The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Washington

Hillary Clinton may be the only woman running for the US presidency, but her top Democratic rival Barack Obama is fighting hard to court women voters who hold more than half of the decisive nominating votes. Former first lady Clinton has called on prominent women political figures and activists to appear at her rallies, and at the weekend brought out on the campaign trail her daughter Chelsea, 27, and 88- year-old mother Dorothy. This coincided with Obama wheeling out his own weapon: influential television host Oprah Winfrey, whose talk show is viewed by millions-mainly women. Her speech at his rally on Sunday drew a record crowd for the current White House race. Since then, Obama has also secured the open backing of three female members of the House of Representatives in as many days. In an apparent bid to bolster his appeal to women voters, his campaign announced that Betty McCollum of Minnesota, Barbara Lee of California and Carol Shea-Porter of New Hampshire all came out in support of him. Candidates appear to be vying to prove "who's woman enough for the job," said Marie Wilson, founder of the White House Project, an activist group promoting female involvement in politics. Clinton has already been endorsed by Kim Gandy, president of the nation's biggest women's group, the National Organization for Women (NOW).

But the challenge Clinton poses for her rivals in vying for women's votes is not impossible to overcome, says Andrea Learned, a specialist in female-targeted marketing.

"The Obama campaign is demonstrating a lot of female voter savvy in its approach, which may give the Clinton campaign a run for its money," Learned wrote in an article on a popular political blog, the Huffington Post.

"Just as 'all women everywhere' don't automatically respond to pink and flowers on retail web sites or product packaging, so, too, will 'all women everywhere' not automatically vote for the token female in the 2008 presidential race."

She argued Obama's stance of consensus-building, rather than confrontation, was likely to resonate particularly with women.

As for predicting which candidate will draw more female votes, the signs are mixed.

A national opinion poll published last week by the Pew Research Center showed Clinton with a vast lead of 52 to 21 percent over Obama among women voters.