their district. What these women created was a true influential voter block. In their community, races were won or lost by as little as 10 votes, so EVERYONE seeking office HAD to meet with these women. This is what needs to be duplicated nationwide.

One of the audience members just spoke about the need for us to consider becoming "transpartisan." Her point is that we need to be true to our issues, and demand that all candidates, regardless of party, embrace these issues.

A representative of Emily's List reminded everyone that 22 years ago Ellen Malcolm brought together a few of her friends, who all met in her basement, for the purpose of electing a woman to the US Senate. That year they raised more than $300,000 dollars and helped elected Barbara Mikulski. In the past election Emily's List raised more than $11 million for pro-choice women candidates.

The discussion continued on the need to connect women to GOTV in 2008. Zephyr suggested that a new group be formed called "spin-sta.com." The room approved!


NOTE: I will add photos later!

BlogHer - Day Two

All the sessions I've attended today are of a political nature. I'm someone who believes that everything is political -- which doesn't mean that everything is, or has to be, partisan. Yesterday I found myself in some interesting conversations with women who want to take politics out of some discussion of issues, but I keep wondering "how can we do that, when most of the issues being discussed have a clear political link?"

The issue of health care, it's political. Someone, or some group of individuals, has decided that as a nation we will not provide universal healthcare. That means there will be no coverage for the working poor and no coverage for people who are not employed.

The Iraq war, how is this NOT a political issue?

The environment, and the whole issue of global warming -- again, how can this not be considered a political issue?

Where I think some of the disconnect comes in is that none of these issues have to be partisan. The problems we face in this country are largely the result of the shortcomings of BOTH major political parties. We need to hold all of them accountable.

BlogHer - Day One

So far the Blog Her conference is terrific. The theme of this years event is "A World of Difference" -- and how true that is. As bloggers we can make a world of difference, and there is also a world of difference among some bloggers -- but I'll talk about that later.

I arrived a bit late, so missed the "speed dating" session -- darn -- but I did attend a workshop titled "Privacy, Exposure, Risk: Can you maintain safer spaces online?" The discussion on Blue Gal's blog prompted me to want to hear what other women had to say.

I was pleased to learn that the overwhelming sentiment was to encourage women to not let fear prevent you from tell your story, or sharing your truth. The panelists acknowledged that there are times when it's prudent to do what you need to do to protect yourself, but that most of the threats that are leveled at women bloggers are just that -- threats. The people who spend there days harassing women, are more than likely too afraid to actually confront someone -- and are likely doing it for the attention. If you don't engage, they lose interest and move on.

What I took away from the session was that we should never let the threat or fear of violence stop us from claiming our power.

It's late ... I'm tired ... so will write more tomorrow.

I know it's early, but ...

I've got a lot on my plate between now and Friday, which is why I wanted to post tonight that I'm going to be attending the BlogHer conference in Chicago this weekend. I'm really looking forward to it, and I hope that if anyone reading this is planning to be there as well you'll look for me. I'll be the one with "Yikes" on my name tag! (That was for you, Blue Gal.)

There are a couple of reasons I wanted to attend. In my own small way, I do feel connected to the blogosphere, and would like to meet other women bloggers. And also, there are issues I care passionately about -- like the separation of church and state -- that I want to connect with other bloggers about.

As some of you know, my day job is as an activist. I love what I do and plan to keep doing it until I'm too old to do it any longer -- which could be 70, 80 or so in my field! I feel so privileged to get to do this work.

When Karen, from Beautiful Day Rule, was in DC last week I shared with her that one of the best things about living in the DC area -- and being a full time activist -- is that when your leaders do something really stupid, you can go to their place of business and complain! I've protested in front of the White House, Congress, various department buildings, and even the Supreme Court. When you live here, you get to do that ... and it's great!

I want to connect with other bloggers who are working for change. Our government is certainly in need of it, and people are not getting good information from mainstream media. Thank goodness for the blogosphere!

I'm sure I will be posting about other things before I leave, but I didn't want to forget to send a shout out to anyone who might want to try and connect to say hello.