MIDDLEBURG HEIGHTS, Ohio — Republican nominee Mitt Romney's comment during the second presidential debate that he had received "binders full of women" as Massachusetts governor when he requested more female job candidates went viral Wednesday, fueling a broader fight between the two campaigns over the key support of women.
Romney's remark was just a sliver of the discussion Tuesday night about issues relevant to women, as the candidates tussled over subjects such as contraception and unequal pay. The battle escalated Wednesday, as President Barack Obama worked to reclaim his advantage among women — and as the Romney campaign returned to its core argument that the Republican is better suited to manage women's top concern, the economy.
Campaigning in Iowa, Obama ridiculed his opponent. "I've got to tell you, we don't have to collect a bunch of binders to find qualified, talented, driven young women, ready to learn and teach in these fields right now," he said.
Romney, at a stop in Chesapeake, Va., revisited a question from the debate about the gender pay gap, saying that answers women want to hear about the economy are coming from him, not from Obama.
"This is a presidency that has not helped America's women. And as I go across the country and ask women, 'What can I do to help?' what they speak about day in and day out is 'Help me find a good job, or a good job for my spouse,' " Romney said. "That's what the women of America are concerned about. And the answers are coming from us and not from Barack Obama."
Renewed focus
Although the candidates have courted female voters all year, they are renewing their attention to the demographic as polls show the race tightening. Some surveys indicate that Obama's once-sizable advantage among women has slipped.
Romney shifted his emphasis Tuesday on at least one issue relevant to women, saying "every woman in America should have access to contraceptives."
He objects to Obama's policy that requires employers to pay for contraception as part of health-insurance coverage, an issue important to conservatives who consider it an infringement on the rights of religious institutions. But he did not mention that and instead focused on the undisputed issue of access, as he appeared to be trying to present a more moderate face in the closing weeks before the election.
The Romney campaign also debuted an ad this week that tries to soften his image. The spot, called "Sarah," features a young woman who says Obama's ads accusing Romney of wanting to ban all abortions and contraception "concerned" her.
"So I looked into it," she says. "Turns out, Romney doesn't oppose contraception at all. In fact, he thinks abortion should be an option in cases of rape, incest or to save a mother's life."
The Obama campaign is working to blunt shifts among women in swing states. White House senior adviser David Plouffe, traveling to Iowa after the debate, previewed the team's plan to argue that Romney is on the wrong side of women's issues, such as his support for the Blunt Amendment, which allows employers not to pay for birth control if they have a moral objection to doing so.
"Mitt Romney: Wrong for American Women," read a news release from the campaign late Wednesday. During stops that day, Obama wore a pink bracelet for breast cancer awareness.
In the Tuesday night face-off, Romney emphasized his record of hiring women, saying a key to doing so for top jobs was allowing family-friendly work hours.
"I recognized that if you're going to have women in the workforce, that sometimes you need to be more flexible," he said, recalling that his gubernatorial chief of staff had two school-age children. "She said, 'I can't be here until 7 or 8 o'clock at night. I need to be able to get home at 5 o'clock so I can be there for making dinner for my kids and being with them when they get home from school.' So we said, 'Fine. Let's have a flexible schedule so you can have hours that work for you.' "
Obama spoke about growing up with a single, working mother and a working grandmother who trained men for jobs that paid more than hers. He also talked about signing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 — which made it easier for women to file lawsuits alleging pay discrimination — as one of his first actions in office.
Contradictory data
Polling about where women stand in the race has been a point of controversy, with seemingly contradictory data pouring in each day.
Two recent surveys — a national Pew poll after the first debate and a more recent USA Today-Gallup survey in 12 battleground states — had Obama and Romney tied among female voters, something that would be a historic shift away from a gender gap that has helped Democrats in recent elections.
A Quinnipiac University poll in Pennsylvania released Tuesday had Romney closing in on Obama there, but had the president with an 18-point advantage among women who are likely to vote. But a new poll from Marquette University Law School shows Romney making big gains in Wisconsin, entirely by winning over women.
In the new Washington Post-ABC News national poll, 51 percent of women back Obama and 44 percent support Romney, with the 7-point margin a numerical, but not statistically significant, advantage for Obama.
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