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Friday, February 17, 2012

Newt Gingrich defies conventional wisdom about women voters

Newt Gingrich is a ladies’ man.

That is, he kicked butt, to use rival Rick Santorum’s phrase, among women voters in South Carolina’s Republican presidential primary. That was one of the biggest surprises of the evening, because women voters were widely expected to turn away from Gingrich.

“Republican women don’t vote for cheaters, period,” one Republican strategist in Washington said in an interview a few days before the South Carolina primary. The strategist, who requested anonymity to speak candidly, echoed long-held conventional wisdom and years of electoral results showing that women, in particular, are less likely to vote for political candidates with a history of marital infidelity.

Gingrich has faced a gender gap for much of the election cycle, and he attracted significantly weaker support among women than men as recently as early last week in South Carolina. Most analysts attributed this to his tumultuous personal life, which includes three marriages and multiple extra-marital affairs, including one, during his second marriage and while he was House speaker, with the woman, Callista Bisek, who
Republican U.S. presidential candidate and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich celebrates backstage with his wife. Callista, and his supporters after his speech at his South Carolina Primary election night rally in Columbia, S.C. (Eric Thayer - Reuters) became his third wife.

Voters were reminded of that personal history just a few days before the primary, when a sensational interview aired on ABC with Gingrich’s second wife, Marianne, in which she accused Gingrich of asking her for an “open marriage” during the 1990s. The interview only heightened the expectation that Gingrich would not do well among women voters.

But something else entirely happened Saturday night in South Carolina: According to exit polls, Gingrich got nearly as much support from women as men. He won among married women, single women and evangelical women .He did beat other candidates by a somewhat larger margin among men, but he was tops among women as well, including 41 to 28 percent win over Romney among married women.

These results not only shed light on how Gingrich prevailed so widely in South Carolina; they also suggest that Gingrich may have dispensed with a topic long thought to be a huge weakness for him. That possibility may also force a rethinking by allies of former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, who have been attacking Gingrich on the issue of character for weeks.

Gingrich advisers interviewed Sunday said several factors likely played into Gingrich’s surge among women in South Carolina. First was the fact that Gingrich’s infidelity is old news for which Gingrich has repeatedly apologized. According to senior strategist Kevin Kellems, the very voters likely to hold infidelity against a candidate are the same voters more likely to consider forgiveness if they view the person as genuinely repentant.

“Everybody who’s watched us knows I am a 68-year-old grandfather,” Gingrich said on NBC’s Meet the Press Sunday. “ I have done things in my life that I regret, and I have had to go to God for forgiveness and reconciliation, but I have a great relationship with my wife, a great relationship with my children, a great relationship with my grandchildren, and at 68 I think I am the person best prepared to know how to get this country back on the right track.”

Lastly, Gingrich successfully changed the direction of the story by turning it into a referendum on the media, which he blamed for raising the topic of his marriages. He did so most notably in a feisty debate exchange Thursday in North Charleston, when Gingrich called CNN’s John King “despicable” for opening the debate with a question about Marianne Gingrich.

Republican women my colleague Melinda Henneberger interviewed in South Carolina on Friday morning were, she reported, even more supportive than men she interviewed of Gingrich’s handling of that debate question, saying it had only increased their admiration for him.

And Gingrich continued his attack on the media during his election-night speech in Columbia Saturday night and again Sunday on the national talk show circuit — a strong clue that he views it as a winning strategy and will keep talking about it in Florida in the coming days.

His team is also preparing — even looking forward to — the possibility that Romney’s allies will continue to hit him on character issues, a topic they believe will backfire.

U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, for instance, a Romney supporter from Utah, went directly after Gingrich over character and family values on Sunday. “If we put up anything less than a Boy Scout, we’re gonna be in trouble,” he said. “You can’t cede strong family values to the Democrats. That’s supposed to be one of our hallmarks.”

“I don’t believe that voters in Florida will find that media bias trumps serial philandering,” he added. “I think when the reality of that question settles in for conservatives, they’re not going to stand for somebody who’s had trouble in these areas. I really don’t. I think voters in a rational moment will see how devastating and stupid that would be to hand that card to Barack Obama.”

Gingrich’s team said they welcome such attacks because they aren’t working.

“You had a 28-point turnaround in South Carolina,” said Rick Tyler, a spokesman for a pro-Gingrich super PAC. “It was just one attack ad after the next on TV. In politics, there’s reality, and there’s perception, and they missed both.”

Amy Gardner is a national political reporter for The Washington Post covering the 2012 Republican presidential field. Follow her on Twitter at @AmyEGardner.

View the original article here

Monday, February 6, 2012

Maryland women vs. Duke: Terps have no trouble getting fired up for rival Blue Devils

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Jonathan Newton/WASHINGTON POST - Brenda Frese, guard Brene Moseley and Maryland have lost four of their last five to Duke.

Text SizePrintE-mailReprints By Gene Wang,

The eighth-ranked Maryland women’s basketball team wasn’t 10 minutes removed from an 86-58 victory over Wake Forest on Thursday night when the discussion shifted to No.?5 Duke, the Terrapins’ next opponent and most-loathed rival.

Maryland Coach Brenda Frese kept the message curt and with a tinge of enmity when asked about the Terrapins’ preparation for the team that’s occupying first place in the ACC, one game ahead of Maryland.

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“It’ll be easy,” she said when asked about how she’s motivating her team for its biggest game of the season so far.

Frese’s charges also have a particular distaste for the Blue Devils, who rankle Maryland’s fan base like no other school. It’s indoctrinated from the moment players set foot in College Park, and the upperclassmen make it their responsibility to ensure the younger players embrace that animosity.

The dislike even runs deep into the Terrapins’ extended family, which includes Frese’s son, Tyler. Last season before Maryland’s home game against the Blue Devils, Frese asked Tyler if he knew what day if was. Even though it was Tyler’s birthday, Frese recalled him answering, “You play Duke?”

“It’s just human nature when you come to Maryland,” junior forward Tianna Hawkins (Riverdale Baptist) said shortly after collecting a school-record 24 rebounds against the Demon Deacons. “It’s always Maryland versus Duke, Duke versus Maryland, so I think that’s something we really look forward to. There’s a legacy.”

The series has been one-sided recently, with Duke wining four of the past five, but last season Maryland ended a four-game slide against its nemesis with a 69-47 victory at Comcast Center.

The triumph was perhaps the Terrapins’ shining moment in a season that ended abruptly in the NCAA tournament. It was Maryland’s most lopsided win against Duke since 1993, and it featured a game-high 17 points from center Lynetta Kizer (Potomac, Va.) and 15 points and 10 rebounds from Alyssa Thomas.

Thomas went on to be named ACC rookie of the year, and this season she leads Maryland in scoring and is second in rebounding. Her last game and one half, though, were somewhat ragged by her standards and in line with how the team performed.

On Monday night against visiting Virginia, the Terrapins survived, 68-61, despite 17 turnovers, shooting 59 percent from the free throw line and missing 17 of 27 shots in the second half. Thomas scored six points, matching a season low.

The Terrapins (18-1, 5-1 ACC) didn’t pull away from Wake Forest, which they beat by 21 points last season, until roughly eight minutes remained in the game. The score was tied at 37 at halftime, and Thomas had four points.

In the second half, Thomas scored 12 points and finished with 11 rebounds and seven assists. Maryland played one of its best halves this season overall, shooting 55 percent and committing just six turnovers while limiting Wake Forest to 31 percent shooting, including 1 for 10 from three-point range.

The Terrapins’ upswing comes just in time for their foray to Cameron Indoor Stadium on Sunday. Duke (15-2, 6-0) has won 25 in a row at home against ACC opponents. The last team to beat the Blue Devils at Cameron was Maryland, 76-69, on Feb. 17, 2008.

“It’s just always something that’s been there with Duke,” Thomas said of the rivalry. “I think we really get up for this type of environment that Duke sets up for us. I know we’re going to be ready for that game.”

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