Not listening, not apologizing, and getting all up in the face of the person you are talking to doesn't work for women, because, believe us, we've heard it all before.
A race that many Republicans privately hoped might be wrapped up by now has come down to hand-to-hand combat, fought not just by two bareknuckle candidates but also by thousands upon thousands of soldiers in the trenches, signing up every last voter, knocking on doors, drilling through databases and aiming for Nov. 2, when whoever has the stronger ground game wins.
Both candidates stand before the same audience, but they talk to different ones, and in their responses, you can read the race. If, during the first debate, Kerry came back from near death to win a second look, on Friday night he appeared to have a more specific audience in mind: the uncommitted female voters who admire Bush's strength but are worried about his methods.
These are the ones, a Republican operative admits, who "hated Bush's first performance, said that the President reminded them of the husbands they have or the ones they left who don't listen and won't talk and don't like to be criticized."
A Time poll found that women moved hard to Kerry after that showing, from a near dead heat to a 12-point Kerry advantage. In a race this tight, that is an earthquake. Without women on his side, Kerry is not even in the game, since Bush holds a 16-point lead among men.
So in the town hall-style debate last Friday, Kerry was clearly intent on courtship. He used the word respect each time he answered a woman's question about values, and he presented himself as a drug-reimporting, budget-balancing, stem-cell-researching champion of middle-class families. Sometimes even blatant pandering works if it shows that you're listening.
