Did you know that working moms who don’t watch Fox are socialists? Neither did I. But then I asked some folks on Twitter, who were beating up on a friend of mine who is a left of center lady, not unlike myself, and was on Fox this morning (the national cable version, not the local), if they could link to the clip about which they were razzing my friend, since, being a working parent, I don’t watch the morning news shows because, well, I’m working – and parenting. (I know –...

I’ve got a lousy cold and a lot of work – and ideas – backed up but I cannot endure one more column headline opining on why there’s a gender gap between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama. The gap exists because of reality: when women look around and on an every day occasion, see and experience where we aren’t included or even thought about, or, when we are included or thought about, how we’re treated – whether in real life (Ginni Rometty) or fake life (anything...

I’m out. I’m just all out. I can read more, talk more, opine more. But really — how much more is there to actually say, that hasn’t already been said, about the Republican candidates remaining in the primary battle to be the party’s nominee for the 2012 general election? Even his three wins last night, in Wisconsin, Maryland, and the District of Columbia, have failed to seal the deal for the delegate leader, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. For more background...

I’m thrilled to be a part of the Civic Commons, a social media organization based in Cleveland that works for the civic good. [My project is the EfficientGovNetwork. Charting the Future of Fracking, is one reason why. Take a look at how much has been discussed just since it opened at 8:30am this morning. If you want to get the feel for how extensive the issues and emotions are on this topic, there’s no better conversation to follow – or contribute to, especially if you live in a...

The most recent avalanche of earned media for the concept of civility undisputedly derives from multiple rants enunciated by Rush Limbaugh – who would have thunk, eh? The Moderate Voice’s own post, Talk Radio Bomb: 98 Advertisers Tell Premiere Networks to Avoid Shock Jocks, is testimony to this phenomenon. The initial set of rants that triggered the avalanche targeted a 30 year old female law student who wanted to testify on Capitol Hill about why contraception should be covered by health...

I’m a Leo — I should love all this attention being lavished on Ohio because of its Super Tuesday swing state status. Where to begin? In this post, I boil it down to the polls, the women, the weather and the independents. What do you think will make the difference in Ohio and who do you think will win?

Here in Northeast Ohio, Monday morning shattered when news of a high school junior shooting several of his schoolmates started streaming into my inbox via news alerts. At 8:18 a.m., I read: Breaking News: Report: Geauga County Sheriff’s Department and OSHP heading to Chardon High School (the original item isn’t even there anymore, there’ve been so many updates) I didn’t have to read another word before saying the trifecta out loud to an empty house, “G-ddamnit. S***....

Last night, in the Republican contest to be that party’s presidential nominee, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney looked relaxed as he addressed supporters in Michigan (one of his multiple home states; New Hampshire and Massachusetts most often cited as the others). He sounded it, too. Then again, on Tuesday evening, Romney was in the needed winning position, having fought off a strong challenge in the aforementioned home state, from the former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania, Rick Santorum,...

In South Carolina, predictions of Mitt Romney being favored to win in part because women would go for him over Newt did not materialize. And to be clear, we’re not talking the gap between how men versus women vote for Mitt Romney or Newt Gingrich. We’re talking about the gap between who women prefer between the two candidates. This time around, in Florida, people seem much more certain that this favoring of Mitt will stick. From the Wall Street Journal: Citing his combative style and...

This absolutely, totally made me cry. This post at BlogHer is also worth reading for a number of the links and information on the news.

Talk about your mixed messages being sent. Former Congressman, Speaker of the House and candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, Newt Gingrich won the female vote in South Carolina, according to exit polls and despite reports to the contrary, just the day before, of a significant gender gap that should have helped former Massachusetts Governor, Mitt Romney, if it really existed — which it appears it did not. And why not? Shouldn’t Romney had had the women in his column? I...

This isn’t really news, Pew showed Newt’s weakness with women back in December. But The State is out with this article today, in pertinent part: Who will win? It could depend on who votes — men or women — and where they live — the Upstate or coast. “It may be very close,” Matt Moore, executive director of the S.C. Republican Party, said Friday. Polling shows Gingrich and Romney running neck and neck. But it also shows a gender divide between the two front-runners, sources in...

GQ’s Top 25 Power People in DC? One and a half women. One and a half. And a whole lotta white guys. Here’s the full list of 50 from Mike Allen’s Politico Playbook: FIRST LOOK – GQ’s “The 50 Most Powerful People in Washington (People with the last names Obama and Biden not included,” by Reid Cherlin, Rob Fischer, Jason Horowitz and Jason Zengerle: 1) Eric Cantor 2) Mitch McConnell 3) David Plouffe 4) Leon Panetta 5) Hillary Clinton 6) Ben Bernanke 7) David Petraeus Kevin...

You may go see the Non Sequitur cartoon from Friday, 1/13/12 which the Plain Dealer did not run. I used it as a teaching moment with my 6th grader and he got why it could be objectionable right away. Whether or not it should have been published is of course a different matter. Here are the comments at my Facebook thread and many times more can be found at former Plain Dealer journalist Connie Schultz’s (aka Pulitzer Prize winner and US Senator Sherrod Brown’s wife). Multiple folks in...

And that is not leadership. Whether we’re talking Herman Cain’s economic plan (9-9-9 or 9-0-9) or how he and his campaign are failing to deal with Politico’s reporting on the settlement specifics between the National Restaurant Association (when Cain was its head) and two of its former employees regarding alleged sexual harassment in the workplace, Cain seems to believe that he can reduce, minimize and make disappear whatever complexities he thinks ail others from being able to...

I did little research before this eighth (yes, eighth! and that doesn’t even include the Twitter debate) Republican presidential primary candidates’ debate. Check out this list for videos of each of them. Luckily, I keep myself pretty immersed in news on a daily basis between online, radio, newspapers, a senior in high school who wishes he could vote and a sixth grader who made it onto student council and now wants to be vice president (of his grade, that is). But to those who did bone...

From Nate Silver’s Five Thirty Eight, with this lede from new research by Christopher Stout and Reuben Kline, both political scientists: Looking at Senate and Gubernatorial candidates from 1989 to 2008 (more than 200 elections in over 40 states), we analyze the accuracy of pre-election polls for almost the complete universe of female candidates and a matched sample of white male cases. We demonstrate that pre-election polls consistently underestimate support for female candidates when compared...

Late last night, after watching some spin room action about the Republican primary debate in California, I started thinking about this question in a way that harkens back to just after Hillary Clinton was no longer in the 2008 race. It’s not going to be Michele Bachmann or Sarah Palin.  Yup, I’m predicting that right now.  Neither will be the general election presidential candidate for the GOP and I’m doubtful that either will be a VP selection of the eventual nominee either....

According to two CNN polls, Texas Governor Rick Perry has gone from having a significant deficit with women Republican voters to a double-digit lead with them. First, about the July poll (Perry was not yet an official candidate seeking the Republican nomination for the presidential race): Perry leads among male voters with 20%, but he’s tied for fifth place with Ron Paul when it comes to female voters — 0nly 8% support him. The only other candidate with a gender gap of nearly that size is...

When I wrote about June’s New Hampshire debate, I wrote that answering the question of what I want in a candidate has two parts: first, the policy part, and second, the competency part. Neither takes precedence over the other in any absolute way, but I defined the competency piece as going “…to overall experience, dedication, integrity, sincerity, thoughtfulness, consistency and respect for all voters, not just the ones that will vote you in, once you are in office.” Last...