Dianne Bystrom, Director fo the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics, Iowa State University
Evan Cornog, Associate Dean, Academic Affairs, Columbia Journalism School
Connie Schultz, Cleveland Plain Dealer Pulitzer Prise winning Journalist

This session will feature:

Annette Dunlap, Frances Cleveland biographer
Mary Hoyt, Journalist, former press secretary to Rosalynn Carter
Karen Tumulty, TIME Magazine political correspondent

Here’s the schedule with hyperlinks to each of the sessions I’ll be blogging:

8:30-9:45am: “Who Elected Her? Historic Presidential Campaigns Where Wives Counted”

10:00-11:15am: Keynote Speaker: Eleanor Clift

1:00-2:00pm: “Bill to Michelle, Cindy to Ann: A Media Perspective on Spouses and Gender in the 2008 Race”

What you do, if you are around and want to follow the session, is return to the blog post that corresponds to the session I’m blogging and get yourself signed in to comment and interact if you like. Or, you can just read as I type. As has been noted, I’m pretty fast, but I do make typos (that can be fixed later).

Hello Jill,

The illustration in question is meant to be a humorous depiction of Portland’s (and perhaps much of Oregon’s) democratic population’s preference of Obama over Clinton.  The picture makes the joke that Portland is in love with Obama, hence the harlequin romance novel treatment.  Originally we were going to do a similar cover with Obama making out with Portlandia (a Lady Liberty-style statue that has oft represented our fair city in local cartoons), but we felt that it wouldn’t read as well outside of Portland.

I’m glad it rendered at least a giggle, and thanks for your interest in my work

Thanks,
Lukas

Mystery solved.  And very interesting.

Here’s an example of Harlequin Romance Novel covers. And here’s an image of and Wikipedia entry about Portlandia.

So - now what do folks think?

Some posts, some contact info. Let people know how you feel, preferably with some backup as to why, but please, also try to offer some solutions. What is it that you want? Because no matter how much I wanted Al Gore to win, and no matter how wrong I know the SCOTUS was, and no matter how much I didn’t want George Bush to be president, I live in this country and I accept it’s basic structure and the ways we have that allow us to voice our concerns, and solve our problems. Living in a democracy means someone will always “lose” an election. But it shouldn’t mean that we take out our disappointment by being self-destructive.

I understand that some people are afraid that giving any credence to Clinton Supporters Count Too will legitimize their efforts. Guess what? Too late. The source of their anger - sexism in the 2008 presidential primary campaigns - is real. It’s their tactics that are unreal.

So what can anyone do? For one thing, let them get it out. Just let them. Read it, respond to it you like, but my recommendation: don’t make moves that escalate it. That’s a no-win move. The best reaction would be to understand it, but it’s very clear that many people don’t have a clue about how to do that. Then, consider solutions that you would accept if you were in their shoes. It’s fine to say, what you want, you may not be able to get. But here’s what you can get. And here’s what you will lose if you don’t find a better way to resolve your anger.

1. Read this column.

2. Read this post.

3. Contact Clinton Supporters Count Too:

cruccia@aol.com

More contacts info here.

4. Leave a comment on one or all of these blog posts (and find more by going here - I’ve just included a few):

Blogger Interrupted

Buckeye State Blog here and here

Donna Darko

Katalusis

The Mahablog (highly recommended)

Ohio Daily Blog

Plunderbund

Writes Like She Talks

5. Got more ideas? Put them in the comments.

6. Whatever you do, be smart - don’t shut down the conversation, don’t tell people to get over it and don’t call anyone sweetie while you are making your case for how you see the Clinton Supporters Count Too effort. That’s what got us here in the first places eons ago.

Today, I’ve got a speaking engagement and a child returning from a three-day class trip, and an all-day symposium with Eleanor Clift in Akron tomorrow. So I can’t say how much I’m going to be skipping around commenting and checking on this.

But seriously - if you cannot identify with how these voters are feeling - if you don’t understand why they are feeling that way - then you might want to consider not addressing them at all. Because right now, the anger will keep them from being able to hear pretty much all of us. But eventually, they will be ready. And if we want to win in November, we damn well better not blow it when they are. This does not mean they get what they want, which I’m assuming is Clinton as the nominee. It means that they get treated like the voters they are, with respect.

Hattip Donna Darko.

UPDATE: See here for the artist’s explanation to me of the illustration.

stands ready to boycott the Democratic Party if Clinton doesn’t win the nomination, and will work against superdelegates who support Obama over Clinton as a means of registering their displeasure with the party.

“We have a plan to campaign against the Democratic nominee,” the group said in a press release Thursday. “We have the (wo)manpower and the money to make our threat real. And there are millions of supporters who will back us up in the swing states. If you don’t listen to our voice now, you will hear from us later.”

And all the momentum for that group seems to be driven from Columbus, Ohio.  Lucky us.

I’m all for expression, first amendment, free speech, assembly and so on.  I’m even for letting people know how angry you are about something, over and over and over.  And sure, sometimes, you just take the hard line, no matter how it might seem to others.

I imagine that that’s how the folks who appear to support this effort feel.

I don’t feel the same way.  I know I don’t feel like sacrificing a Democratic president for the sexism that’s existed for centuries and no doubt isn’t going to disappear in the next seven months.  But I am willing to push for other promises of efforts to battle sexism.

I know what it feels like to be pushed to an extreme stance.  And I would say that it’s up to those of us - all of us - who don’t want to make that sacrifice out of a Democratic presidential win to find a way to address the same concerns that have these folks organizing.

More feedback:

Donna Darko with email contacts and Washington Post coverage (mentions a YouTube of a group member being on Fox but I couldn’t locate it)

The Political Carnival

Virginia at Katalusis is following the events and has a link to a story by Catherine Candisky of the Columbus Dispatch

From the Dispatch:

Democratic observers say passions are high as the nominating contests come to a close and the party is poised to have either the first female or first black presidential nominee.

“It’s great to be making history, but somebody is going to lose and their supporters are going to be disappointed and have legitimate complaints,” said Greg Haas, a Columbus-based Democratic consultant.

“For ranks to close, the party is going to have to take seriously the concerns raised by the losing candidate because there are legitimate issues. If those are dismissed, then there will be a problem uniting.”

Jim Ruvolo, former Ohio Democratic Party chairman, said that by November most Clinton and Obama supporters will be united.

“Most Democrats and independents want to deny George Bush a third term, and that will unite us,” Ruvolo said. “I think at the end of the day this election will be about a new direction for the country.”

I suggest Haas and Ruvolo make their plans for getting to that united place known ASAP.

For sports fans, there’s nothing more disappointing than to see a career end before we want it to. This week, the world learned that two soon would. Belgian tennis player Justine Henin and Swedish golfer Annika Sorenstam both announced their retirements. Sorenstam, a career Grand Slam winner, is 37. Henin, a seven-time Grand Slam champion and current world No. 1, is 25. Neither plays a sport in which youth is at a premium. So it is difficult not to feel cheated: we will never again see Henin’s spry figure unleashing shots with such a variety of spins that she made the slugging behemoths of women’s tennis suffer death by a thousand slices. Sorenstam’s cool accuracy and composure will soon be lost to us, too.

…

To Henin and Sorenstam, an athlete’s career is in many ways no different from any other. “I have a lot of dreams, I want to live and I’m getting married,” Sorenstam said. Henin echoed: “This is the end of a child’s dream … It is my life as a woman that starts now.” The world has always admired northern European countries for their work-life balance, so we can hardly begrudge a famous Swede for saying she wants to start a family, or the planet’s best-known Belgian for simply craving a rest.

And the New York Times: 

Henin’s explanation for quitting in her prime is that, quite to her own surprise, she has lost the desire to train and compete and is now interested in focusing on her personal life and her new Belgian tennis academy.

“I think I will take long, real vacation,” she said. “I’m going to appreciate going for a run with nothing at stake, just doing it for pleasure. I’ve never put my feet in skis, and next year I think I’ll be doing it the whole winter. I want to rediscover the small pleasures, not look at my watch all the time because I have to get to training the next day.”

So is it pure and simple burnout? Not according to Henin and not according to Larry Scott, the head of the WTA Tour, who heard the news and an explanation from Henin on Tuesday.

“This isn’t an exasperated, frustrated player who needs a break,” Scott said. “This is a life decision. I don’t think there’s any chance she’ll come back. Really.”

Best to them both.