Republicans try to address ‘war on women’ with an army of young volunteers – The Washington Post

Cobb and Gwinnett Counties are among the first targeted for a GOP effort to turnout women voters in 2014.

In the Obama era, Democrats usually have had two big advantages over Republicans: women and volunteers. This year, Republicans are trying to change that, seeking to amass an army of young female volunteers who can carry the GOP message and counter the “war on women” rhetoric that has been so effective for Democrats.

Fresh off a week in which Democrats made it clear that a key part of their midterm message will be equal pay, Republicans are set to begin their own efforts to woo women to the polls, focusing on counties that went blue in 2012 and could tip the balance in November.

In West Virginia on Monday, Sharon Day, co-chairman of the Republican National Committee, launched “14 in ’14,” a program that will focus on younger women in suburban areas that lean blue. The idea is to sign up women who will commit 30 minutes per week in the 14 weeks before the election, making phone calls, recruiting other women, identifying voters and getting people to the polls.

Republicans have been dogged by criticism that their party is out of touch with women. In a CNN poll in February, 55 percent of respondents said that Republicans didn’t understand women, a figure that jumps to 64 percent among women older than 50, a group that traditionally has been more Republican.

One strategy is to have more women out front and carrying the GOP message, not only on the Senate and House floor but also block by block in neighborhoods across the country, which is the kind of grass-roots engagement that “14 in ’14” will try to build.

Democrats are more focused on single women, a group that they won in 2012 by 36 points, with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee planning to use a national computer model that can predict voters’ marital status. In focusing on a minimum- wage increase and equal-pay legislation, Democrats hope to appeal to working-class women and have framed their populist plan as a “women’s economic agenda.”

But Republicans, who typically outpoll Democrats among married women, are on the offensive. Last week, as Democrats held a vote on the Paycheck Fairness Act, Republicans introduced their own amendments and criticized the White House for a pay gap among West Wing staffers. The Democratic proposal fell short of the 60 votes needed to survive a GOP filibuster.

via Republicans try to address ‘war on women’ with an army of young volunteers – The Washington Post.