• After viewing the acceptance speech of the first female vice presidential candidate for the Republican party, there was no positive electoral movement toward the Republican ticket among either married or unmarried women in these groups. Some unmarried women moved toward the Republican ticket, but an equal number moved against McCain and Palin.
• Fundamental to the unmarried women in these groups, however, she did not sufficiently address key issues in their lives. This is particularly true of the economy, where unmarried women claim to have heard almost nothing of relevance to their economic standing. One single woman said point-blank "I didn't get anything about the economy."
• Palin did have some success. On a scale of 0 to 100, she improved her favorability scale roughly 10 points among both married and unmarried women. We also saw improvement in the number of women who believe she was ready to be vice president. Focus group comments suggest she connected with these voters in a way that made her seem authentic, independent and strong.
• Her recitation of her experience and accomplishment failed to answer fundamental questions about her selection. In the discussion, many women, particularly unmarried women, just did not believe she qualified herself to be vice president or president. (These comments were often preceded by opinions on McCain's age and health).
• This candidate provoked a fascinating discussion of gender roles and politics and the challenges this nominee faces. Many women, especially married women, openly questioned her ability to both serve and raise a family, particularly a family involved such a young, special-needs baby. These women acknowledged the obvious double standard ("we would not ask that if she were a man"), but the question lingered. Some even noted, "'let's face it, we (women) do the nurturing."

The Greenberg Rosner Group is saying these results are mixed, (which they are) but I think they also highlight some of what I was trying to get at in last week's post about Sarah Palin: McCain needs female voters and the GOP is hoping that Sarah Palin will deliver the goods. Ya'll got a little frazzled when I suggested that educated women would punch the chad for McCain. And while two focus groups are hardly a representative sample, it's enough for me to suggest that McCain & Co might be onto something.

This weekend I was talking to the most important woman I know - my mother. She is a life-long Republican, but she likes Hillary Clinton because my mom is also a nurse. Hillary's staunch support of health care speaks to my mom's daily experience. I once heard Gloria Steinem say that you could tell a Hillary supporter by her shoes - they're nurses' shoes, waitresses' shoes, and mill workers' shoes. My mom is now thinking about voting for John McCain because he picked a woman as his running mate. Are working class women idiots because they're looking for someone who speaks to their experience?

Like it or not, I think the rumor mill's scoop that Sarah Palin has a pregnant teenage daughter is going to help McCain, not hurt him. How many working class women in America have pregnant teenage daughters? A lot! The more the Democrats grasp at straws, the more desperate they seem. And a desperate party is about as attractive as a desperate prom date.

Bil asked me to give a "feminist angle" to this whole Sarah Palin thing. So here's my viewpoint (which I will preface by saying that not all feminists think about things the same way): I believe that feminism is ultimately about choice. And I get very frustrated by "professional feminists" who have a hard time grasping class politics. I'm a working class woman. Yes, I have white privilege, and I will concede that this counts for a lot in America. But I also tend to view everything from a position of class. There's something very disingenuous, in my opinion, about people who proclaim to know what's in my best interest, as if I am incapable of coming to the "correct" conclusion myself. At the end of the day, I don't find feminism useful if my mom can't understand it. My mom understands that women should receive equal pay for equal work. My mom understands that single mothers have a hard time making ends meet, even when they work themselves to the bone. My mom might not know the intricacies of Sarah Palin's politics, but that's ultimately not what matters here. What matters is that women like my mom are giving Sarah Palin a fair hearing, which is a lot more than I can say for the majority of died-in-the-wool Democrats I've talked to this week.

Final caveat: Just to be clear, I am not saying that I am voting for McCain and Palin, and I am not giving Palin a pass on the issues.