POLITICO: President Barack Obama once held such a dominant lead among women that top conservatives warned Mitt Romney not to waste much time targeting them.
To win reelection, Obama needs big margins among women. But a spate of national polls, and even some battleground state surveys, shows his robust leads have slipped away. The challenges after the first debate have remained for Obama as Romney continues to reshape his candidacy with a more moderate message on foreign policy, abortion and taxes.
Nobody expects Obama to actually lose the women’s vote, and many Democratic strategists argue that Obama’s overwhelming lead after the conventions and at the height of the contraception battles last spring was never sustainable. But Obama’s new vulnerability among female voters gives fresh urgency to the latest war-on-women attacks, sparked by Indiana GOP Senate candidate Richard Mourdock’s comments about pregnancy and rape… (more)
