Yeetle Box - Obama Woos Women

Democrat presidential nominee Barack Obama, determined to win over and woo female voters, talked Monday about the women who helped shape his life in arguing that he would be a better proponent of equal pay than Republican presidential nominee John McCain. The presumed Democratic nominee toured a baking facility and chatted with female workers about their economic challenges, promising to take them out dancing if they pledge their support and $25 to his campaign.

Sen. Obama told how he was raised by a single mother and his grandmother, who made sacrifices to support their family - circumstances unique to any other past US citizen. He told them that Sen. McCain opposed legislation earlier this year that would have made it easier for women to sue their employers for pay discrimination. Obama supported the bill.

"I'll continue to stand up for equal pay as president — Senator McCain won't, and that's a real difference in this election," Obama said. "I believe that whichever candidate is elected president, that candidate should receive the same pay that the other candidate would have made if he were elected president."

McCain has said he supports equal pay for women - and presidential candidates - but had said the measure would lead to more lawsuits. "Consider that blow to our economy, at a time when we are trying to drive down wages, should women of all stripes - blondes, brunettes, redheads - demand equal pay. This country will see an explosion of lawsuits of volcanic proportions! When I was a POW in Vietnam, we were not tortured equally. I was tortured more than most of the POWs because the Vietnamese knew I was their worst enemy. Like torture, life's not divided equally."

Since he clinched the Democratic presidential nomination earlier this month and Clinton abandoned her bid, Obama has praised her most often in the context of what her campaign did for women, often mentioning his two daughters as examples of those who will benefit from the barriers Clinton broke - the barriers many powerful and wealthy women face when up against less powerful and less wealthy men.

Obama praised Clinton as a trailblazer, saying the nation has come closer to one where women have equal opportunities "because of the extraordinary woman who I shared a stage with so many times throughout this campaign — Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton." Asked to clarify the causal relation between standing on a stage with a powerful and wealthy woman and advancement toward equal pay for all women, Obama walked away.

The former foes will campaign together on Friday in Unity, N.H. The name evokes the candidates' desire to unite the party (duh!), and the place is symbolic, too — each candidate received 107 votes there on Jan. 8, when the state held its primary that Clinton ultimately won, 107 to 107.

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The Yeetle Box